What is the problem with a player lifting his shirt to celebrate a goal? If they are wearing a T-Shirt underneath with some sort of inappropriate message, fair enough. Otherwise, whats the problem? It seems that the folk at FIFA have decided to take the fun out of the game. When Wycombe beat Leicester a few years ago in the FA Cup with a last minute winner, their goal scorer was sent off for taking his shirt off! A second division side had just beaten a Premiership side, what the hell is he meant to do?
It doesn't stop there though. Last weekend, Saints John O'Neill scored a last minute equaliser. As it's usually the job of the players when behind to score a goal, he was obviously delighted to have scored, and ran across to the Saints supporters to share in their joy, whilst the rest of the players all piled in. Result? A booking for O'Neill.
It's not the first time that O'Neill has been booked after scoring for us. Last season, he was correctly (in my view) booked when, after scoring against his old side Queen of the South, he ran to their fans and made the traditional "I can't hear you" gesture. That's just stupid. However, what is wrong with running over to your own fans and sharing their joy?
Saints Hugh Murray could tell O'Neill a few things about that. After scoring a stunning goal at Forthbank against Stirling Albion, which turned out to be the one that kept Saints up and alive, Shuggy jumped into the Saints support behind the goal, who were in the process of spilling onto the track at the time. Result? He was booked. What's he meant to do, having just scored such an important goal? Have a wee smile then run back into his own half?
We can't blame the referees for this, they are just following the rules. Or are they? If it is in the rules that you can't celebrate a goal with your own fans, then why are penalties not handed out equally? Several times when he scored for Rangers, Ronald de Boer jumped into the crowd to celebrate. He was rarely, if ever, booked for this. In my view, it's more dangerous jumping into a stand filled with several thousand folk, than jumping into a few hundred folk in a bit of terracing. Obviously not.
The season Saints were in the SPL, Craig Easton was booked when scoring for Dundee United against Dunfermline. Why? For jumping over the advertising boards to get slightly nearer to the crowd. What the hell is wrong with doing this? It's not endangering the crowd when he gets a few feet closer to them. Easton later picked up a second booking and was sent off.
There is one occasion when booking a player for celebrating is acceptable in my view, and I've already touched on it; when a player celebrates in front of the opposition fans. Juan Sara scored in front of some Saints fans at Love Street during our year in the SPL, and decided we all wanted to see what was written on his T shirt. He was rightly booked, and later sent off. Likewise, when David Hopkin scored against us at Cappielow a few years back, he was rightly booked for blowing kisses at us. At least he had the decency to give us an apology wave.
Apart from that, though, what is wrong with celebrating a goal? It's what football is all about, it's what players are paid to do. Sadly it seems that FIFA are wanting players not to celebrate anything, and with this latest ruling they are one step closer to taking the fun out of football.