Tottenham Lodge Formal Complaint With Premier League After Broadcaster Joins Arsenal Fans in Anti-Spurs Chants

The north London rivalry has never needed much to catch fire, and this week it found a new spark far from any pitch. Tottenham Hotspur have lodged a formal complaint with the Premier League after a video surfaced online showing a broadcaster joining in with Arsenal supporters as they sang abusive chants about Spurs. The video featured João Castelo-Branco, a UK correspondent for ESPN Brazil, singing along with a group of Arsenal fans. The chants called Spurs "s***" and sang about how much they "hate" Tottenham. It was the kind of footage that travels fast in a rivalry like this one, and Tottenham moved quickly once they saw it. According to a report in The Times, Spurs have told the Premier League they no longer believe it is appropriate for Castelo-Branco to cover their matches for ESPN Brazil. That is a pointed request, and it is worth being clear about what the club is and is not asking for. Tottenham have stressed they have no intention of stopping ESPN Brazil from covering their games. Their issue is with one reporter, and with the very public way he has now shown where his sympathies lie. Castelo-Branco is the son of the channel's co-founder and has never hidden his support for Arsenal. He regularly shares content that makes his affinity for the Gunners plain, and Tottenham officials have, by all accounts, been comfortable with that. This video crossed a different line. There is a difference between a journalist who happens to support a team and a journalist filmed leading the singing against the club he is supposed to cover impartially. The video was taken down once Tottenham and the Premier League first raised the matter. Castelo-Branco then sent an email to Spurs offering an apology, and on Friday he attended an online meeting alongside ESPN and the Premier League to discuss what had happened. He is not facing a ban from the Premier League, but the episode has clearly left a mark. "I wanted to apologise to the club for the video I recorded with Arsenal fans in Brazil singing a derogatory chant about Tottenham Hotspur Football Club," Castelo-Branco said. He explained that the video was aimed principally at a Tottenham fan and friend with whom he hosts a football podcast, and that it had been posted on the podcast's Instagram page before being reproduced on his personal page. He accepted, though, that it was unprofessional to post it at all. That apology matters, but so does the question Tottenham have put to the league. Can a reporter who has sung, on camera, about hating a club then sit in that club's press box and interview its manager and players with any credibility? Spurs plainly think not. The Premier League is now in communication with both the club and ESPN Brazil in an attempt to resolve the matter, and Tottenham will reflect on the apology over the international break. There is a wider point here that goes beyond one video and one reporter. Social media rewards personality and partisanship, and plenty of reporters now build their following on exactly that. But when the person holding the microphone has been filmed joining a chant against the team he is covering, the trust the whole arrangement depends on starts to fray. Spurs will hope the whole thing is settled before their next home game, against Ipswich Town on November 21. For now, the message from Tottenham is clear enough: support who you like, but do not sing about hating the club and then expect to cover it as if nothing happened.