Arsenal Post Support To Ukraine, Netizens Touch Ozil's Post About Uighur Muslims

Arsenal support Ukraine (Twitter @arsenal)

JAKARTA - Arsenal's upload on their official Twitter account recently attracted the sharp attention of netizens. The post shows the Gunners' support for Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia.

In the upload that was shared on Sunday, March 6, Arsenal showed a photo of their jersey and on it was placed a blue and yellow cloth captain's armband symbolizing the Ukrainian flag. Accompanying this upload, Arsenal wrote a message about togetherness as a form of support.

"Football stands together," wrote Arsenal.

Football Stands Together pic.twitter.com/fvpMBCrxIf

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) March 6, 2022

However, the upload actually caused its own polemic. The reason is that the club from North London is considered to apply double standards regarding international political issues.

Moreover, netizens also mentioned that the attitude shown by Arsenal regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine was different when one of the former Arsenal players, Mesut Ozil, voiced support for Uighur Muslims in 2019.

At that time, Ozil, who was finally frozen from the Gunners squad and left Arsenal, had uploaded his concerns about the injustices experienced by Uighur Muslims due to the policies of the Chinese Government.

Related to that, Arsenal also responded to Ozil's upload through a statement on the club's official website. They emphasized that what Ozil said on his social media account about Uighur Muslims was a personal opinion and Arsenal said they did not want to get involved in political issues.

This attitude is considered much different when Arsenal voiced support for Ukraine which was also related to political issues. This difference in the attitude of the Gunners has finally become the spotlight and polemic of netizens.

New York Times football journalist Tareq Panja even commented on Arsenal's upload by bringing up the moment of Ozil and Uighur Muslims.

"Remember when Mesut Ozil was suspended from the Arsenal team for voicing genocide against Uighur Muslims," Panja wrote in the comments column on the Arsenal post.

There was also a comment from a football journalist, Rob Harris, who reminded him of Arsenal's statement in 2019. Likewise other netizens who came back to remember the moment.

Apart from the polemic of the upload, at least until Monday, March 7 evening WIB, Arsenal's upload had been forwarded 4,595 times and received 3,431 comments.