By Chris Wright
Bit of a strange one, but Robin van Persie has had to take to Twitter this morning to refute claims (largely from jilted Chelsea fans it has to be said) that he celebrated his second goal at Stamford Bridge with a ‘nazi salute’…
http://youtu.be/mCqbLVl6xeg
Just to play Devil’s advocate for a second, the thrusting of the arm into the air could be construed as a little bit ‘Hitler-y’ to the untrained eye, though Van Persie was quick to explain his actions, tweeting thusly:
“It has been brought to my attention of some ridiculous allegations concerning my celebration of one of my goals.
“It is totally ludicrous to suggest that my action of brushing my shoulder could be construed as anything else but a showing of joy and celebration.
“To suggest this meant anything to the contrary is insulting and absolutely absurd as nothing else came into my mind.”
You have to ask yourself: Assuming he has strong feelings either way, would a chap from Rotterdam really likely to be that keen on the Nazis considering they raized it to rubble once upon a time? It’s little details like that that seem to go amiss when these lofty judgements are made after 20 seconds of grainy Youtube video.
It’s all very reminiscent of the time Joey Barton was rabidly outed as a card-carrying SS stormtrooper when he celebrated a goal against Villa with a ‘moustache and extended arm’ gesture – which, of course, fizzled out into absolutely nothing once the good people of the internet stopped being such gormless dingbats and moved on to the next baseless, half-arsed witch hunt.