Daniel Sturridge, a Plastic Bottle, and The World Cup

Martin Luther King was murdered because he was black. Nelson Mandela was kept in prison in South Africa for a ludicrous number of years because he was black. Stephen Lawrence was murdered by racists in England because he was black.

Before anyone starts spouting off yes, I know, Nelson Mandela was a member of an organisation then considered terrorists and so on and so forth but come on, get real, if you want to use that analogy then the French Resistance were terrorists so precisely where do you want ‘the line’ drawn then?  Answers in comments please.

England played Honduras in a ‘World Cup warm up friendly game’ last week and England dominated regardless of the game being bizarrely stopped for 40 minutes (well, it’s bizarre if you live in England anyway) due to a violent electrical storm. Apparently they occur in Miami from time to time at this time of the year.

Although it was a 0 – 0 draw I enjoyed the game as England were clearly superior against a team that has beaten Uruguay who are one of England’s opponents in the ‘group stages’ of the World Cup. If we can negotiate a win over a struggling Italy I would like to think we can, therefore, beat Uruguay and, finally, if we can’t beat Costa Rica we deserve to come home again.

So. Precisely how does England’s fortunes in a World Cup friendly warm up game find relevance in the earlier statements regarding Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Stephen Lawrence?

Black. That is the relevance.

Both Danny Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge are the two key ‘strikers’ in the England squad for the 2014 World Cup. Both are black.

Despite many enjoyable moments from the game the moment that stands out in my mind is when Daniel Sturridge, in his attempt to score a goal, ended up directly below the contingent of England supporters behind the Honduras goal.

Someone threw a bottle at him. As it happens it was a plastic bottle thankfully but why would an England supporter throw a water bottle at Daniel Sturridge?

Let’s think shall we? Daniel Sturridge is a very talented footballer representing his country with pride just as Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney are. Just as Joe Hart and Leighton Baines and Jordan Henderson are. The only difference between Daniel Sturridge and the aforementioned England players is colour. They are white and Daniel Sturridge is black.

Of course, Glen Johnson, Raheem Sterling and Danny Welbeck are black but nobody threw a bottle at them did they? No but, on the other hand, they didn’t find themselves located remotely where Daniel Sturridge found himself.

Would this plastic water bottle have been thrown if a white English player had ended up behind the Honduras goal? Absolutely not in my opinion.

The only conclusion that my mind can reach is that, in the 21st Century, a nation often represented by black British people at the highest level of sport still has, amongst its denizens, a worryingly large minority of colour prejudiced racists.

I can only hope that Daniel Sturridge will have the strength of character to realise that all true English men and women admire him as a great English footballer, will cheer him on throughout England’s time in the World Cup and, frankly, couldn’t care less whether he is black or white or green with yellow dots – well, we might worry about green with yellow dots in case it’s contagious.

Daniel Sturridge happens to be a great footballer. He happens to be enjoying the honour of representing his country in his chosen sport. He happens to be black. He happens to be as English as any English man on the planet Earth.

When will the idiots learn?

I so hope this incident doesn’t spoil Daniel’s adventure at the 2014 World Cup. I so hope he doesn’t waste his precious time looking back in anger at the moron who threw the plastic bottle. Daniel Sturridge is a bigger man than that I believe.

Martin Luther King. Black, American and proud.

Nelson Mandela. Black, South African and proud.

Stephen Lawrence. Black, British and proud.

Two murdered for being black and one imprisoned for decades.

It’s only a game Daniel. Rise above the morons and don’t look back in anger.

We are proud of you, admire you and you’d better score a few goals!

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