Racism in Football

I saw it and was appalled and upset. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour from those yobs. The players and manager behaved with dignity but imo they should have gone off and refused to play on. No one should be subjected to this vile abuse. It was as you say Ism64 truly shocking.

This was appalling. I only hope that the football authorities take the appropriate action. No one should be subjected to this behaviour whether at work or elsewhere.

Surely the FA have to throw these teams out if they don’t come down hard on supporters like this. Otherwise play the matches to an empty stadium and nobody wants that. Apparently the Bulgaria management team said they heard/saw no racist abuse during the match ???

Desperately sad. The idiots doing it looked like fools.

God they were appalling, The Bulgarians that is who were carrying out the abuse, their attitude to race is mired in some bygone era, what's wrong with them ??? I do wonder if there are only Caucasians living in Bulgaria, and I imagine black people and other ethnic minorities are pretty thin on the ground in Eastern Europe per se. It's just shocking quite honestly.

Anyway as my kids might have chanted years ago when they were playing football at junior school against an opposing side, " L O S E R S" !!! 6 0 suck that up!

It was disgraceful. The team decided collectively at half time to carry on, but if there was any further abuse in the second half they'd be coming off. Football only has itself to blame for this escalation. They've done absolutely nothing to try and curb the foul mouthed chants (non racist) heard at all grounds. Not that I'm equating that to racist abuse, but it was the thin edge of the wedge and always liable to accelerate. Abusive, insulting behaviour has been tolerated so much that these thugs feel quite at liberty to vent their venom. Stewards should be ejecting the offenders at the first shout. Junior football should start with the foul mouthed parents at park kids' football matches.
I'm glad I didn't see the say yes to racism tshirts, the no respect ones were blatant and offensive enough for me. I do think UEFA need to kick countries out of tournaments if they can't or won't control their fans.

I was so proud of the dignity with which the English players and manager Gareth Southgate dealt with this. The support they all showed to each other on the pitch and afterwards, in the face of such appalling behaviour was truly worthy of respect.

They showed up the thugs for what they are. Added to which, they won handsomely!

Imo Bulgaria has a long way to go on so many levels before they can be considered a civilized country.

Disgusting behaviour and I think these people should be named and shamed. The team should have walked off the field and left them to it. It is totally unacceptable.

I agree that any club/country which has "supporters" (I use this term very loosely as I do not think they are there for the football) should be given an automatic ban from league and trophy matches.

This would penalise them far more than a fine.

It is sad that the England Camp knew to prepare for this outward show of racism.

Good thread Iam64.
I am not a football fan, but read about this on the BBC news website and I found it very, very upsetting.
I agree the English players, management and back room staff conducted themselves with great dignity and played on.

However surely the FA need to take responsibility and show some leadership. If the England team had walked off the pitch, then I understand the game would have been forfeit and awarded to Bulgaria.

The rules should be changed to allow an abused team to turn their backs (and with the agreement of the referee) walk off in disgust without handing a victory to the team with the abusive fans.
This matter needs urgent attention...

What shone through for me was the dignity with which the England team dealt with this. Abandoning the match would have been a win for the racist thugs - going on to have such a decisive win was the best answer to their disgusting chants.

The FA do need to crack down hard on countries which allow this kind of behaviour. The Bulgarian official who claimed not to have heard any chanting and claiming abuse came from the English crowd needs to be sacked as his comments will merely encourage the racists.

Credit must also be given to the Bulgaruan captain who remained on the pitch at half time to plead with the supporters to stop the abuse.

It is reported that the manager said he was not aware the captain wasn't in the changing room at half time.

kittylester. It appears that the Bulgarian Manager is not aware of most things!!!!

I would hate to live in Bulgaria.

It’s a sign of the rise of the right all over Europe and elsewhere.

Phone in about this on R4 now.

It's not a sign of the rise of the right all over Europe and elsewhere, Anja.

It's a sign that the Eastern European teams are 20/30 years behind us.

We were doing this disgusting sort of behaviour in the 70s and 80s.

Hopefully they will catch up soon.

They need booting out of the competition

I hate racism of any kind, I hate sexism etc too. I also hate being accused of racism for simply being there as a white person. This has happened to me twice, once when someone with 2 large suitcases stopped at the top of an escalator and I was part of the pileup behind her and once when a black man pushed me away saying "I'm black and it gives me power". I am sure it is more often the other way round but I know how it feels.

Fortunately the brown people in our extended family don't seem to have experienced any racism although one did think a store detective was following him around a supermarket and wondered if it was the colour of his skin.

Listening now Nonnie.... apparently Bulgaria is the most tolerant of countries! So tolerant they tolerate nazis.

I lived in Bulgaria for 5 years. In all that time I could count on 1 hand the amount of black people I saw.
I could try to explain where this racist attitude comes from but on GN it would be construed as defending them.

An utter disgrace !! These monsters should be banned for life !

Hello, Petra,
My sisters and I are going to Sophia on Thursday for a city break, we love sightseeing in historic places.
A bit nervous now, TBH.

From my limited knowledge, there do seem to be fewer non white people in Eastern European countries. Those of us in Northern Europe have a much more mixed population, probably as a result of our colonial heritage. France, England, Germany, Holland, Spain and others were involved in colonialism and slavery and the legacy of all that, is our populations are no longer solely white.
It isn't so long ago that we had No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs in boarding or rental properties. Thankfully, things have moved on but of course racism hasn't been eradicated.
I'm with Anja in reflecting on the growth of the right in many countries.
I'm pleased our team and their manager worked so calmly and effectively in the face of this awful provocation. What do you do with a national coach who saw no evil, heard no evil and spoke no evil and didn't even notice his captain wasn't in the dressing room at half time. I suspect you could start by sacking him and by Bulgarian politicians and sports stars speaking out to condemn what happened.
If a team has to leave the field because of racism, the side whose fans caused that should forfeit the match.

Grannmarie
Plenty of history there. Just please make sure that you have a shoulder bag that you wear in front of you at all times.
You won't encounter any of these pond life on your travels.
Enjoy.