Is racism really rife in English football?

[Laurent Charvet]

According to the media... it's happening up and down the country. I can't be the only one that thinks our country is the trendsetter in how to clean it up.

You do occasionally get the odd nobhead at games, but the majority of fans won't stand for it. A far cry from the 80's.

 

[gaudinho's stolen car]

I very rarely hear racist abuse at the match, in fact when I do hear anything it's quite shocking because it's unexpected. I hear stuff in the pubs before and after the match but not amongst my own group.

 

[S04]

Compared to many other leagues..No

 

[Bill]

pathetic it should even have to be discussed. pathetic.

thankfully i can't recall hearing anything at our games for as long as i can remember.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Yes, I think it is, whilst we have made huge strides forward there is still a big element, the vast majority may be 'off the cuff' and 'spontaneous' racist remarks, it's still racism, but in regards to openly going out and searching with a sole intention and purpose of committing racist crimes etc, then I would say no, given I'm a child of the 60's 70's and 80's I can see a huge difference to what we see currently.

 

[Laurent Charvet]

What's the situation like in France and Germany? Better or worse than us?

 

[BlueHubert]

I've been to a fair few places in the world and always make a point of trying to 'get to know' the locals. I have been shocked at the amount of racism that exists in every country that I have been to. In Brazil, the supposed country where all races, colours and creeds exist the racism is hidden but once you speak to them very obvious.

Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Chile, Argentina and a few others have been places where having been in conversations with locals it quickly becomes obvious that racism is still a major part of the culture. More often than not it is not even questioned and is not seen as a bad thing, similar to 60s and 70s Britain, Alf Garnett anyone?

WHat Britain has, and don't get me wrong racism is still apparent in our culture, is a longer experience of multi-culturalism and an attempt by the powers that be to try and integrate different cultures, as much as that is possible with divides often happening along wealth lines.

 

[Gazza]

There's more racism on the pitch than in the stands.

 

[charliebigspuds]

All this racist stuff is ridiculous, its like we've gone back 30 years and I can't believe its still going on in this day and age. I can't speak about other countries because its their problem but if ANYONE in this country is found to be racist or making racist comments they should be told and dealt with accordingly to show how unacceptable it is.
As for racism in sport, that goes against everything sport stands for, sport is one thing that covers the whole spectrum of society, whether you're rich/poor, black/white whether you are anything you can compete on an equal playing field, the sports field is where every person competes as an equal! Anyone found to be racially abusing another person in sport should be thrown out of the game regardless of whether you are in the stands, a foreign player or the England football captain.

 

[UltraPoland]

Racism is really a problem.
Especially untreated like racism white people experience from black people
(last Klitchko-Chisora incident being a perfect example, nobody even mentioned racism after that, but try to imagine if it was Klitchko hitting that idiot, he would be a racist then for sure!)
White people have all this huge political correctness machinery preventing and punishing for such a behaviour while black people or muslims don`t give a f**k about it and they can be openly abusive towards other nationalities, races and cultures and nobody says a word.
Racism? Yes it is a problem but white-people "self-blame" is also.