Kenny and Rooney are totally different situations

Heated exchange: Dalglish and Wenger at the end of Sunday's 1-1 draw

In the week Wayne Rooney ended his two-game ban for swearing into a video camera the football viewing public heard another four-letter exchange on the Sky Sports cameras.

But Kenny Dalglish telling Arsene Wenger to “piss off” was taken in a very different way to Rooney’s rant at Upton Park.

I for one laughed and cheered when I heard the Liverpool manager respond so bluntly to Wenger’s all too familiar complaints at refereeing decisions.

So was Dalglish’s episode different from Rooney’s? The FA certainly think so. They have decided he will not be charged, with a spokesman saying: “There is a clear distinction between the Wayne Rooney incident and others as seen,” said an FA spokesman. “Rooney’s outburst was directed quite pointedly at a television camera.”

This is the right decision not just for the fact that Rooney spoke straight into the camera but also for other reasons. Exhibit A: The expletive used. Dalglish told Wenger to “piss off,” a word often heard on television and in the wider world and one not regarded as an awful one to use. Rooney used the F-word, one that I have decided not to repeat on this blog and one generally considered to be one of the worst in the English language.

Exhibit B: The situation. When Rooney swore he had just scored, the most joyous moment on any football pitch and United had taken a firm hold on the game and with that a step closer to the title. Dalglish was going towards Wenger to make the sporting gesture of “good game,” despite the controversy of two penalties at the end. When Wenger responded with a whinge he was declining Dalglish’s hand and his reaction was a spare of the moment response that happened to be caught on camera.

Exhibit C: The reaction. When asked about what happened in his post-match interview, Dalglish calmly responded that by saying: “I don’t know why a conversation on the bench between two managers is relevant when you have just had a game like that.” He held his dignity. Rooney apologised, through a statement, but then moaned when he got his ban saying he is not the first to swear on camera. No Wayne, nor is Kenny, but you are the first in recent memory to actually go into the camera and swear.

There are reasons for the Rooney argument. After Wayne’s episode, the issue of swearing on a football pitch had been highlighted so surely Dalglish should know better. A stalwart of the game, he should know that a camera would be on him at the end of the match. Secondly, it could be argued that Dalglish was insulting Wenger, something else that needs to be stamped out so not to influence younger players. If you look past all the side plots, then both were caught by the viewing public swearing on camera then what is the difference?

The difference was the intent so it is fair to say that the FA got this one right. I’ll leave it to Sir Trevor Brooking to explain why: “The reaction straight into the camera was the difference.
"I can understand why the incident at the West Ham match led to action being taken, but in this one unless it was exactly like that, which I gather it wasn't, I don't think there is any comparison.”