Friendship with a touch of racism: Why the trick of football players did not find supporters
Dmitry Kurkin
The history of football players Kokorin and Mamaev, marked "ten years of friendship" with two incidents (in the first, the driver of the leading Channel One suffered, who was taken to intensive care with a traumatic brain injury, in the second - an employee of NAMI and an official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, who was also insulted on national soil), and the truth stands out. Not only the severity of misconduct, which, depending on the article, may drag on two (“Beating”), five (“Hooliganism”) or eight (“Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm”) years of imprisonment, but also an amazingly adequate response from all concerned.
Police initiate cases; officials resent; The Russian Football Union and the Premier League publicly condemn the guilty; fans need to drive out players who are dishonoring their colors; clubs promise to evaluate incidents and look for an opportunity to break contracts (this will not be so easy to do, but the careers of both players are already finished, no one doubts it). Even the school where Kokorin was studying responded, removing the stand devoted to him. That's the way it should happen - but the solitaire is fully assembled just now, in the case, which seemed to be written off from the games of the GTA series.
Not that Russian footballers have exemplary behavior. They were followed by a drunken brawl at the airport, and an attempt to arrange a one-on-one fight with the policeman, and a careless ride on a counter, and explanations with fans in extremely flowery terms. And this is not even the first clash of football players with officials - something like an enmity between two castes comes through, each of which, other things being equal, is surrounded by an invisible shield of impunity. But until this morning, the players somehow managed to get off with minor penalties and beatings on the neck.
The country has long noticed a recognizable ugly grimace, but only now truly was horrified
Perhaps because the logic “it’s a son of a bitch, but it’s our son of a bitch” worked out: the players still give a little more reason for pride than the authorities. It is easier to understand Andrei Arshavin with his “your expectations are your problems” than a deputy who has been foaming him for spoiled vacation. Yes, they are "limit children" - a limit on foreign players in Russian football, which gave passport holders with a double-headed eagle a guaranteed place in the clubs. But they themselves do not write out salaries comparable to those of top players. Yes, they squander two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a night in Monte Carlo soon after the disgraceful departure from the European Championship - but they can afford it. Yes, they throw out everything drunk - and who does not drink, you name it, no, I'm waiting.
However, yesterday’s incident - and this is the most shameful thing in which players who have ever worn a national team shirt were implicated - no discount coupons will be distributed anymore. One may speculate on the topic of what would have happened if the one sitting at the table next to Kokorin and Mamayev did not turn out to be an official, and besides, he was so intractable: it was reported, for example, that friends of football players tried to redeem the beating video from the coffee shop , but Pak driver intervened.
But the point, most likely, is that even in a society where jammed cases are not uncommon, there is an understanding of the limits of what is permissible. Understanding that people who feel their permissiveness, sooner or later go to lawlessness. Understanding that having sown domestic xenophobia, you will reap a storm, and people should not be insulted on racial grounds. Kokorin and Mamaev are a mirror in which the country has long noticed a recognizable ugly grimace (this is not their first adventure with a scandalous shimmer), but only now truly was horrified.
COVER: Stanislav Krasilnikov / TASS