Racism in Football

Bluebell, your friend would be fine in somewhere like Torun or bigger cities.
Rural areas and small towns are something else!

People literally ran away from me.....a boring looking ,white old woman.!!!

Terribull, you are right when you say that Eastern European countries are backward in regard to racism. It seems to be acceptable. If these countries populations are not prepared to embrace the equality culture supported by the EU, they shouldn’t have been allowed to join the EU. In my opinion they joined the EU in order to avail themselves of EU money and grants but not to encompass EU aims of equality.

It was absolutely disgusting. I have travelled quite widely in Eastern Europe, and it is true that there are almost no black people, Asians, or indeed anyone other than white people wearing western style clothing. This is not an excuse in my opinion, especially since these countries are now in the EU where everyone supposedly should be treated the same without any prejudice. It’s utterly disgusting that this happened!

There is a thread on MN on this subject, I read some of it yesterday. A couple of posters stated they were black or mixed race and had visited various places in Eastern Europe and were on the receiving end of racist behaviour, one even went as far as to say that the only racism she had experienced here in England was from Eastern Europeans. That is not to suggest that ALL Eastern Europeans are racist or that all Britains aren't. I think what has come to the fore in these threads is that when English football teams and other Western European teams with a racial mix travel to certain parts of Europe, how backward those countries are in their attitude towards other races. The monkey noises in particular are just deplorable and reflect badly on the buffoons who indulge in such idiocy. I imagine these displays will put off those of certain ethnicities from wanting to visit Eastern Europe.

Yes GrannyGravy13 England are being sanctioned because our fans disrupted (by booing, catcalls etc) the Bulgarian anthem and for failure to provide enough traveling stewards.

As to whether the players should have kept on playing or not that was a decision taken by the players. Tyrone Mings said, in interview, they wanted to continue, whilst agreeing if it happened in the second half the protocol would have escalated. He seemed to feel England's emphatic win was important.

I also think that too much attention is being focused on the fact that England won. The result should be an irrelevance - whether they had won or lost, the racism remained the same. We didn’t ‘show them’ by winning. That would imply that had they lost, the team and the racism would somehow have been diminished? The basic problem is the sheer corruption of European and international footballing bodies and that’s why hitting them in their bank accounts is the only meaningful solution.

I noticed the "Breaking News Strap" on GMB this morning and it said both England and Bulgaria are being sanctioned/fined by EUFA?

It was/is hideous and I hope they are severely dealt with
The poster who said it was like this here in the 70/80 s ....it still is unfortunately if you think it has gone away you have rose coloured glasses on
I deplore racists I deplore racism
Unfortunately I think a lot of Eastern Europe is racist I recently spoke to a Polish lady about my African friend visiting and her advice was for their safety probably best not to
Having said all that one of my closest friends is Bulgarian and is perfectly at ease with my mixed race family
I m so glad our team thrashed them game wise punishment in its own right

Thanks welbeck, you're right it's Tottenham Hotspurs not West Ham (as I'd said) who are subject to anti semitic abuse.
I saw the report about the supply teacher threatening in a joking (!!) way to send a group of 10 year old Jewish children to the gas chambers if they didn't do their homework.

There have been years of poor performances from the England team. Southgate seems to be one of those good managers, who manages to get positive results and acceptable behaviour from the team. I understand the arguments from Eloethan and sooziewoozie that the game should have been abandoned. This issue needs greater attention from the football authorities.
Yes, I wish gay footballers felt able to simply be open about their sexuality. I see that's not an issue in the women's sporting teams.

Anyone who thinks there is no racism in Britain or British football is seriously deluded. It’s less obvious now that every team in the premier league has British black and foreign players, but it’s still there bubbling away. There has been a huge rise in hate crimes in the least couple of years.

i think it is Tottenham Hotspurs and their fans who are most likely to be subject to anti-Semitic abuse.
fans of other London clubs, esp Chelsea, West Ham, Millwall, have been known to go in for this.
as an aside, i have just read that a schoolteacher has been dismissed for jokingly ! telling a class aged 10 that she would send them to the gas chambers if they did not finish their work. in Hertfordshire, ie just north of London. the class included jewish children.
wonder where what her next job will be, ?Bulgaria maybe.

Where exactly is the dignity in staying on the field to be racially abused? I honestly don’t ‘get’ that. The only language that the football authorities (FA UEFA FIFA etc) understand is money. Given that Bulgaria were already playing to a partially restricted stadium because of previous racist behaviour, they should have been facing a 3 year ban from Europe. That would have concentrated minds wonderfully

I don't know why so many people are praising Gareth Southgate for his "dignity", etc. I don't know much about football but it appears that he is a good manager. But the racist chants weren't aimed at him. It's easy to be dignified when you are not the subject of abuse. The praise should go entirely to Tyrone Mings and other black players who had to endure these insults without responding, which, in the circumstances, I think required a great deal of self control.

My feeling is that if such behaviour persists after a warning then the game should be abandoned and victory declared to the other side.

This sort of behaviour is a problem with football. It is not just about racism but also about prejudice against gay people. It is a major problem and that is why gay football players are scared of their sexuality being revealed.

My ignorance about football was clearly revealed. My apologies. It was the dignified behaviour of the team members that I wanted to commend.

There is no British team in football .

Black players from all teams across the UK have faced similar here. Let’s not brush it under the carpet and pretend our supporters are paragons of virtue.

Have zero interest in any sort of football but reading the news reports about the appalling events in Bulgaria just have to say the British team have set an example of dignified, brave and respectful behaviour for the world. And apparently they played great football as well.

In a world crying out for role models of civilised behaviour the members of the British football team are to be applauded. Just hope the Members of Parliament are taking note.

It isn't limited to Eastern Europe, we have recent examples here. A banana thrown at one of our black players, I think it was Raheem Stirling. The FA wouldn't list this as a racist incident, it was something bland like throwing an object on to the pitch.
West Ham fans are still subject to anti semitic abuse.
SirChenjin is right, it needs an international response from the football authorities. Alongside that, our own FA should get much tougher on racism.

Yes, it was appalling but let’s not pretend that this is limited to Eastern Europe - black players face similar at home games in the UK. It’s football’s scourge and needs a worldwide response from all football authorities.

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???

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

*awarded