Freddie Kanoute Goes All Political

WEll done to Kanoute. Footballers are human beings, they have emotions too. He bought a lot of smiles for a lot of palestinian children who are being killed by israelis.

this gesture would at least bring a smile to the poor people of palestine

well done kanoute, you are a great footballer, but a great man!

By the way, here are players who are far smarter then Kanoute and who actually do great things using their name and popularity to improve lives of children living in misery acvross the world.

Check out this charity game All stars for hope to be played in June in NY at giants stadium with some of the best players in the world.
Great video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Website is nice as well: www.allstarsforhope.org

many of you clearly are ignorant about th esituation in the middle east, and won't try to educate you.
Yes Palestine has a government that they have elected democratically. WHo the people of palestine has elected? Hammas, a group recognized as a terrorist group by the UN, EU, USA...basically the world. ISrael is not fighting the palestinians but Hammas. As a matter of fact, Hamais is financed by Iran whose president is only interested in the destruction of the state of Israel. Unfortunately for the Palestinian people, their wife and their children, they are suffering from the consequences of their democratic vote to deliberately place a terrorist group at their lead. Even Arafat, well known terroist in his ealrier years has done his best to get read of the Hammas. Fata, and mahmound abbas, have been fighting hammas...

I'm also "amazed" to see people in the street angry at israel fighting terrorist, but no on e seems concern that israel has received over 3000 rockets on their civilians this year!! Well, maybe these people are also secretly supporting al-qaeda actions then, another terrorist group. I'm not american and love when american are saying that israel is not a state because they have"invaded another country! Sorry, i ofrgot that America was free of human life when discovered...MAybe the NAvajo or Aplche tribes should start launching rockets on US states...

ANyway, Kanoute is an idiot> his shirt said palestine with some other mentions in arabic which I have no clue about...He plays for a club, reprensent the owners of the club and their fans who pays for tickets to go to the game. Not sure people who do not agree him are happy to pcontribute to this guy salary!!

Stacey and Yad, thank you for your comments, unfortunately anthony doesn't know what he's talking about when he says Palestine is not a country, i suppose my ancestors lived in a nameless territory then..
the fact that the word PALESTINE instigates such a debate about politics and sports mixed/should not be mixed obviously implies something political with the current events going on there and i can see why people are against this freedom of expression and deem it inappropriate, but it's not hurting anyone now, is it

...be excellent to each other

All Moslem are brotherhood.. Thats only the way He want to say Love for His brother and family at Palestine.
ALLAHU AKBAR..!

avtually anthony it wasn't a statement, it was one word only, if you want to be technical!!!

what about a player who wave the flag of brazil or sth after he scores isn't this political? same issue here?

and come on, since you are from spain and you say politics shouldn't interfere with football. barcelona fans made a sign "catalunia isn't spain" and this can be regarded as a national security issue!!

Yad, look at it this way. In Spain there are many regions who wish to separate, Cataluña, La Basque, Galicia, (the list is quite extensive) and they have their own governing bodies, does that officially make them countries now? The answer is no.

It is obvious that Kanouté's aim was to raise awareness about Palestine and shift support to them, that is why I said it might be offensive to Jewish players (if any present).

Like I said, it wasn't offensive, it was merely a political statement, which shouldn't have been said because it breaks a rule of the game, the same as if I went up to another player on a breakaway and slidetacked him, took him down but totally missed the ball, it is a straight red card because that's a rule of the game, simple as.

Matt, if there is no need for rules then why even create them at all? Should we just all live in a free for all?

Stacey, before I make my point I want you to know that I am not Israeli or Jewish for that matter nor am I Palestinian or Muslim, I am a Spaniard born In Sevilla, now living in Toronto, Canada and do not have affiliation to either of these groups. I actually sympathize with the Palestinian people in the current affairs within the Middle East, but this is about a footballing issue, not a political one. (Some may say it's the same thing)...

Palestine officially is NOT a country, they are governed by Hamas but are a territory of Israel. Israel is and has been a country since 1947 when the U.N. granted the land to the Jewish people who suffered not only in WWII but throughout much of history. Not saying it was right, but if you look at history because you're getting technical, so must I. Before the British ruled much of the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire did, therefore meaning there was never an official country called Palestine. About your point on free speech, you cannot apply US laws to this matter because the American system is a very hypocritical one, you must apply the FIFA rules because when you step out on the pitch you must abide by their rulings. Think of FIFA as the USA and the RFEF in this situation as the state, New York for example. There are two sets of rules in play here and therefore the RFEF and FIFA can both separately charge him or the RFEF might not and FIFA may, both governing bodies will use their own discretion in regards to the issue.

