Shame of the game
Last updated 11:38, Wednesday, 16 April 2008
PAUL HUNTINGTON is a highly-rated young defender with pace, presence and prospects. Off the pitch, the 20-year-old from Carlisle is known to be respectful, laid-back and well-mannered.
Yet in the space of 45 minutes playing for Leeds United against his home town team on Saturday he managed to portray himself as just another arrogant, big-headed footballer with an ego roughly the size of a small planet.
He acted like a complete idiot by repeatedly grabbing the club badge on his shirt, snarling and making childish and offensive gestures in the direction of Carlisle’s travelling fans, including kids.
His shocking conduct, which went on from the moment Leeds scored early in the second half until the final whistle, betrayed him as an immature young man with an over-inflated view of his own self worth.
He has let himself and his family down. Not to mention his home town. Huntington is very lucky indeed that he is not clobbered by the FA for incitement because there is no doubt his stupid behaviour could have sparked serious crowd trouble at Elland Road.
You’d have thought he would have wanted to portray himself in the best possible light by focusing solely on turning in a good performance for Leeds, justifying the £½million fee they paid Newcastle for him last summer and making his home town proud of him.
A smile and a wave for the 1,710 fans who travelled from Carlisle to Yorkshire would have earned him a huge ovation – even if he had played a part in the Blues’ downfall.
Instead, Huntington has managed to turn himself into a player Carlisle fans want to hate. . . and he has probably alienated himself from his own people for the rest of his career.
His childish antics also quite clearly distracted him, considering his unconvincing performance which did nothing to enhance his reputation as a highly-regarded young player.
But the backlash his behaviour has generated among United supporters is way over the top.
Angry fans clearly managed to whip each other up into a frenzy and they too have let themselves down. Making death threats against Huntington and circulating his mobile number on the internet is utterly beyond contempt and a complete over-reaction.
Huntington has now at least had the good grace to hold his hands up and admit he went too far with his unsporting behaviour.
He’s swallowed his pride, owned up to his mistake and publicly apologised to fans and to United for the offence he clearly caused. Good on him for that.
He deserves a lot of credit for his contrite behaviour in the ugly aftermath of Saturday’s game.
Now he needs to grow up and accept the consequences of his behaviour on the pitch.
There is a big lesson for him here and United fans should do the gracious thing and accept his heartfelt apology.
Huntington may have acted like a total chump – but he doesn’t deserve death threats.
