First, a disclaimer: I understand that the following sub-par human beings do not represent all of the Aston Villa faithful. In fact, I hope they're a small minority. But dear god what a bunch of spineless humans.
Today Aston Villa thought, in the wake of three consecutive losses, that it would put a player who has been pretty universally panned by fans on twitter and open him up for questions. The results were, sadly, very predictable. Sprinkled amidst some half-decent (or truly inane but harmless) questions were those filled with vitriol. Tweets such as the following:
Why did you try that idiotic back pass on Saturday you moron? #AskBennett
— Rob (@RobRavenSteele) April 8, 2014
#askbennett could you tell lambert he couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery & I've seen one legged men play better than you Saturday
— Chris Sargent (@Mr_AVFC) April 8, 2014
Do you think your 1 good performance vs Chelsea in nearly 2 seasons at the club means your in the same league as J Lloyd Samuel? #askbennett
— Rob Westwood (@gunsforhire76) April 8, 2014
#askbennett who spends more time doing their hair before the game instead of worrying about defending you Clark or baker bet it's you
— Garywalls (@walls101) April 8, 2014
There were also, of course, those particular mouth-breathers who 1) thought it would be a good idea to publically make fun of someone doing their job and 2) did not even have the grace to do so in a grammatically correct fashion:
How does it feel to be the worst player (after Clark) to of worn a villa shirt #AskBennett
— C a r l R e e v e s (@CarlReevesAVFC) April 8, 2014
This one amused me, as it was a reminder of how quickly we forget Stephen Warnock:
Why are you the worlds worst ever left back #askbennett #avfc
— AJB ✌ (@AdamBlackmoore) April 8, 2014
But my real point here is this: yes, these are people who are paid significant amounts of money to play a game. Yes, we as Aston Villa fans have a right to be angry with the club. But no, we should not take that anger out in a grossly personal way against a player who is just trying to do his job.
Bennett is, admittedly, not a stellar left back. But to insinuate that he goes out of his way to be bad, or that he doesn't try while on the pitch is insane. Many of you are probably reading this at work right now. Simply by doing that, you're giving less effort at your job than Joe Bennett does at his. And I'm certainly not judging you.
Again, I understand that this is not a representation of all Villa fans, but boy was it disheartening to see. It's tough to remember sometimes that we are fans of a sport. This is a pastime. Neither life nor death hinges on the outcome of the events and we are merely looking to be entertained. To personally attack someone who is doing their damnedest to see that we get our entertainment is absolutely deplorable.
Scanning through the tweets, I did manage to find one that was negative, but directed in the right direction:
Who on earth at @AVFCOfficial thought #AskBennett was a good idea?? Christ. Our media relations team are worse than our football team!
— The Wonderball (@_Wonderball) April 8, 2014
That tweet gets a gold star on an otherwise disheartening day.