He dosen't sound very bothered.
Nicolas Anelka laughs off ban handed down by French 'clowns'
• 'I am doubled up with laughter,' banned striker says
• 'I should not even have been mentioned by this commission'
Nicolas Anelka has said that he never intended to play for France again before he was handed an 18-match ban by the FFF. Photograph: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images Nicolas Anelka said he was left "doubled up with laughter" by
an 18-match ban handed down to him yesterday, saying he has moved on from
France's World Cup fiasco and branding those who run French football "clowns".
In his first public comments on the ban, which in effect brought to an end an international career that earned the 31-year-old 69 caps for
les Bleus, the Chelsea player said he had already made up his mind never to play for France again after he was sent home from South Africa in June.
"Who told them that I wanted to play in blue again?" Anelka asked. "I should not even have been mentioned by this kind of commission. For me, ever since the South Africa World Cup, the French team is part of the past."
The striker, whose reported abuse of the former coach Raymond Domenech during France's match against Mexico led to his expulsion from the tournament and a subsequent players' revolt on his behalf, did not show up to a hearing of the French Football Federation (FFF)'s disciplinary council yesterday, during which his and four other players' punishments were discussed.
In an interview with the newspaper France Soir, he refused to accord the FFF's investigation into the events surrounding the mutiny any significance. "For me, this whole thing with the commission is an aberration, a masquerade to make sure they don't lose face," he said. "They have punished a void, as Nicolas Anelka never existed in this pitiful and colourful affair. I repeat: the page with
les Bleus was turned on 19 June when I was evicted from Knysna."
Referring to the French football authorities, he added: "They are real clowns, these people ... I am doubled up with laughter." The FFF also punished Patrice Evra, Franck Ribéry and Jérémy Toulalan with bans of between one and five matches for their roles in the boycott. Eric Abidal escaped without a ban.
Anelka, who became prominent at international level as a teenager with both goals in a 2-0 win over England at Wembley in 1999, spoke optimistically about his future at the club he joined in January 2008. "With Chelsea ... I play in blue every weekend and that's more than enough for me," he said.
His agent, Doug Pingisi, was equally keen to play down the FFF's ban, albeit in less flippant tones. "With Nico, we had a very clear career plan," he said. "The idea was that he would take his leave internationally after the World Cup, whatever its result, which ended up being the one that everyone knows."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/18/france-football-nicolas-anelka-ban
