The original hand-shake snub (Video)
With all the furore over Saturday’s game at Loftus Road which sees QPR and Chelsea and more pertinently, the possibility of Anton Ferdinand and John Terry (if fit) facing up to each other at the pre-match hand-shake following the controversy of last season and the racism accusations, let’s take a trip back to the original hand-shake snub.
Ironically, and unsurprisingly depending on who you support, it involves John Terry again, this time vs former Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge who had since moved to Manchester City. Chelsea were league leaders in February 2010 as Bridge and City visited Stamford Bridge a matter of weeks after almost every newspaper in the country had been filled with allegations that John Terry had had an extra marital affair with Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend and the mother of his child. Having already had the England captaincy for the forthcoming World Cup (one he would later get back in 2011 only for the racism allegations to see him stripped of it once more last season), Terry was under pressure from all quarters to offer the olive branch to his former team-mate and attempt to solve the issue.
Bridge refused and even went as far as to retire from international football, costing him his place in South Africa, such was his dislike of his former captain for both club and country. The stage was set and on February 27, 2010, the whole world, whether you were a football lover or not, tuned to see whether Bridge would take Terry’s offer of a hand-shake. The rest is history.
Led by an inspired Craig Bellamy, City went on to produce some of their most enterprising football of the season to win 4-2 and in the process inflict the future champions’ first home league defeat of the season. Since then, the two have refused to shake hands again when Bridge turned out for West Ham against Chelsea the following season. At least there is no danger of Terry being snubbed by him again this year, with Bridge now playing in the Championship for Brighton and Hove Albion.
In hindsight, would Bridge have been better off simply making the concilliatory gesture and moving on? Perhaps. But as Martin Tyler says in the video below, if you’re willing to give up an England career for the situation, just how exactly can you shake the hand of the person who drove you to that decision?
Adam Mazrani
For more Football Blogs and opinion from football fans around the world
0 comments