I agree with the sentiment!Glad we didn't sign Bonucci, he's obviously an ignorant cretin.
What it needs is for team mates to just walk off if there's racism from the crowd. Fuck whatever the manager or crowd say, support your mate and walk off. Racism is completely unacceptable.
Imagine if Raheem was getting abuse from some dickheads in a CL game and Aguero, Otamendi and co just put their arms round him and all walked off. That would be some statement especially on live TV.
I agree with the sentiment!
Unfortunately, the PL would probably count it as us forfeiting the match and award the 3 points to the opposition... they just seem to be looking for any excuse these days.
And I worry about how much “power” that ends up giving to the opposition supporters — think of theniltras that routinely stop games by causing crowd trouble or throwing flares on to the pitch en masse. This would just be another abhorrent arrow in their quiver, unfortunately.
I agree, but are the current rules written to allow them to schedule a replay from the time the match was suspended (after levying punishment to the appropriate entities for the offence) due to players refusing to play in reaction to abhorrent behaviour from the crowd (in this case, racist abuse)?It would be massive PR nightmare if the only outcome of such a scenario was just City being punished with a 3-0 and presumably a fine for forfeiting a league game.
I don't think very highly of the FA, but even they wouldn't stoop that low.
I agree, but are the current rules written to allow them to schedule a replay from the time the match was suspended (after levying punishment to the appropriate entities for the offence) due to players refusing to play in reaction to abhorrent behaviour from the crowd (in this case, racist abuse)?
They should be codified that way, but I am just unsure they are. Which means they would have to flout the current rules to achieve any other result, which is problematic.
The club should follow Raheem’s lead and demand the PL amend matches rules to the above effect.
At that point the players could (rightfully) leave the pitch whenever racist abuse is demonstrably present.
Of course, the rules would need to be written with guards against this being abused, like in the case of a team losing and wanting to have the match replayed at a later time to increase their chances of turning around the tie and so.
This is pretty shocking stuff from Leonardo Bonucci after team mate Moise Kean suffered racial abuse from Cagliari fans:
https://www.football-italia.net/136528/bonucci-kean-blame-racist-abuse
Sterling’s had his say laughing at Bonucci.
True, but sadly the FA and PL have shown they need to be forced into action. If Sterling had walked off the pitch at Stamford Bridge with the full backing of his manager and teammates, the backlash and the outcry to do more would be overwhelming and hard to ignore.
Something has to be the catalyst for change. Sterling has already done a lot for the cause, and as a black man, my respect for him has gone up tenfold in the last few months.
I liked that Southgate, when he was condemning Montenegro also highlighted that we also have our own problems closer to home.