It may have been a spur-of-the-moment overreaction and Gerard Piqué would not be the first Spain centre-half to be talked out of retirement after Carles Puyol’s U-turn in 2010, but if he sticks by his decision to stop playing international football in 2018 can he really be blamed?
The Barcelona player, one of the best defenders to have played for Spain, has long been vilified for taking a strong pro-Catalonian independence view and the poisonous reaction to him cutting the sleeves off his full-length shirt as opposed to wearing a short-sleeved one that bears the country’s flag during the 2-0 win against Albania on Sunday night was the final straw.
“It’s not a heat of the moment decision, I’ve given a lot of thought to this,” Piqué said. “It’s not because of what happened today, it’s because I always give my best on the field and although there are some people who have thanked me, some don’t think it’s OK for me to be here.”
The last point is sadly true because even though Piqué’s commitment to playing for Spain cannot be questioned his political views means some will still go ahead and do just that. He is not yet 30 but has 86 caps and won a World Cup and a European Championship. A dip in form looks some way off and when he bids farewell after the World Cup two years from now it is not exactly a wild prediction to suggest La Roja will be a lot weaker without him.
He is not the first Barça player to play for Spain and hold pro-Catalan views, and he will not be the last. Yet the targeted abuse gets worse.
That unedifying episode also comes on the back of some angry reactions closer to home. Take a look at Wayne Rooney’s standard post-match tweet after England’s facile win over Malta on Saturday night. More than half of the replies are telling him to retire or explain how he was nutmegged in the first half, then there are the grim replies saying he should “get injured” or “if you were a horse you would have been shot by now”. Others are unpublishable.
Not for the first time this season Rooney was poor, but what gives a keyboard warrior the right to abuse somebody who has always given his best? It is hard to argue against supporters who have paid for a ticket to air grievances over a bad performance, yet there is a line that is being crossed with increasing frequency, more often than not by faceless people watching at home on TV.
Last Thursday night a baseless rumour started doing the rounds in Dublin that Harry Arter was going to defect from the Republic of Ireland to England because he had not yet played a competitive fixture.
Arter, who had a hamstring injury, has never intimated that he would switch allegiances and the story was quickly rejected by all parties – just not before the Internet trolls could rear their ugly heads again. The Bournemouth midfielder was oblivious to the false story before noticing a surge in despicable personal abuse on his Twitter feed.
He gave an interview to an Irish newspaper on Sunday saying: “Honestly, it was the only time that I have ever had a thought that maybe I shouldn’t bother playing for Ireland. The messages were just vile. I was shocked by what people were sending my way. This was personal stuff, really nasty.” Again, could anybody not clouded by partisanship hold it against him if he was no longer interested in wearing a green shirt?
These incidents have developed to a backdrop of political turmoil in Britain and fair questions over why no footballer is willing to make a Colin Kaepernick-style stand in an age where xenophobia is being openly encouraged by some of those in power. Yet Piqué’s case provides a stark explanation for Premier League players keeping quiet when it comes to the impending departure from the European Union among other issues.
There was some fun poked at Harry Kane for his non-committal response back in June when asked about Brexit but if he had a strong view and aired it, the Spurs striker would have been faced with a no-win situation.
Piqué’s long-held stance has not impacted on his job of winning football matches but similar to Rooney and Arter, the legions of abusive online messages – including several wishing physical harm – sent to the 29-year-old over the past 24 hours make for uncomfortable reading.
There has never been a place on social media for nuance. Sitting on the fence does not generate retweets and likes, but put yourself in the place of a high-profile footballer. Would you let your true feelings be known when an avalanche of abuse is guaranteed in return? Piqué should be commended for having a public stance but the grief appears no longer worth it.