Hansen, Lawrensen and Shearer bring shame on the BBC

[Monkfish]

I'm not saying that they are overt racists - I certainly couldn't prove that. But I'm saying they echo the attitudes of the 1970's, where many working class men (including football players) thought nothing of racially abusing black people.

Dangerous nonsense being dished out again here. Over 20m people watched the England-Italy game. Lets be wildly pessimistic and suggest 100,000 of these people were black. What is wrong with these people that they did not notice this racism? How have they watched MOTD without realising the institutional racism involved?

Surely the only thing to do here is put radicalised white Manchester City supporters in charge of the Commision for Racial Equality and all the media watchdogs as City supporters are obviously the only people who can spot these evil 70's working class white male racists.

Radicalised City supporters must protect these black people who are unable to spot this racism themselves. We must help the helpless.

To coin your phrase Prestwich, utter bollocks. Utter dangerous bollocks at that.

You really do not have a clue what I'm saying do you?

Coming from somebody who managed to read this

So just to confirm, as Balotelli is black, and get criticised by pundits at the BBC who are white, that means they are being racist?

So what about Garth Crooks and his 'stupid Mario' comment, we ok with that as Garth is black? How about Ian Wright saying Mario reminds him of the kids during the riots last year, out of control with no respect for anything. Thats ok too?

and managed to think this was a worthwhile reply

Claiming that the BBC isn't racist becasue it employs Garth Crooks (a well-spoken and articulate black man) is as crass as Blatter having his picture taken with a black FIFA official after his blinkered comments about racism.

I would suggest it is you who have a difficulty in comprehension

You are acting in a dangerous manner, I dont doubt your intelligence and ability to manipulate people on here with it. You dont like it when your caught out and pulled up on your bile do you?

Go play on RAWK, you will find less resistance to persecution complex nonsense over there

Finally in answer to your question - I know exactly what your saying, which is precisely why I wont let you get away with it

 

[Bigga]

I'm not saying that they are overt racists - I certainly couldn't prove that. But I'm saying they echo the attitudes of the 1970's, where many working class men (including football players) thought nothing of racially abusing black people.

Dangerous nonsense being dished out again here. Over 20m people watched the England-Italy game. Lets be wildly pessimistic and suggest 100,000 of these people were black. What is wrong with these people that they did not notice this racism? How have they watched MOTD without realising the institutional racism involved?

Surely the only thing to do here is put radicalised white Manchester City supporters in charge of the Commision for Racial Equality and all the media watchdogs as City supporters are obviously the only people who can spot these evil 70's working class white male racists.

Radicalised City supporters must protect these black people who are unable to spot this racism themselves. We must help the helpless.

To coin your phrase Prestwich, utter bollocks. Utter dangerous bollocks at that.

Wait a fooking minute!! Who the fook are you to speak for a Race of people that might have or not 'noticed' the "institutional racism involved"???

You're complaining that a demographic of football fans, clearly fed up of colour being involved in their sport of choice, point out that a certain footballer of comparable ability to another across the way, is picked on and verbally abused time and again.

Why aren't you commending this instead? I think you're entirely misguided in your viewpoint.

 

[scenecreamer]

 

[franksinatra]

Either consciously or sub-consciously there's a racial element to this. They may not be overtly racist remarks on the scale of Ron Atkinson's "lazy ******" comment about Marcel Desailly but they follow the same pattern. Mario is black. Black men are lazy and stupid. Therefore Mario is thick as two short planks. Wayne Rooney & John Terry are white and do some actually quite stupid and malicious things. But they would never be described as thick.

Alan Green, Lawrenson's partner on that evening has some history in this regard. The comment about Djemba-Djemba ("Me no cheat") mocking his supposed lack of command of English and of course "No 17, that'll be the Chicken Chow Mein" about our very own Sun Jihai.

Although OFCOM don't have any remit over the BBC, they were moved to comment about the first ”We considered that the suggestion that a black player was incapable of speaking grammatical English was inappropriate, particularly given the drive to eradicate racist attitudes in football”. The BBC’s response to both Green's comments was that they were “ill judged”.

Add to that Hansen's "coloured players" comment and we have a group of men of working-class origins who are not well-educated with the 1970's attitude to race that was formed in their communities and dressing rooms. It is the same sort of institutional racism found by official investigations into the police.

Claiming that the BBC isn't racist becasue it employs Garth Crooks (a well-spoken and articulate black man) is as crass as Blatter having his picture taken with a black FIFA official after his blinkered comments about racism.

I think the relevance of Garth Crooks and Ian Wrights comments is not to suggest the BBC are not racist because they employ black people, but that the views of the likes of Lawrenson etc are shared by pundits of the same ethnicity and is a widely held opinion of Balotelli. Rather than a reflection of a subconcious racial element that you suggest is based on perceptions of black men.

I do love the irony of bluemoon; moral outrage to comments considered factually incorrect aimed at Balotelli while in the next breath castigating commentators as being racist.

