Racism concerns at World Cup

[HIU 93]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/worldcup/2006-06-01-intolerance-cup_x.htm

[GannonFan]

As much as people rail on bad fans in the US, we have nothing on the rest of the world. I can't recall barbed wire fences, whole sections left empty between opposing fans as sort of a DMZ, and armed soldiers manning the stadium to prevent fans from going at each other. Heck, a lot of places don't let opposing fans ever mingle (separate entrances, separate concessions, seating area, etc). Plus you through in the European racism and that just tips the cup further. As bad as racism is here, at least we all live together. I keep thinking Europe is too homogenized and that just makes it worse. The one thing I don't like about the World Cup is the hyper-nationalism and all the warts that come along with it.

[jstate83]

I would not go to one of these "event's" without bodyguards and semi-auto's locked and loaded.:eyebrow:

These idiot's are nutt's.: smh :

[89Hen]

These idiot's are nutt's.: smh :
And those nutts are idiots. The racism in the European leagues is appalling. :nonono2:

[bandl]

And those nutts are idiots. The racism in the European leagues is appalling. :nonono2:

SOME of the clubs, but not all of them. And I don't think it's fair to pin racism on an entire league also. I went to a Dutch (yes, the Dutch have been known to be racist in the past) match a couple months ago in a very industrial/factory oriented city. I didn't see/hear an ounce of racism/bigotry/hatred, not even towards the black players on the field (such as a certain DeMarcus Beasley of the U.S., currently on the U.S. World Cup roster). No barb-wired fences or uber-security...but they DID have a hooligan section. They were amusing to watch/listen to, to say the least. Nothing different than going to an NFL playoff game though...:twocents:

[saint0917]

ESPN did a segment on racism in soccer this morning, fans would throw bananas at the black athletes and call them monkeys. They said Germany was the worst country to play in if your black.:nonono2: Some of the black athletes would even pick up the ball and would run off the field and yell "no mas, no mas" (I quit) after taking all that verbal abuse.

[blur2005]

ESPN did a segment on racism in soccer this morning, fans would throw bananas at the black athletes and call them monkeys. They said Germany was the worst country to play in if your black.:nonono2: Some of the black athletes would even pick up the ball and would run off the field and yell "no mas, no mas" (I quit) after taking all that verbal abuse.
You must not have been watching closely, as not a single example the segment gave occurred in Germany. Most occurred in Spain, in the case of Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona and the goalie for Espanyol. Spain has definitely been the worst offender over the past few years in terms of racism in the stands.

[saint0917]

You must not have been watching closely, as not a single example the segment gave occurred in Germany.

You must have been sleeping during that segment, because they sure did talk about Germany.:rolleyes:

[SU Jag]

ESPN did a segment on racism in soccer this morning, fans would throw bananas at the black athletes and call them monkeys. They said Germany was the worst country to play in if your black.:nonono2: Some of the black athletes would even pick up the ball and would run off the field and yell "no mas, no mas" (I quit) after taking all that verbal abuse.

Yeah the ESPN segment opened my eyes to something new! Its pretty bad over there!

[Stang Fever]

I had know idea it was like that over there....I have always in the back of my mind thought Euro was a big melting pod and a very tolerant place. but i guess not

I never thought Spain was that bad either.

What i dont get is why dont all the black players and players who are not for all that bull join togeher and just leave the game when stuff like that is taking place....it should never be tolerated ever.....what people say behind close doors is there business but I promise you that if games kept being called cause of people like that..it would stop

[blur2005]

You must have been sleeping during that segment, because they sure did talk about Germany.:rolleyes:
Perhaps they did, but if you know anything about racism in soccer, it is at its worst in Spain. Moreover, the segment started with the Espanyol goalie, then mentioned Eto'o of Barcelona. I don't recall a specific example in Germany, just Paulo Di Canio's case while at Lazio in Italy. But granted, racism in soccer is a continental-wide problem because of Europe's traditionally homogenous population responding in a terrible way to the influx of immigrants and the lack of assimilation of those immigrants (so the U.S. isn't the only one, apparently). As the segment mentioned, Europe has never had a Civil Rights Movement like the United States because of the small number of minorities that have traditionally lived there.

[Baldy]

Ahhhh to be as nuanced as those Euros......

[89Hen]

racism in soccer is a continental-wide problem because of Europe's traditionally homogenous population
Tell that to bandl.

BTW blur...

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,409517,00.html

German soccer needs anything but more controversy in the few months remaining before it hosts the World Cup. But some recent cases of blatant racism are doing further damage to its image.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0606/p20s01-alsp.html

Abuse directed at nonwhite players in Spain, Germany, and Italy during the past season has tarnished European soccer's gilded reputation and sent sports officials scrambling to respond.

