posted Oct 8, 2008

You're missing the point. Rio quite rightly states that racism is not on in any walk of life but his own attitude to women (50% of the human life) leaves a lot to be desired. I'm not taking lectures on how to treat people from him.

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posted Oct 8, 2008

I believe the reason that footballing bodies such as FIFA dont dish out such large fines is because they understand that racism stems from cultural issues rather than footballing ones. The fact is that many cultures and countries arent as ethnically diverse as England is these days.

A lot of people on this forum will be too young to remember but i remember a certain player called John Barnes who used to get boo'ed by his own fans everytime he touched the ball in an England shirt. Thankfully this kind of abuse is longer present - or at least nowhere near as evident - from the England fans. I dont believe this is because England was a horrible place during the time of John Barnes and that it no longer has any social and cultural problems but it has evolved to accomodate the diversity of its nation and footballing squad.

Now i dont know too much about Croatia but my belief is that perhaps it perhaps has similar social issues which England suffered from in the likes of the 80's. My point is; would fining the FA for its fans boo'ing John Barnes have stopped the National Front marching through London? Would it have stopped the rascist skinhead movement of this time? No it wouldnt. I know not everyone will see the sense of this post but its important to understand that such problems arent easy to control or solve. It just doesnt work like that and FIFA must realise that these problems are rooted deeper than the football stand or pitch. Does this mean it should just accept it? Absolutely not but it also realises that fining a countries football governing body isnt going to solve culturally rooted problems. A lot of people on these forums have to realise that England had its own period of intollerance.

On a side note, to the people saying FIFA should impose bigger fans on institutions such as Croatia's governing body, does this action have any affect on the fans on the terraces giving this kind of abuse? When was the last time such a fine affected the terraces? If any punishment should be handed down it should be one which is going to directly affect the fans because they couldnt care less about thier FA getting fines (I know i couldnt care less if our FA got a fine). Things such as point deductions or playing games behind closed doors would be a far more suitable punishment because at least that way the fans themselves are the ones who miss out. Its a shame that such action should be considered as its a few bad apples ruining the bunch but its practical and its affecting the culprits. Its also encourages those good apples to have a go at the bad ones if such abuse starts up during a game.

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posted Oct 8, 2008

Regarding the comments on the situation in the British Virgin Islands, I fail to see how this, if true, in any way renders racist chanting from football stands to be more palatable?? You seem to be implying that verbal abuse directed at someone because of (and relating to) their skin colour somehow idoesn't constitute "proper racism". Please explain...???

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posted Oct 8, 2008

yep 15 grand is almos
t saying to the croatians - do what you want!

deducted points would be harsh

but offenders should be banned for life

its a very hard thing to control though and thats why its not in force.

but they should at least try.

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posted Oct 8, 2008

JOhnbhouy

Thanks

I wasn't trying to have a go, I would just like people to see that there is two sides to this bad story. Similar to you I have never been to Parkhead, but my Celtic friends have told there is still a problem. You are right, there are eejits at Ibrox, I normally end up sitting next to them. Recently though I think the fans are collectively starting to make a difference, not so easy at away matches. When I lived in Glasgow I felt that this problem went deeper than football so banning people from football grounds is not a good enough solution. I also think this applies to every country.

PS 'Fans' that use foul and abusive language are usually the racists

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posted Oct 8, 2008

Excellent post yardii boy- you've said exactly what I feel- I hope the satire in my post is clear...

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posted Oct 8, 2008

I think the points yardii_boy makes are very good.
I'd be interested to see what the F.A does to Tottenham. I think that fines should be bigger if the club isn't doing enough to fight racism. However I think tha that Tottenham will probably argue that not many other sets of supporters have been given fines in the past. I think that what ever way they go about it will be criticised or stir things up but things cant go on the way they are..

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posted Oct 8, 2008

oops they've hidden me- I guess the BBC doesn't understand satire

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