Racism in Football

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

Honest question to regular match goers (I only get to a few mainly in CB/family stand nowadays) is it really getting worse? I see nothing on a par with 70's, 80's or even early 90's tbh. Am I just sitting in the wrong place / not going enough, or is it pretty civilised nowadays? The derby raised more questions about the late kick off than racism imho, and Spurs do seem to have been found guilty in the court of FB/twitter.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Honest question to regular match goers (I only get to a few mainly in CB/family stand nowadays) is it really getting worse? I see nothing on a par with 70's, 80's or even early 90's tbh. Am I just sitting in the wrong place / not going enough, or is it pretty civilised nowadays? The derby raised more questions about the late kick off than racism imho, and Spurs do seem to have been found guilty in the court of FB/twitter.

There’s no way it’s worse than the 80’s or early 90’s, or even comparable.

Off the top of my head, I clearly remember John Chiedozie having monkey chants directed at him in the mid-80’s from a decent section of the Kippax. I also remember Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles getting dog’s abuse (“What’s it like to lose a war?”) from most of the Kippax after the Falklands War (after they both returned to play in England) that was really nasty and aimed directly at their nationality - plus all the hissing, imitating gas when we played Spurs. Plus when we played Derby County at the Baseball Ground in the early 90’s and there was an Asian referee and the City fans sang “there's only one Salman Rushdie”. I also recall a guy sat near me in the Main Stand in the late 80’s screaming that a Villa player was a “bag of soot” for much of the game and no-one (myself included) challenged him (I was a teenager tbf)

And I expect the 70’s were even worse.

And we were far better than most clubs in that regard btw.

It was far, far worse back then. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t always be vigilant, mind, but some perspective is required.

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

There’s no way it’s worse than the 80’s or early 90’s, or even comparable.

Off the top of my head, I clearly remember John Chiedozie having monkey chants directed at him in the mid-80’s from a decent section of the Kippax. I also remember Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles getting dog’s abuse (“What’s it like to lose a war?”) from most of the Kippax after the Falklands War (after they both returned to play in England) that was really nasty and aimed directly at their nationality - plus all the hissing, imitating gas when we played Spurs. Plus when we played Derby County at the Baseball Ground in the early 90’s and there was an Asian referee and the City fans sang “there's only one Salman Rushdie”. I also recall a guy sat near me in the Main Stand in the late 80’s screaming that a Villa player was a “bag of soot” for much of the game and no-one (myself included) challenged him (I was a teenager tbf)

And I expect the 70’s were even worse.

And we were far better than most clubs in that regard btw.

It was far, far worse back then. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t always be vigilant, mind, but some perspective is required.

Funny you should mention the main stand. I largely remember it as full of miserable old ****s and obstructed views, but heard some pretty dreadful stuff thrown at John Barnes from there back in the day.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Funny you should mention the main stand. I largely remember it as full of miserable old ****s and obstructed views, but heard some pretty dreadful stuff thrown at John Barnes from there back in the day.

The Main Stand had its fair share of Neanderthals. Absolutely disgusting and hateful what Barnes and other black players of that era had to endure week to week.

 

[Franny's toilet roll]

There is racists at every club everywhere. You can throw in homophobes, ageists, any discrimination into the mix

I don't trust some random Twitter account, no one came forward at all, and the player has previous as well. If he is correct throw the book at them.

Not exactly a 'random' twitter account if you read his past tweets

 

[M18CTID]

I’m glad someone’s head is in the open air and able to think freely.

Makes a change for me!

You having Wolves mate?

 

[M18CTID]

The Main Stand had its fair share of Neanderthals. Absolutely disgusting and hateful what Barnes and other black players of that era had to endure week to week.

Barnes even got a bunch of bananas thrown at him from the Liverpool end at Highbury when he made his Liverpool debut there in 1987. Laughably, one LFC fan on Rag Cafe a couple of years back claimed they were dildos that the dippers had robbed from a sex shop in Soho. That was until I pointed him to a post from RAWK of all places confirming that they were indeed bananas. He soon buttoned it.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Makes a change for me!

You having Wolves mate?

I am. I’ll text you x

 

[M18CTID]

I am. I’ll text you x

Good stuff. Is there an alternative to that shitty Bluebrick bar they tend to herd us into?

 

[Keeper!]

There’s no way it’s worse than the 80’s or early 90’s, or even comparable.

Off the top of my head, I clearly remember John Chiedozie having monkey chants directed at him in the mid-80’s from a decent section of the Kippax. I also remember Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles getting dog’s abuse (“What’s it like to lose a war?”) from most of the Kippax after the Falklands War (after they both returned to play in England) that was really nasty and aimed directly at their nationality - plus all the hissing, imitating gas when we played Spurs. Plus when we played Derby County at the Baseball Ground in the early 90’s and there was an Asian referee and the City fans sang “there's only one Salman Rushdie”. I also recall a guy sat near me in the Main Stand in the late 80’s screaming that a Villa player was a “bag of soot” for much of the game and no-one (myself included) challenged him (I was a teenager tbf)

And I expect the 70’s were even worse.

And we were far better than most clubs in that regard btw.

It was far, far worse back then. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t always be vigilant, mind, but some perspective is required.

I Remember Alex Williams playing in goal for us against Leeds at Elland Road, as Alex ran to his goal 100's of bananas were thrown at him from the Leeds fans, and I am not talking the inflatable variety.Darren Beckford was also suffering and not only from Leeds fans, City fans were giving a terrible time, very racial. I remember it well, I was sat next to his dad, who was in tears .
Things are far from perfect now, but compared to the 80's there is not a serious problem.