It's not so much that his message was offending, because to me it wasn't, it is the fact that is displayed a political message when FIFA ruling specifically says that any players cannot commit such actions. Its like me going out and stealing your wallet, under the law of the country we live in it is a felony, therefore I am subject to punishment.

Thanks for correcting Anthony stacey.
Thats exactly my point. Did he say i hate israel or kill someone. He just had a name on his shirt. What if i wear a shirt that says monaco? You aint gonna fine me, are you anthony??
What do you call the place that has a border with israel and has some issues with them?
Let me answer it for you.
Its named palestine.
They have their own government.
Does that make them a country now??
And how can you say the world palestine promotes politics or racism for that matter. If it said free palestine or down with israel. Now that would be political. And that jew player on field can score a goal and show a shirt saying israel. But if he is not israeli citizen, he should be fined. Just like kanoute.

Palestine IS a country. Just because an ILLEGAL occupation is taking place right now does not mean that Palestine does not exist. If we want to get "technical," then we would NOT consider israel a country since it is 1. illegal, 2. RACIST, and 3. its existence violates MANY UN resolutions.

And, Political speech, Mr. Anthony from Canada, is a LOT more protected than religious speech. One, for example, cannot pray in schools or at government-offices(applying US law) due to separation of church and state issues and the establishment clause of the constitution, but one CAN wear a jacket that has a political message (i.e. F*** the Draft during Vietnam).

But we must make sure you know that the shirt merely displayed the name of a country, PALESTINE. Absolutely no explicit political message there. But, if we apply YOUR logic that Palestine is not a country, then displaying the name of an "imaginary" place should be no problem... I mean, that's comparable to displaying a picture of the care bears, no?

Long Live Palestine.

'There are people who say you shouldn't mix music and politics or sports and politics....Well I think that's kinda bullshit.' - Adam Clayton (bassist from U2)

Football and politics have always been intertwined and always will be. I think some people need to get their noses out of rule books and back into reality.

@Sam: but when you are done washing the dishes and then give a keynote address for your company, then your bosses might be sensitive to what personal political topics or messages you want to send out to the customers/potential clients. ;-)

@Tamim: good point, though a vehement and heated debate took place after this incident as well.

And Yad, I don't want to get all political but technically no, Palestine is not a country.

Bobby, the difference here rather than having a shirt that says "I love Jesus" or something about paying respects to the dead is that this is purely political rather than a religious belief, although I'm sure religion, unfortunately plays a major role in this issue. When Kanoute scores a goal he points both of his fingers to the sky in thanks to Allah. There is no problem with this at all and it is the same as when other players do the sign of the Cross when entering the field of play or when Kaka points to the heavens to thank God.

Politics and football should never be crossed. What if there was Jewish players on the pitch at this moment? Whether or not it affects them directly they would and should rightfully so be angry with big Fredi's actions. When you play football one's differences should be cast aside and play for the love of the game, not to make political statements, religion and race shouldn't matter and therefore what Fredi did is technically wrong.

The RFEF (Governing body of Spanish football) released a statement yesterday saying that Kanoute may face a fine after they review the situation with a "committee" but since it was not documented on the game sheet he may get off with just a warning.

I totally support Kanoute.
What action will you take if say, david beckham removes his shirt and shows a slogan saying e.g." I love USA."
The answer is none.
For God' sake, it only says palestine. Ain't palestine a country?
Just because they are going through a period of unrest does not mean you ban even their name. It wasn't against Israel. And wasn't racist at all. If somebody tells me they are going to ban me for displaying a country's name i will think that is more racist. Just shows how narrow minded people at UEFA are.
That guy is a legend for me from now on. and i am not a even a Muslim.

One word..... LEGEND
We love u Freddie

Tamim - you make a good point, and I must withdraw my earlier opinion that Kanoute should be fined. I was under the false impression that Kanoute's shirt displayed a Hamas slogan. The majority of the people suffering in Gaza right now did nothing to deserve their current situation and an expression of support for them is understandable even within the bounds of a football match.

i respect your opinions all, but why didn't a similar debate took place when john pantsil of ghana waved the israeli flag after a match in world cup 2006!!

i think both UEFA and FIFA apply this rules in certain cases - and turn a deaf ear on others- which is an evidence of their prejudce and bias!!

Kanoute is much better than some EPL players and their Wag's. He also doesn't all his money for fun, he saves it for children in Mali. Wearing that kind of shirt shows his pure heart to support people in Palestina

Well sure, it's Sevilla's or UEFA's or whoever's right to think that Kanouté should keep his political opinions to himself, but I think saying he has no right to flash his t-shirt is a bit much. Just because he's working shouldn't have any effect on that. Does this mean next time I'm washing dishes at my job I shouldn't talk about my political beliefs? Obviously this is going to be a talking point at the club, and the beauty of being human beings is that we can TALK THESE THINGS OUT without resorting to forcefully taking money from one another.

