A number of Arsenal players have responded to a viral video of their treatment of a mascot for the game against Norwich City this weekend.
Over the weekend, a young mascot by the name of Billy got the chance to meet the Arsenal players ahead of the game against Norwich City.
As the players arrived, however, the Norwich Instagram camera caught a couple of them walking past the mascot to the dressing room. This was immediately turned into a social media scandal, with countless headlines about Arsenal players snubbing the youngster.
https://twitter.com/TheFootyStands/status/1201813076703625217
Of course, this was just a short clip from Billy’s day. He got to meet all the players in the dressing room and walk out onto the pitch alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Calum Chambers has the pictures to prove it.
The cameras sometimes only show one side of the story. It’s always great to meet our Junior Gunners mascot in the dressing room before every match. We hope Billy had a great day at Norwich on Sunday and it was a pleasure to meet him. pic.twitter.com/qBBRZz1g8e
— Calum Chambers (@CalumChambers95) December 3, 2019
Chambers and his teammates were obviously unhappy with the way the incident was being reported:
https://twitter.com/LacazetteAlex/status/1201892599637909505
Others have since pointed out that unlike certain other Premier League clubs, Arsenal offer their mascots this opportunity to meet all the players and so on for free. Another North London club charges £405 per game, for example.
https://twitter.com/sarahhandleyx/status/1201904336483344385
It would certainly have been nice for a few players to acknowledge the mascot in the tunnel. Given we only saw the clip for a few seconds, it’s very possible some of them did.
At the same time, the players all know they’re meeting him in the dressing room anyway. This wasn’t his only opportunity to say hello, and the players are all carrying things in following their journey.
Better to give him a proper chance to meet them once they’re settled in the dressing room anyway. The whole incident is a nothing story.