{"id":293284,"date":"2023-10-02T21:17:53","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T21:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=293284"},"modified":"2023-10-02T21:17:53","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T21:17:53","slug":"what-has-our-game-come-to-when-a-child-cancer-victim-is-mocked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/what-has-our-game-come-to-when-a-child-cancer-victim-is-mocked\/","title":{"rendered":"What has our game come to when a child cancer victim is mocked?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>IAN HERBERT: Taking football into the cesspit-\u00a0What the hell has our game come to when twisted cretins can mock a tragic child cancer victim?\u00a0<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Football hit a new low on Saturday in Sheffield Wednesday&#8217;s loss to Sunderland<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Two fans appeared to mock Bradley Lowery, who died of cancer at the age of six<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hard to be entirely sure without having met them, of course, but the two low-life attention seekers who took football into a cesspit on Friday night looked highly dressed up for a match between Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland.<\/p>\n<p>One wore a rose-pink jacket as he held up his phone to flash an image of Bradley Lowery \u2014 a child who lost a battle with cancer at the age of six \u2014 at Sunderland fans. His companion, who was highly amused by this, had self-consciously buttoned his own jacket up to the neck and seemed to have visited the barbers ahead of their big night out. Yes. Attention seekers.<\/p>\n<p>They certainly got themselves the limelight they craved, though they had not quite calculated the public\u2019s revulsion to them mocking a child diagnosed with neuroblastoma, who helped raise \u00a31million for charity before he died in 2017. That figures. Twisted cretins like this are too intellectually challenged and consumed with confected hate for a moment\u2019s reflection or thought.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, you have to write off such moronic behaviour to mindless adolescence. The sort of thing that a good clip around the ear will resolve. But this pair, named locally as brothers Dale and Drew Houghton, are of an adult age.<\/p>\n<p>They are not the only ones engaged in this kind of abomination, of course. Friday\u2019s events at Hillsborough \u2014 which have led to two men, aged 27 and 31, being held on suspicion of outraging human decency \u2014 represented a new gross low in the use of death and disaster to goad and taunt opposition fans at football matches.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/01\/20\/76011811-0-The_six_year_old_s_bravery_became_an_important_symbol_for_the_Bl-a-104_1696188409944.jpg\" height=\"519\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Sunderland fan Bradley Lowery passed away from cancer aged six in 2017 after helping to raise over \u00a31 million for charity<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/01\/20\/76011883-0-Two_Sheffield_Wednesday_fans_were_seen_appearing_to_cruelly_mock-m-110_1696188728258.jpg\" height=\"440\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/01\/20\/76014403-0-image-m-112_1696188753725.jpg\" height=\"440\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Two Sheffield Wednesday fans appeared to mock Lowery during their clash with Sunderland on Saturday<\/p>\n<p>It tends to come with chanting attached and there is that modern phrase we now have for this abomination: \u2018Tragedy chanting\u2019. A few months ago, the sport\u2019s authorities, including the FA, made a lot of noise about how they were going to crack down on this pattern of \u2018gesturing\u2019 and \u2018offensive messaging\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Then the accompanying Crown Prosecution Service guidance notes came out \u2014 and it emerged that since the language of some chants is not strictly unlawful, policing the issue would not be so easy.<\/p>\n<p>Where is the line? The use of Jimmy Savile as a form of abuse by Manchester United fans, for example, is now so established that Leeds supporters have been known to counter it by going to games kitted out as the abuser, with a blue jacket, blond wig and cigar.<\/p>\n<p>In part, the fight against this scourge comes from within, with fans policing their own and clubs being bold enough to call out the culprits vociferously. Wednesday did as much as you would expect on Friday, by issuing an apologetic tweet, though their supporters\u2019 tone and actions were far stronger. The SWFC Women\u2019s Supporters Group launched a GoFundMe page for the Bradley Lowery Foundation, a wonderful organisation, and have raised \u00a36,000 over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>The fight also entails refusing to let these reptiles crawl back under a rock and escape scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>Consider the case of Zakir Hussain, 28, who set up multiple Twitter accounts to target the sister of a victim of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. When the cretin appeared at Stratford Magistrates\u2019 Court to explain himself, Louise Brookes had to stomach his solicitor arguing the misery of lockdown had somehow contributed to a \u2018stupid mistake\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/01\/20\/76013173-0-Bradley_tragically_passed_away_in_2017_after_a_battle_with_neuro-a-116_1696189643672.jpg\" height=\"474\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mocking a child cancer victim\u00a0 surely represents a new low for our game<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/01\/20\/76015605-0-Heartbroken_Gemma_Lowery_was_surprised_by_Gleeson_Homes_staff_as-a-115_1696189449633.jpg\" height=\"438\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Lowery&#8217;s mother Gemma offered thanks for &#8216;kind words&#8217; after the incident and felt they had &#8216;turned a negative into a positive&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/01\/20\/76046141-0-image-a-114_1696188875593.jpg\" height=\"249\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Sheffield Wednesday&#8217;s tweet about the incident was vague, and didn&#8217;t even include Lowery&#8217;s full name<\/p>\n<p>Hussain sent five separate Twitter messages, on the anniversary of the disaster, which tagged Ms Brookes. The first included a photo of her brother with superimposed faeces emojis. He was convicted of sending malicious or obscene communications, given a 14-week jail sentence, suspended for a year, and escaped with a pathetic \u00a3500 fine. No images of Hussain have ever been published or released.<\/p>\n<p>There was no image, or mention, of Friday night\u2019s vile laughing boys on Wednesday\u2019s website yesterday, which was leading on post-match reaction to the 3-0 defeat. The club\u2019s vague tweet on the subject stated they were \u2018aware of images circulating\u2019 and offered apologies \u2018for the undoubted distress caused to Bradley\u2019s family and friends\u2019. The assumption seemed to be that fans would know which \u2018Bradley\u2019 they were referring to.<\/p>\n<p>It is to be hoped the perpetrators will be afforded an unyielding spotlight by both club and local media when arrests are made and they are brought to trial.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Thank you all for your kind words. It has really helped and let\u2019s do what we do best to turn this negative into a positive,\u2019 Bradley\u2019s mother, Gemma, said on Sunday\u00a0\u2014 a generous response to an episode that makes you wonder what the hell our game has come to.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12581915\/IAN-HERBERT-Taking-football-cesspit-hell-game-come-twisted-cretins-mock-tragic-child-cancer-victim.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IAN HERBERT: Taking football into the cesspit-\u00a0What the hell has our game come to when twisted cretins can mock a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What has our game come to when a child cancer victim is mocked? 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