Racism in Football

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.

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.

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 ???????

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

Qatar, what a disgrace,those poor workers dying.

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.

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

*Eastern Europe I meant, in the first sentence.

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

A new organization is needed.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

on GN it would be construed as defending them

How so?

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.