A century ago Humbert Wolfe wrote a short epigram about the quality of British journalism which came to my mind this week as I watched the unfolding story of Morelos, Traynor and the shady manipulation of stories in the media. Wolfe wrote...
You cannot hope to bribe or twist, thank God, the British journalist
But seeing what the man will do unbribed there’s no occasion to.
The fiasco began when Alfredo Morelos found that someone appeared to be tampering with his expensive sports car. The police were called and a man was taken into custody. Initially it seemed quite a worrying story for as we know all to well certain footballers have to deal with a lot of abuse in their lives away from the field. The Daily Record led with a story the following day which quoted Morelos suggesting the person was tampering with the brakes. There was no evidence to support this assertion but by putting it out there the tabloid fed the wilder imagination of those on social media who have a tenuous grip on reality. Some pointed the finger at Celtic fans and there was wild talk of ‘attempted murder’ and all manner of ludicrous fantasies. The following day, the Sunday Mail led with the more prosaic theory that Morelos’ wife Yesenia had hired a detective to track his movements and had given him access to the vehicle. Whether this was for security reasons or she suspected him of ‘playing away from home’ remains unclear but the moot point is that it wasn’t in any way connected to footballing rivalry.
The whole story was typical tabloid tosh which few of us would give any credence to but in the wake of these frankly embarrassing developments for the player he suddenly gives a rare interview on sky tv where he spoke of his life in Scotland and the abuse he claims to have received here. The interview was subtitled as Morelos has yet to master English sufficiently enough to carry out such an interview in English. Spanish speakers were quick to point out that what Morelos was saying in the interview was at times widely variant to the subtitles one assumes Sky put on the screen as he spoke. Consider this section...
Sky subtitles text: ‘First I’ll talk about the Motherwell match. We were winning a very important match. I scored a very important goal and I celebrated. I didn’t mean to offend anyone. If you look back I have done this celebration at home and away matches. In the match against Celtic we were winning in added time. I fell down. Whether that is simulation or not is up to the referee. Afterwards it was frustrating to hear the crowd screaming at me. They were saying offensive and racist words. I wasn’t trying to instigate of incite anything. I just wanted them to stop. It (the cut throat gesture) was a sort of symbol which said come on guys the game’s over. This doesn’t need to continue! I understand that you criticise me but now it’s over.’
Accurate translation: First I’m going to talk about the Motherwell game. We were winning an important game and I celebrated as I always do with my fans and the Rangers people. The gesture wasn’t meant to offend them. I have always celebrated like that but yes it wasn’t a gesture to offend anyone.Then against Celtic, we were winning 2-0. I don’t know if I fell or whatever but I wasn’t trying to win a penalty. The referee decided to send me off, that’s fine, that’s his decision. But the gesture I made wasn’t racist.’
Now you can argue about Morelos’ gestures towards the Motherwell and Celtic fans but we who’ve been around a while know what a ‘GIRUY’ gesture means in any language and accept it as part of the banter which goes on in football which alas now gets players a yellow card. The cut throat gesture-was a little more naughty though but c’est la vie, folk who give it out from the stands should be man enough to take it back. What sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb in the two translations above though is that Sky’s subtitles have Morelos saying Celtic fans were using racist words while the more accurate translation from Spanish to English has Morelos saying that his gesture wasn’t racist. These two polar opposite translations need explaining.
Celtic FC were rightly furious at the misrepresentation of Morelos’ words in the Sky subtitles and released an angry statement which said in part...
‘Celtic Football Club has today asked Sky to conduct an investigation into an interview broadcast yesterday that accuses Celtic fans of racist behaviour. Translations provided to Celtic between the words spoken in the interview broadcast and the subtitles used by Sky Sports. In particular and most concerning, the broadcaster used the following subtitle on screen ‘Afterwards it was very frustrating to hear the crowd screaming at me. They were using offensive and racist words. Mr Morelos does not use these words anywhere within the extended interview which has been broadcast across Sky’s platforms.’
The club is clearly annoyed at these mistranslations and you have to say who can blame them? There was at that derby match the usual industrial language you associate with such fixtures. I have seen footage where Morelos is clearly verbally abused at that game but no proof of any racist abuse has yet surfaced and believe me if it existed those with no love of Celtic would have spread it far and wide by now.
This fuss was compounded by media pundit Michael Stewart questioning who plants stories such as the brake tampering nonsense which appeared in the Daily Record. He also laid into Rangers PR guru Jim Traynor who he described as a bully and a man who caused division for personal gain. Traynor has form for manipulating the message and spinning stories in Scotland’s tabloids. He reported on the death of Rangers in 2012 with withering words about 140 years of history being over. A couple of years later he is hired by Rangers and describes those who said the club died as ‘sinister.’ The little credibility he had was lost with that flip-flop.
I suspect the constant coverage of Alfredo Morelos’ ‘woes’ in Scotland is little more than a smoke screen for his eventual departure from Ibrox. It is easier to sell the myth he was hounded out of Scotland by bigots and racists rather than admit the club needs the money. Early signs are that the gullible amongst the Ibrox support are already falling for it. The Columbia’s is undoubtedly a good striker but his diving, play acting, snide digs and attitude to the game may be responsible for much of the abuse he receives. Let me make it clear, anyone who racially abuses a footballer should feel the full force of the law and be banned from the game but I simply don’t see much evidence that Morelos is racially abused On a regular basis in Scotland. Much as I love my club I would call out anybody who behaved in that way amongst the Celtic Support but you can’t make accusations without evidence to back it up and in these days were mobile phones are ubiquitous you’d think we’d have seen some by now.
Fair play to Michael Stewart and Graham Speirs in opening the discussion about the often hidden and shady world of the PR manipulators. They’ll undoubtedly receive flak now from those who find their words uncomfortable but they do the game and indeed the wider world of journalism a service by reminding their colleagues that the unspun truth still matters. Credit too to Celtic for speaking up for their supporters as they have in the past frustrated many by their silence on other issues.
Journalism is about speaking the truth and reporting the facts. If it fails in this core duty we are all the poorer.
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