Humanity Hallows Issue 5 Out Now
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By Harry Spindler

Image: BBC

After Monday night, Sutton were no longer carrying on their FA cup journey. Arsenal quite convincingly dumped the Non-League side out of the competition with goals from Walcott and Perez, but, in all honesty, the limelight was stolen once more by ‘roly poly goalie’ Wayne Shaw.

It was quite the eventful day for Sutton’s back-up goalkeeper who started by trimming the grass on the pitch, hoovering the dugout and then preparing to take up his usual spot on the bench for the underdog side. After Sutton completed all of the substitutions, Shaw took the opportunity to get himself a tasty pie whilst watching one of the biggest teams in England play right in front of his eyes, and, to us fans, this only cemented his place as an FA Cup legend, one that we will remember in our old age. Whilst fans found the idea of a goalkeeper tucking into a pie on the bench hilarious, the FA took a difference stance to it.

Sutton had taken up on an offer from betting company Sun Bets to be sponsored by them for the match against Arsenal, and the company ran an 8/1 promotion that Shaw would be eating on the bench during the game. Shaw agreed to this idea and evidently tucked in. The Non-League outfit should have been receiving praise and plaudits the next day in the press and, instead, Shaw had stolen their pride away.

Non-League clubs struggle on a day-by-day basis to be respected by those who support higher clubs, mainly Premier League ones, and now the powers that planned out this fiasco have pushed that struggling reputation further back. Shaw was played like a fiddle, and was forced to resign. He lived in Southampton and, for him to work at the club, he would have to sleep on a sofa within the clubhouse three nights a week. However, there are rules and these rules apply to every single team and every single player within the English football pyramid; what Shaw did classes as fixing a bet. Sun Bet knew these rules, so did Shaw, and, to make it worse, The Sun is now blaming the FA for “ruining the magic of the FA Cup”.

Gary Lineker somehow believes this is an attack on day-by-day football:

Day by day football is losing its heart and its sense of humour. #piegate

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) February 21, 2017

No one has an issue with Shaw eating a pie; it’s the fact that Sun Bets most likely put him up to it as a laugh, knowing what they were doing. Now they have left him unemployed. What is to stop other players now thinking they can get away with similar? Regardless of whether it’s Shaw eating a pie on the bench or another lad on another team purposely getting sent off, if he has tampered with a bet, he has broken the rules and yet, The Sun is to have us believe that it is the FA in the wrong here and they have left a man without a job.

If The Sun cares so much about Shaw after his forced resignation, they should do something about getting him a new job, instead of blaming the FA for their corrupt workings. Don’t let The Sun make you believe that this is the FA attacking grassroots football and the lower leagues, it is once again a paper which is often wrong in these cases, trying to cover their own backs after getting Shaw the sack.

Then again, would we ever expect anything less from The Sun?