Verbal Abuse in Football - Has it Crossed the Line?

The recent statements made by English Premier League footballers Sol Campbell and Robbie Keane have brought up fresh discussions on what authorities are doing to deal with verbal abuse suffered by professional football players. According to Portsmouth defender Campbell, the amount of vitriolic abuse hurled at players today was tantamount to punishable criminal acts.

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, and Norwich boss Glenn Roeder have also come out to support Campbell's stand that the situation calls for an urgent need to support the human rights of sports professionals, and that the English Football Association could do more to rectify the problem.

Interestingly, Roeder and Tottenham Hotspur striker Robbie Keane have contributed another perspective to the issue. While Roeder acknowledged the perpetrators as indecent human life forms and undeserving of any respect, both men have also stated their belief that professional footballers and people in the sport should ignore such abuse, treat it as part of the game, and get on with their jobs.

While abuse of any form should not be tolerated, verbal abuse in sports has existed for many decades. Sports has often been likened to a mirror to life. Not only does it provide drama, inspiration, motivation and despair in the same breath, many sports fans treat it as a form of escapism from their own tepid existence. Why else would people travel to games religiously, spend hours discussing the daily revelations of their favorite teams and players, and weep tears of joy and sorrow over games that, in the bigger picture that is life, would not have any more significant impact than a broken toenail?

It is exactly this reason that sports fans have always indulged in throwing all manners of unspeakable language at players and managers during matches. When their team wins, they revel in the momentary positive adrenalin and choose to ridicule the losers. But when they face defeat, many do not think twice about verbalizing their anger and hatred on both their own team and opposing rivals.

Many sports events now have law enforcement authorities or agencies patrolling the games venues. These people are responsible for weeding out any individual who chooses to overstep the boundaries, which are often categorized as any physical act that threatens the safety of both the professionals and fellow spectators. The majority of verbal abuse is often tolerated, although racist abuse is now commonly disallowed with the global movement to stamp it out.

Perhaps Sol Campbell had to endure terrible insults which hurt the widely recognized sensitive giant. But how does one draw a line between a humorous jibe and insults that trespass human rights? If a footballer like Robbie Keane feels that all manner of banter is just that unless a missile gets thrown at him, how do authorities treat cases whereby an individual might insult Keane's parents but the player in question otherwise dismisses it as pub talk?

The lines are often blurred, and players and managers should heed Keane's words to ignore the abuse and concentrate on their games. Should the abuse turn physical, that would never be condoned. But words cannot hurt you unless you allow them to.