Barton calls for action against supporters
Joey Barton admits his backside bearing antics were “childish” but insists more must be done to protect footballers from the abuse they are subjected to by some fans.
The Manchester City midfielder escaped a ban for dropping his shorts at Everton fans after his side’s Barclays Premiership draw at Goodison Park two weeks ago.
The 24-year-old was this week fined £2,000 (€2,900) and warned about his future conduct at a Football Association hearing, a punishment he accepts fitted the crime.
“What I did was silly, a little bit childish, a little bit tongue in cheek,” said Barton in an interview to be broadcast on Football Focus tomorrow.
“If I was to walk away and nothing was to happen to me, it condones what I’ve done.
“I don’t condone what I’ve done and I have to be punished. I felt they dealt with it in the right manner and they listened to what I had to say.
“They accepted there were reasons behind what went on and the matter’s been dealt with.”
Those reasons were the obscene abuse Barton claims to have endured during the Everton match, with some fans said to have taunted him about brother Michael’s 17-year prison sentence for murder.
“As a professional footballer, I shouldn’t have done what I did but as a human being it’s tough when you’re abused for 94 minutes-plus,” Barton added.
“As a professional, I should be able to restrain myself. I think to more than a certain extent I did handle everything that was coming at me quite well and managed to keep my head.
“Just for two seconds, I’ve done something tongue in cheek as everyone’s seen. I’ve got a smile on my face. It was somewhat jovial. People may have taken it out of context but there was no offence meant.”
Barton claims the authorities’ failure to take action against his abusers is what allowed him to be pushed to breaking point.
He has called for police to crack down on the kind of unsavoury comments he believes anyone would react to in normal life.
“If someone had said what they say to you in a football stadium on the street, you’re going to have a major, major altercation,” he said.
“It’s okay for them to do it in a football stadium. This situation has got to be addressed because I’m not the first footballer to suffer abuse and I won’t be the last.
“If you ask any footballer, it’s the part of the game that we could really do without. But it’s for football as a collective sport to say we’re not really going to tolerate this.
“Because, if I can hear what they’re saying when I’m 50 yards away, then surely the police officers and stewards who are less than 20 yards away can hear what they’re saying and deal with it.
“If they were standing in between us in the street and someone said that to you, then I’m sure they wouldn’t react the way they do in a football stadium.”