What utter bollocks. It's your opinion that the comments aren't racist or have a racial undertone. It's not a "fact" that they don't. How can you "prove" that Lawrenson, Hansen & Green aren't sub-consciously racist when there is a record of certainly Green & Lawrenson having made comments that have already been stated as ill-judged by their employer? All those comments were of a racial nature and leopards don't change their spots.

I'm not saying that they are overt racists - I certainly couldn't prove that. But I'm saying they echo the attitudes of the 1970's, where many working class men (including football players) thought nothing of racially abusing black people.

Thats the issue I do not state as 'fact' that there isn't a racist undertone to comments for the simple reasons I do not know. But from commentators calling him mad or stupid, I would certainly not categorise somebody as racist when, unfortunately, this is a view shared by many.

I think if you read back on your own comments it is you who states "Either consciously or sub-consciously there's a racial element to this".not me. Its you who states this as fact, based on nothing more than the criticism of the players behaviour and intelligence. A view unfortunately shared by the likes of Garth Crooks and Ian Wright.

Do I think the comments are acceptable... No I dont. But that is a huge step from stating it has a racial element based on little evidence.

 

[mrbelfry]

I'll leave the race issue to people more qualified than me. What is evident is that we have a collection of pundits (including big al, little al and lawro plus most of the SS crew) who are unprepared, unresearched and resorting to lazy stereotypes. We have a style of punditry now that merely describes what im seeing with little attempt to 'understand' what is happening. I'm sick of hearing that de Jong coming on is a defensive substitution for example. The BBC are getting ripped off by the level of expert opinion being offered

 

[franksinatra]

I'll leave the race issue to people more qualified than me. What is evident is that we have a collection of pundits (including big al, little al and lawro plus most of the SS crew) who are unprepared, unresearched and resorting to lazy stereotypes. We have a style of punditry now that merely describes what im seeing with little attempt to 'understand' what is happening. I'm sick of hearing that de Jong coming on is a defensive substitution for example. The BBC are getting ripped off by the level of expert opinion being offered

There is no doubt about that. The quality of punditry is absolutely shocking. The worst for me is when they are asked about a player and they say "Well we dont know much about him" Why dont you? What are you paid for? Its absolutley disgraceful.

 

[i8rags]

I'm not saying that they are overt racists - I certainly couldn't prove that. But I'm saying they echo the attitudes of the 1970's, where many working class men (including football players) thought nothing of racially abusing black people.

Dangerous nonsense being dished out again here. Over 20m people watched the England-Italy game. Lets be wildly pessimistic and suggest 100,000 of these people were black. What is wrong with these people that they did not notice this racism? How have they watched MOTD without realising the institutional racism involved?

Surely the only thing to do here is put radicalised white Manchester City supporters in charge of the Commision for Racial Equality and all the media watchdogs as City supporters are obviously the only people who can spot these evil 70's working class white male racists.

Radicalised City supporters must protect these black people who are unable to spot this racism themselves. We must help the helpless.

To coin your phrase Prestwich, utter bollocks. Utter dangerous bollocks at that.

Wait a fooking minute!! Who the fook are you to speak for a Race of people that might have or not 'noticed' the "institutional racism involved"???

You're complaining that a demographic of football fans, clearly fed up of colour being involved in their sport of choice, point out that a certain footballer of comparable ability to another across the way, is picked on and verbally abused time and again.

Why aren't you commending this instead? I think you're entirely misguided in your viewpoint.

To be frank you can both speak about any subject you see fit, but to be fair I think him speaking on behalf of a race of people as you put it, is a gross over exaggeration on your part although his point was poorly put across I agree.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Claiming that the BBC isn't racist becasue it employs Garth Crooks (a well-spoken and articulate black man) is as crass as Blatter having his picture taken with a black FIFA official after his blinkered comments about racism.

Garth Crooks is articulate? He can barely string a coherent sentence together. I sometimes try and work out what he's said actually means but it makes my head hurt.

Do you also think John Prescott is one of the greatest orators of all time?

 

[CityCTID]

Here is my reply from Bent Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Dear Mr ......

Thanks for contacting us regarding ‘Match of the Day Live: Euro 2012: England V Italy’ broadcast on BBC One on 24 June.

We understand you felt the commentators and presenters were biased against Mario Balotelli. We appreciate in your view, they made a series of snide and offensive remarks which were unnecessary.

Mario Balotelli has been a controversial figure throughout his career in both Italy and England. In common with various media and press in both countries, our pundits have acknowledged both his youth and undoubted footballing talent, but have had to comment from time to time on various disciplinary issues both on and off the pitch, and his repeated raw displays of dissent and frustration. Jose Mourinho described him as "unmanageable" and both his current club and international managers - Mancini and Prandelli - have expressed concerns that his talent could go to waste unless he changes his ways. Our team's comments, while sometimes reflecting those concerns, have across the programme been balanced and fair.

Please be assured, we do appreciate your strength of feeling on this. Therefore your complaint has been registered on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's made available to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Sport team, channel controllers and other senior managers.

The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

Kind Regards

BBC Complaints

 

[notreallyhere]

Not sure how this turned in to a debate over racism - for me the main point was about the sheer ineptitude and blatant bias of the BBC pundits. They make Carragher and Southgate look like Greek philosophers.