Watford mascot Harry the Hornet captured on video diving behind Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha
Footage shows that while Zaha did react to the Watford mascot's actions, he was not as angry as reports have suggested
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Your support makes all the difference.Video footage has emerged of the controversial incident between Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha and Watford mascot Harry The Hornet, which shows the mascot diving to the floor and pointing at Zaha in the aftermath of Palace’s 1-1 draw with Watford on Boxing Day.
Zaha was shown a yellow card by referee Mark Clattenburg for what he judged to be a dive when he was tackled by Miguel Britos in the penalty area, leading to a bemused reaction from Zaha and a furious one from new Palace manager Sam Allardyce.
The Premier League encounter at Vicarage Road played out to a score draw after the incident, but it was what happened after the final whistle that made the headlines.
The Watford mascot was walking across the turf when he threw himself to the ground, and if his gesture wasn’t clear enough, he then got up and pointed at Zaha for good measure.
Reports originally suggested that Zaha has reacted angrily to the incident and had to be led away by Palace staff members, but while he wasn’t best pleased with the mascot’s actions, the footage suggests that the story has been blown out of proportion somewhat. Zaha can be seen to laugh at first while he walks away, before waving off the giant hornet and mouthing a few words, and though he clearly didn’t see the funny side of it, he did not need restraining or change his direction to walk towards the mascot.
Palace manager Allardyce did not help matters in his post-match press conference when he called for the Football Association – his former employers who split with the England boss in September after an undercover journalist sting – to “look at” the mascot’s actions because they were “out of order”.
“The Premier League and FA can look at that and do what they want to do,” said Allardyce. “That's up to Watford to sort that out really. It could have made the wrong reaction as we know. The mascot is out of order, isn't he? If someone is diving, they don't get that angry. But I'm concerned about my team and the overall performance.”
The identity of the mascot, which remains unknown, has been enjoying the extra publicity on social media through the Twitter account @1HHornet by retweeting and replying to a number of messages over the last 24 hours.
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