More Ugliness In The Beautiful Game....

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24651310
Should the referee have suspended play? What other measures can stop this?

[ummmm]

No young.....they have cameras, find them, ban them.

Ignoring it isn't an option.

[ClaryS]

Ummmm it would be better to reply to the chanters with humour to show them up. Its like bullying, if you ignore it it won't stop, but if you show you're not frightened, or upset, and show the bully up, then often it does.

[Gromit]

// Perhaps the player should be adult enough to shrug it off //

That would not be adult, that would be cowardly.

[ummmm]

My children watch football. It should be seen that racism is not tolerated.

[doctordb]

clarys, i don't know if you've been to many football matches but your view is quite naive.

[ClaryS]

doctordb never been to a football match in my life, plenty of rugga games though. Why would that matter? The same chanting could happen at any sporting event and the same rules apply -don't ignore but react in a way that demeans the perpetrator. You can't racially or otherwise abuse someone if they turn it around on you and don't act abused. If someone shouted at me something like 'Blondie bimbo big boobs' I wouldn't go crying to the papers -I'd laugh give them a wiggle , stick up a finger while mouthing something un ladylike . xx

[doctordb]

clarys, how would you react if every saturday 5,000 fans relentlessly asked if 'you take it up the arse'. would you still laugh it off every time?

Sorry to be so blunt but i'm trying to emphasise the point. :)

[ClaryS]

doctordb it wouldn't bother me at all, its themselves they are showing up and if I just faced them waved and laughed it would irritate them much more than if I burst into tears and walked off the pitch.

[doctordb]

the point is clarys that players have ignored all these standard chants for years now but fans haven't stopped singing them. Smiling at people making monkey sounds won't stop them either.

[ummmm]

You really think racism should be taken on the chin?

There are young impressionable kids watching these matches do you not think we need to show that it's not acceptable?

[ToraToraTora]

if their team started losing games because of them it would very quickly stop.

[LazyGun]

YMB has the right of it when he said this IMO;
"The referees should walk over and signal/ask them to stop. If they don't or do it again then the match should be stopped and points awarded to the other team.

Small fines do no good, the fans need to be hurt. Their team loosing because of their actions would do that"

[ToraToraTora]

I agree LG, they could have a pre arranged warning put out over the Tannoy, then award the game say 2-0 to the opposition and walk off. It would only have to happen a few times and it would kill the whole thing stone dead.

[Zeuhl]

Indeed

the majority of fans shouldn't be embarrassed by those idiots

(regardless of whether the idiots are feeling 'fed up' because the players have shrugged it off - that is irrelevant)

the majority of fans should be angry; because the disgusting behaviour is about to cost the club 3 points

[anotheoldgit]

ummmm

/// There are young impressionable kids watching these matches do you not think we need to show that it's not acceptable? ///

And don't you think that the young kids would notice that to the player the crowds actions were a waste of time, and attach themselves to their hero rather than the silly crowd?

[ClaryS]

I think a good message for young people is to not be threatened by bullies, to stand up and show that however nasty they can be you will not allow it to affect you. This is not ignoring the situation, its reacting to it. Too mny people these days 'run crying to mummy', it seems to be the fashion at the moment. I realise everyone has different opinions and different reactions, this is just my opinion and how I would react. I don't think making big issues of it will stop it, on the contrary I think if every time someone calls someone something and it ends up with players wakling off then more people will do it.

[doctordb]

Aog, do you think everyone subjected to racism should shrug it off or just footballers?

[Zeuhl]

/And don't you think that the young kids would notice that to the player the crowds actions were a waste of time, and attach themselves to their hero rather than the silly crowd? /

Could be

But aog still hasn't answered the question

of whether this noble 'sticks and stones' approach shouldn't have been adopted by the police who instead prosecuted Muslim demonstrators who insulted our troops

If 'shrugging it off with a big smile' is your solution aog?

[ClaryS]

players wakling off lol! 'walking off'. I think as suggested the best way to deal with it is for the ref to stop the match and award the game to the team whose member is being 'abused'.

[sp1814]

ClaryS

Doesn't work that way.

Racism doesn't disappear if you ignore it, which is why AOG's earlier suggestion is just laughably naive too.

Here's the evidence - in the UK in the 70s you had WAY more racism on the terraces than you do now. That's because of active anti-racist movements within the world of football, and generally because older racists are now...well...dying off, and not being replaced in sufficient numbers (thankfully).

We are ahead of certain countries in northern and Eastern Europe not because we have shrugged and smiled racism away. It's because we have tackled it, and made it something that (most) people would feel ashamed of.

Also, you have to remember - racism on the terraces doesn't just affect the black players - it affects the black fans too.