Soccer is the game of entertainment where two teams demonstrate high on sportsmanship, but sometime, especially today, the core meaning of this wonderful game has changed, in fact, now it is more a ego battle than a game of sports and reason for this is not the growing competition but allied factors that provoke every dissatisfaction to take the aggressive shape. It has recently been a concern and we have seen how minor in-field conflicts transformed into bigger security concerns. Until recently, media and intolerance among the young players were supposed to be the reason behind these rising violence but now we have another opinion from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who thinks it is social media which is fueling the disgruntlement among players and fans which is the biggest threat football associations across Europe are facing at the moment. He said this ahead of their Sunday premier league game with Stoke City and recalled last season incident when own fans booed the Gunners after their shoddy display in the 3-2 loss at Britannia Stadium.
Now, when both the sides will be in front of each other, Wenger, despite having been in much comfortable position on board, believes upcoming game would not be a replica of last one and they will earn full points of it. Talking about the growing intolerance in the game, 66-year-old Frenchman said, “It might be one of the problems that football has to face in the coming years. You see it in many countries now, more and more. Maybe with the social networks, everybody is allowed opinions and can strengthen that opinion with other people who have the same opinion.
“Before your opinion was a bit more isolated. Today straight away it becomes a stream of people who think the same way and they become a force. Maybe that’s the reason, I don’t know.”
Adding about the differences he observes in EPL to that of his home league, he said, “That is not easy to experience. Here we complain because anyone can win the league, but it’s much more interesting, because fans keep hope as well. In clubs like Lyon and Marseille who are used to fighting for the championship, it’s difficult to experience that suddenly that there’s no hope. I was sad (for fans’ frustrations) and upset more by the result than the individual reactions of people, who I can understand. When you love the club you want the results to be positive. You want as well not to be isolated too much. You want contact with people who love the club.”