Getting shirty

Reaction to West Ham's dramatic win over Arsenal at the weekend has focused largely on the angry touchline exchange between Hammers boss Alan Pardew and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger following Marlon Harewood's late winner (see left), and rightly so, for it was one of the funniest things I've seen on a football pitch in a long time.

But the game also featured an example of one of the more pernicious phenomena currently making its presence felt in the beautiful game: that of the goal-scorer who celebrates his goal by removing his shirt.

Although most commentators and pundits rightly condemn such unnecessary disrobing, many are quick to point to the importance of the goal or the personal circumstances of the scorer as mitigating factors.

I feel, however, that a player who removes his shirt after scoring (and follows this up with a bout of shameless posturing) is effectively saying: 'This goal is about me. It's not about my club, it's about me. I scored it and to make sure you don't forget this key fact I'm stripping myself of my team's colours to avoid any confusion.'

Perennial ankle-botherer Robbie Savage landed himself in hot water a few years back when a TV interview prior to a Wales v Italy European Championship qualifying game ended with him casually tossing an Italy shirt to the ground. Savage was roundly criticised for his disrespectful attitude at the time, but when a player does the same thing with his own club's shirt we overlook this arrogant denigration of the most potent modern symbol of the ever-weakening union between player and fan.