Ferdinand criticises England boo-boys

Ashley Cole has been ruled out of Wednesday night’s international match against Belarus as a result of injury problems. Whilst missing a World Cup qualifying match would be gutting for most top professionals, Cole may be breathing a sigh of relief at his enforced absence.

During last Saturday’s qualifier at Wembley, the Chelsea defender decided, wrongly in retrospect, to pass the ball across his own defensive line without paying full attention to the whereabouts of Kazakhstan’s players.

This momentary error in judgment led directly to a goal, something which had not previously looked likely for the visiting team. What followed this event has since been regarded as both shocking and deserved, depending upon which newspaper you read.

After Kazakhstan’s goal, certain sections of the Wembley crowd decided to boo Ashley Cole every time he touched the ball. The defender’s team mates were quick to spring to his defence, with Rio Ferdinand stating that those guilty of booing should feel personally “ashamed”.

Since the match, more senior figures have spoken out against the actions of the Wembley crowd, including Fabio Capello, who believes that it is imperative for the crowd to “help him and not boo him”. The FA has also been vocal in its condemnation of the booing.

A spokesman for the association stated that “it is crazy that a section of our own supporters are booing one of our own players”. The FA is also aware that booing is becoming something of a tradition at the new Wembley, with previous victims including Frank Lampard and David Bentley.

If England fans want the national team to put the horror of not qualifying for Euro 2008 behind them, they need to provide unconditional support for the players on the pitch. If a player makes a mistake, the last thing they need to hear is booing from their own fans.

This kind of behaviour is likely to instigate a vicious cycle that will prove detrimental to the overall team performance: a mistake is followed by booing, which causes lack of confidence, leading to more careless mistakes, which lead to further booing.

Some journalists have excused the behaviour of the Wembley fans by stating that Cole has become something close to a national figure of hate since his controversial move from Arsenal to Chelsea. These pundits argue that Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard would not receive this kind of treatment following a mistake on the pitch.

Whilst it may be true that Ashley Cole behaved in a selfish manner during the build-up to his move across London, when he enters the field of play in an England shirt he should be allowed to shrug off his reputation for ninety minutes and automatically receive respect as part of a larger sporting unit representing the country.

By booing any player representing England on the pitch, the fans are not just slighting the individual concerned but also the country and national identity as a whole. The Wembley crowd needs to get behind the team and stop the tradition of booing before it stops being shocking and simply becomes the norm.

Written by Charlotte Cook