^be realistic, most players play for themselves first, than they play for their club...

but thats besides the point... who are you to say "he has no right to do what he did"... he has every right to express himself just as any of us do or any other footballer does... if the kaka's of the world can wear shirts that say "i belong to jesus" or if players can wear shirts that pay respect to the dead (ribery)... than freddie should have the right like any other footballer to support who he wants.... i can understand if the shirt was in bad taste but this was a simple shirt showing his support for palestinians..

Another point here, sort of on the same topic of what Yevy pointed out. When you play football you play for the name on the front of the shirt, not the one on the back, once again poising me to say that Kanoute has no right to do what he did.

Okay well as a Sevillista and the writer for the Sevilla blog here on this site a have a few concerns with this. Firstly it is obvious that we all know what is going on in the Middle East over the past week and more likely than not have sided with one or the other, even if it doesn't affect us at all. I do not wish to give my opinion on the Gaza issue but I do about Kanoute.

I believe that politics and football should never have anything to do with each other. Seeing as they do more times than not, it is obvious that one's political ideologies can ruin the beautiful game. I like Kanoute, he's a respectable player as well as a person and as always played his heart out for us in Nervion. However, this I believe wasn't called for.

If we wanted to watch politics and the current situation in Israel then we would have turned on the news, not GolTV or any other footy channel.

@Johonna

"Jan, although repugnant, I would say that yes, if you support free speech, you support the right of people to show support for racist and fascist ideas."

This is true for freedom of speech in general but if we look at football in particular:

The UEFA and national FAs have banned, fined and whatever a lot of people who were "exercising their right of freedom of speech" and some cases have been covered on The Offside and the main reaction I remember in the comments is people voicing their disgust etc and rather demanding higher fees, bans and whatever instead of defending those people in the name of free speech. I find this all a bit hypocritical.

The Offside and Worldcupblog don't tolerate racist comments and there were cases where comments were deleted because they violated the house rules. And that's perfectly OK. This site makes the rules and if you are not happy with those rules, point your browser to another site. And when the organisations or companies who run a sports league or a sports club make similar house rules, then you have to live with that. The FIFA, UEFA and basically all national FAs don't like racism and so you have to deal with the consequences if you still express racist opinions during a football match. If FIFA, UEFA etc. don't want any political statements then the people in question have to deal with the consequences as well.

Kanoute can voice his opinion and beliefs as much as he wants when he's not working.

Good for him! It was a simple but important message and he has emotions so why not express it? I'm proud of the guy!

When a player is on the pitch he is an employee representing his club. He is wearing their uniform and is subject to their rules. Free speech does not apply in this case. If he wants to support a cause he should do it on his own time. I hope Kanoute gets fined and I hope it is Sevilla that does it.

Jan, although repugnant, I would say that yes, if you support free speech, you support the right of people to show support for racist and fascist ideas.

Ideally, though, fans would see this and recognize it for the ugly and reprehensible thing that it is and stop supporting the player. No shirt sales, bad press, letters to the club. Hopefully, the club would not renew his contract and the player would see that being a racist is not conducive to having a job and change his ways.

So yes, free speech means people get to say things that are icky, but it also means that you can stand up and tell them they are wrong.

"It doesn’t really matter what’s being said, if you believe in Free Speech, they should be able to say whatever the hell they want."

Does that include Di Canio's fascist sautes and stuff like that? Or in general, would it be OK to e.g. show your support for racist or other failed ideoligies?

It doesn't really matter what's being said, if you believe in Free Speech, they should be able to say whatever the hell they want.

Well done Kanoute....if only others were as outspoken maybe ppl would see the truth of what is happening to these poor people. If he gets any sort of punishment it will be an absolute disgrace!

thanx kanoute.....u said what would have taken 1000 words to say!!

I'm totally for it. 100 percent. Same goes for when Aboutrika wore a "Sympathize with Gaza" undershirt and revealed it in the African Cup after scoring a goal.

I believe it's totally fine for athletes to do this. And as to the political statement, this is definitely the time to be supporting both the Palestinian and Israeli civilians in the conflict. I see it as not so much a political message as a humanitarian message.

I think athletes should be able to do things such as these. They're asked to support charities and such all the time, why shouldn't they display their beliefs.

Besides your support for athletes should be because of their talent not because of their personal beliefs.

That's awesome. And yes, I support athletes doing this kind of thing. Why wouldn't they be allowed? It's bullshit and eerily fascist-like to ban a message about a conflict like this, especially if it's a message of SUPPORT. I mean, "Jesus this Jesus that" t-shirts are everywhere (especially if your name is Kaka), and no one flinches, and let's remember this is in large part a religious conflict.

Side note: Support Palestine.