Arshavin Unable to Shush People He Actually Wants Quiet

Andrey Arshavin, star Arsenal midfielder and Russian international footballer, experienced considerable frustration one evening recently when out with his wife Yulia at an outdoor orchestral concert in London.  During the performance, Arshavin noticed that a small group nearby was having a moderately loud conversation, and he turned towards the young men and women, who turned out to be Arsenal fans, to shush them.  To his chagrin, the young fans responded to the gesture not by ceasing their conversation and sitting quietly, but rather by breaking into excited cheers and waving enthusiastically.  “They would not be quiet, even when I made an unmistakable gesture indicating that they should be,” Arshavin remarked later.  “Some of them even made the gesture back at me, smiling.  The more I shushed them, the louder they got.”

This incident was the most significant misinterpretation of an Arsenal player’s gesture since Robin van Persie tried and failed to subtly tell a man that his jacket was dusty by brushing off his own shoulder.