Racism in Football

Iam64
Bulgarian politicians speaking out. That would be a first, and only then if there was some gain to them personally ?

on GN it would be construed as defending them

How so?

There is a reason there are few ethnic people in these countries, it's called intolerance.
I have long heard stories of black people being physically attacked until they leave a certain eastern european country. It is very ugly.

I agree that the football people should be more proactive to protect our football players.
They should not ever have to tolerate the behaviour they were subjected to last night.
There should be a refusal to play any more games in Bulgaria until they can prove they have changed.

Perhaps the EU could also address the racism somehow?
Like it is not acceptable if you live in modern Europe?

Places like the UK and France have evolved from being colonial empires to accepting and now welcoming diversity.
I don't know if there is a speedy way to impose this?

Truth is the Eastern European countries have not evolved in some ways as much as the western european countries.
The disgusting racism is a sign of this.

I do hope so petra.
No easy solutions but they should at least acknowledge they have a problem and that they have an international duty to work on resolving it.

Thanks for the advice, Petra, we are looking forward to it.

Hammering Bulgaria 6-0 was the appropriate response by England but surely Uefa need to step up and show some leadership. Their sanctions are not fit for purpose. If Uefa care at all about tackling discrimination, and if the Equal Game campaign means anything, then points deductions and tournament expulsion must follow.

Those thugs were quite proud of themselves, laughing joking and grinning for the cameras. No effort was made to hide their identities. Lets hope the Bulgarian authorities make a concerted effort to identify and bring to justice those thugs.

The Bulgarians I have met here in the UK have been really lovely.

But then I am white. I don't know what it would be like if I had dark skin?

In response to the perceived lack of black people in Europe, that wasn't the case, particularly in academia and very skilled training (eg deep water navigators, engineers etc) during post-Stalin Soviet Bloc times and hundreds of thousand of Africans, Indians and Latin-Americans attended Soviet-Bloc universities. The post-Stalin Soviet Bloc supported countries like Cuba, Algeria and other de-colonised countries. It was after the fall of the Berlin Wall etc that overt racism reared its ugly head. I'm not saying there wasn't racism there before then, of course there was, but it couldn''t be expressed openly.
I think the same effect is growing here. Non-white British people I know have said how they're experiencing a real rise in racism that they always felt was hidden just under the surface but now people with those views feel emboldened and free to loudly voice their bigotry.

Uefa are useless and immoral. They let Qatar buy the bid for the next World Cup.

A new organization is needed.

*Eastern Europe I meant, in the first sentence.

Racism was rife in this country in the 50’s and 60’s

I like our country having diversity.....it is one of our better qualities.

It is sad if things go backwards yet on the whole in the UK there are so many mixed marriages and partnerships and laws to protect people. Surely the ignorant racists are on the way out?
As I no longer live in London I am not so clued up on how things are.

Qatar, what a disgrace,those poor workers dying.

I heard that the Bulgarian coach has been forced to resign. A step in the right direction.

Football hooliganism is on the up again, all over Europe. My aunt and I were horrified watching it last night.

England acted with utter dignity and professionalism throughout, with the game stopped twice in the first half because of the abuse, and sent out a message to the world ­beyond the emphatic scoreline of England 6 Racists 0.

They could have walked off unilaterally – and no one would surely have disagreed if they did – but ­instead they steadfastly followed the UEFA protocols; they reported what they heard and they made their point with their football and their impeccable behaviour.

Well done England ???????

UEFA should be ashamed as there was talk of it happening before the match toook place and they did what exactly?

Reporters get on with your job and investigate and report - Why have UEFA not been called upon to give evidence for their continued lack of real action?

I know there is a lot going on but no police action, no UEFA action? The despicable group were soooooo blatant! I fear for anyone coming across them and wonder where they work if they are exposing any individual Jew or black, or anyone else for that matter, to their racist behaviour.

pinkquartz much as I despise UEFA, it's FIFA that awardwd the World Cup to Qatar. Yes they were bought, and probably not for the first time. The world of football knows the awfulness of the working conditions building these stadia, and that Qatar could never deliver what it promised, air conditioned stadia anyone? I don't think any nation including England can hold their head high while agreeing to participate. The honourable way would have been to boycott the whole tournament.

*awarded

You hit the nail in the head janipat - sadly money is the driving force. It has to be otherwise whoever/whatever should come forward and explain their inaction.

janipat just add to that the difficulty of flying fans in now that Qatar and most of the Arab states have had a falling out.
They are very racist over there too but don’t go in for hooliganism.

The Qataris aren’t too keen on sport but they do like finals. One story that I heard was about either a football or rugby match. Some Qataris decided to attend so some ticket holders didn’t get in. I’m sure this won’t happen again.

janipat

ooops yes I was confused. thank you for putting that right.
Uefa are going to punish Bulgaria with a closed stadium I think I just read

janipat

and I agree it is shameful that any teams are going to play in Qatar.
football changed so much in the last 20/30 years. money has become more important and I don't feel the same way about it now.

I still love football. I grew up in a football family, one group for the Reds the other for the Blues (or the local teams) we are of course, in the North West. Football introduced me to bigotry because I heard my dad refer to ManUtd as "left footers". Mum was a (protestant) red, dad a (protestant) anti both Manc teams he supported his local team, a very small mill town 12 miles from the city. Mum as ever was straight in there, telling him not to say things like that in front of the children. The child (I was about 8) pushed for an explanation so got one. Utd is the Catholic Team, they wear red, City is the Protestant team they wear blue. BUT iam64, you are to take no notice of this said both my parents, It's old fashioned nonsense. We don't take against people because of their religion, we must all support each other.
I bless my parents for the way they did this. I feel certain that those who threw a banana on to the pitch Raheel Stirling was playing on didn't have parents who insisted any form of bigotry was simply wrong.

What happened was just so appalling- and the Press rightly picked up on it big time.

And yet, the EDL and BF, etc - have been shouting 'nazi' and did nazi salute (?!?) to politicians like Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve, and remain protestors - non stop over last couple of years - and it is never picked up on the News or the Right wing gutter press. Hypocrisy- double standards???