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According to the Telegraph today, a Tottenham Hostpur fan was arrested after allegedly throwing a banana peel on the Emirates Stadium pitch in the direction of Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The incident took place just after Aubameyang scored the first of his two goals in the match, early in the first half. Arsenal came back from a 2-1 deficit to win the match 4-2 in what was an especially charged North London Derby that included scuffles between players on the sideline and fan violence in and around the Emirates. The Telegraph says that six other fans — both Spurs and Gooners — were made at the Emirates during and after the match.
A Tottenham spokesman made the following statement after the match:
“Behaviour such as this is completely unacceptable and the supporter in question will be issued with a ban.”
It seems amazing that in the Year of Our Lord 2018 that I need to write an article that intimates that throwing racially-charged objects towards an African football player is a bad thing, but, well, here we are. I know there have been other times that Spurs fans have been involved in bad behavior, but this is the first and most overtly racist incident involving a Spurs fan I can remember in a long time.
We rightfully act shocked and dismayed when members of other clubs, specifically ones with a history of fan racism like Chelsea, are involved in incidents like this, but we shouldn’t be at all shy about calling out our own fan base when things like this happen. In fact, we should be even MORE outraged and angry. Tottenham may be the long-persecuted club with a history of Jewish identity, but it seems as though that doesn’t mean that we don’t have our fair share of racist asshats. Football fans who do shit like this are bad, and it doesn’t matter what club they support.
I’m glad the individual has reportedly been identified and arrested, and the club is right in making sure that this person never gets to watch a Tottenham Hotspur football match again, ever.