[bandl]

Tell that to bandl.[/I]

Easy there, killer...I never said that racism doesn't exist in the realm of European football, or even that it isn't rampant in some countries. You said that "The racism in the European leagues is appalling", implying that you believe racism exists in all countries across all levels of football. I was merely stating that that is not the case, there are some clubs that do not have racism issues. And there are some clubs/leagues who have already squashed what problems there may have been in the past, well before it came to the forefront of world-wide attention. The fans of these clubs seem to understand what it is all about...the game. They appreciate the god-given talent that some of these athletes (black, white, asian, latino) have, and they appreciate that these tremendous athletes are playing for their club. I just don't think it's fair to pin the racism card on all countries and/or all clubs, that's all.

[89Hen]

You said that "The racism in the European leagues is appalling", implying that you believe racism exists in all countries across all levels of football.
How does that imply that? :confused: Saying steroid use in MLB is appalling is very accurate but it doesn't mean all players and all teams are involved. :confused:

[bandl]

How does that imply that? :confused: Saying steroid use in MLB is appalling is very accurate but it doesn't mean all players and all teams are involved. :confused:

It's implied by what you didn't specify. European Leagues = ALL leagues, all levels, all clubs, all fans...unless otherwise specified. I'm sure there are some clubs representatives in Europe who would take great offense to such a broad stroke of opinion. Those clubs/countries who do not have racism problems, or who have gone out of their way to eradicate past racism problems, should not be thrown under the same limelight.

If you meant something else, that's fine. But what I stated above is the message that I gathered from your post. :twocents:

[jwfgeol]

There was a Real Sports segment on this a while back that focused on England. Basically the racists "recruit" at soccer games. There are even some players involved.

[89Hen]

It's implied by what you didn't specify. European Leagues = ALL leagues, all levels, all clubs, all fans...unless otherwise specified.
:confused: : smh : Steroids use is appalling in Major League Baseball. MLB = ALL teams, all players??? :confused: :confused:

• In France on Nov. 13, two black players for the Bastia team, Pascal Chimbonda of Guadalupe and Franck Matingou of Congo, along with their family members, were abused and roughed up in the parking lot following their team's 3-0 loss to rival Saint-Etienne. The incident prompted French players, coaches and referees to don "No to Racism" T-shirts for their game the following week.

• In England, about a week later, Birmingham player Dwight Yorke, who is black, confronted two men in the stands who harassed him during his pregame warm-up drills by making monkey noises and imitating a monkey's scratching. One of the men, who said he was drunk at the time, was fined the equivalent of about $1,900 for the incident and banned from soccer stadiums in England and Wales for five years.

• In the Netherlands last month, a referee, Rene Temmink, for the first time invoked a new rule and stopped a game in The Hague. The crowd had become hostile, chanting, "Temmink, to the gas chamber!" and calling the referee "the whore of Hamas," referring to the Palestinian Islamic militant group. When the Amsterdam team Ajax plays, fans of rival teams typically make a loud hissing noise, to simulate Nazi gas chambers -- a reference to the Ajax team's supposedly Jewish origins.

• In Spain on Nov. 17, during a friendly match between Spain and England, two black players for the English team were subjected to monkey noises and racist slogans chanted by thousands of fans in the 55,000-seat stadium. England protested, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was "very disappointed." Spanish officials waited a full day before condemning the incident and Spanish newspapers played it down, saying the British press had exaggerated it.

• Also in Spain, on Nov. 23, a Champions League match between Real Madrid and visiting Bayer Leverkusen was disrupted by fans at Madrid's Bernabeu stadium who gave Nazi salutes and made monkey noises whenever Leverkusen's black player, Roque Junior of Brazil, had the ball. On Friday, Europe's football governing body, UEFA, fined Real Madrid the equivalent of about $13,000.

• In Italy, Lazio -- already fined for racist incidents -- was sanctioned by the UEFA on Friday after Pierre Boya, a Cameroonian player for Partizan Belgrade, was subjected to a torrent of monkey noises and grunts from Lazio fans in the stands whenever he had the ball. Belgrade's other black players also came in for abuse from Lazio fans making monkey noises during the Nov. 25 match in Rome. Lazio was ordered by the UEFA to play its next European home match in an empty arena. Partizan Belgrade was fined the equivalent of about $6,900 for misbehavior by its fans.

C'mon bandl. It IS rampant in many parts of Europe, hence that statement "racism in the European leagues is appalling". I don't know of cases in the North American, Asian, South American... leagues, perhaps they're bad too, but how can you deny that "racism in the European leagues is appalling"?

[bandl]

C'mon bandl. It IS rampant in many parts of Europe, hence that statement "racism in the European leagues is appalling". I don't know of cases in the North American, Asian, South American... leagues, perhaps they're bad too, but how can you deny that "racism in the European leagues is appalling"?
I'm NOT denying that racism isn't rampany or appalling in European Leagues...all I am saying is that it is NOT rampant in EVERY club and their fanbase! A disclaimer to the statement, if you will. Simple as that.

We need an emoticon of someone running around in circles...

[89Hen]

all I am saying is that it is NOT rampant in EVERY club and their fanbase! A disclaimer to the statement, if you will. Simple as that.
And I'm pointing out that no disclaimer was needed in any way as all I said was it was appalling in European leagues, which it is.