Published: 22 March, 2012
by RICHARD OSLEY

NO “jokes” this week, no silly words about Spurs – despite the shifting league positions. In fact, the opposite. Tottenham Hotspur were brilliant.

From the moment Fabrice Muamba collapsed on Saturday, the players, the staff and the supporters at their club were brilliant. Let’s hope their quick-thinking has helped save his life.

In a moment, everything was in perspective.

Through our stupid adoration, our slavish support for our football clubs, we are able to suspend the reality of things that hurt.

It’s escapism.

The one-upmanship us Arsenal and Spurs fans play, rushing to highlight the other team’s underachievement, is a break from a world where nobody has any money, the planet is overcooking and the people we love don’t live forever.

As Fabrice lay on the floor, we were back in the room. Everybody was on the same team.

There’s only one exception – and it is only one – amid the Spurs support you could take issue with. In his Daily Mail column on Tuesday, Richard Littlejohn, a Tottenham fan, suggested football was too sentimental in their response to tragedy.

He wrote how Gary Cahill, who dedicated a goal for Chelsea to his friend, “couldn’t even be bothered to spell out the word ‘for’ in Pray4Muamba”.

Sod off.

Cahill was just being caring.

The other players were just being caring.

Football was just being caring.

Tottenham Hotspur cared when it mattered and even Arsenal fans should love them for that.

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