View: Kwadwo Baah controversy v Portsmouth was okay, until it wasn’t
Portsmouth were left in despair on Boxing Day after going down in the 95th minute at Vicarage Road against Watford.
Zak Swanson’s goal had given Pompey an early lead at a ground where Tom Cleverley’s side boast a prominent record, but a second-half penalty awarded for a foul outside the area and then an injury-time decider settled the game in the Hornets’ favour on an afternoon that ended in heartache.
Well, for about a minute or so. Heartache soon turned to fury in the away end and on the pitch alike as Watford youngster Kwadwo Baah took it upon himself to play the pantomime villain, executing the ‘take the L’ dance made popular by the video game series, Fortnite [ITV Football on X, 26 December]. How football has changed.
Baah had been in regular back-and-forth with an always-animated travelling Pompey crowd throughout the game, and grabbed his opportunity to get on the wind-up upon the final whistle. His actions were taken exception to by a number of Blues players including Swanson, Terry Devlin, Jordan Archer and Connor Ogilvie, before the computer game-inspired bounce-around was pulled out of the locker.
It has divided opinion – but is this seemingly harmless action a blatant show of disrespect?
Portsmouth fans v Kwadwo Baah
The reason this debate is even worth a discussion is because Watford’s right-winger Baah – who was booked during the 90 minutes – was shown a second yellow card for the ‘Fortnite’ antics, angering Cleverley who was shown to be seething with his player, who will now serve a suspension.
The Hornets’ media team lapped it up [Watford FC on X, 26 December] – engagement is gold dust – though Cleverley and his staff may have a quiet word. Watford’s more senior players understood the ire of their Pompey counterparts as Baah scurried away like a child kicked out of a maths class.
The flip side is that players are not robots, and should not be treated as such. Baah will cite the provocation he was receiving from the Blues fans for much of the contest, and to ‘give a bit back’ is now thankfully widely accepted, in fact encouraged.
But the ‘dance’ soured it a little. That part was aimed at the onrushing Pompey players, rather than to the supporters. With the marginal percentage of hopefuls who actually break into the professional game, there remains a healthy respect among footballers at that level. Baah naively severed that.
After serving his ban with his tail between his legs, the German youth international, 21, will return to action with Watford who visit Fratton Park on 21 April. The pantomime is very likely to provide its sequel that day.
In other Portsmouth news, finance expert Dan Plumley predicts how the January transfer window will pan out at Fratton Park.
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