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Middlesbrough 2 - 2 Newcastle - 26/08/07 - Post match reaction from page 18

Dave

by Dave
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Parky

Parky

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Posted

We wanna watch out. The club may end up in the same boat as that Salmon Rushdie. In fact there has just been a press release from the Iranian government announcing a Jihad against Newcastle United Football Club. :giggle:

 

:laugh:

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NSG

NSG

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.com get it spot on

 

With Mike Ashley's appearance on Sunday providing a visible riposte to reports of him selling the club for a quick profit, those same journalists unfortunately didn't have far to look for their next Toon-related headlining-making target.

 

Clearly audible chants from the travelling Toon fans directed at home fans and Boro striker Mido visibly wound the player up and provoked an outbreak of gesturing as he confronted the away section after scoring.

 

As well as reporting on the game, press box occupants were kept busy deciphering the chants, before suppressing grins and then penning their outraged missives.

 

While some reports correctly labelled the chanting as "distasteful" (The Mail), other more hysterical writers donned their UN peace keeping body armour before reporting on:

 

"vile and ignorant Islamophobic abuse.... stereotyped as a terrorist bomber in a barrage of anti-Arab abuse" (Guardian)

 

Post-match comments of Mido on Sunday:

 

“I just think it’s ridiculous. They were taking the p*ss. Maybe some of them were drunk or something. I heard it, it was very clear and I understood what they were saying.

 

“The chants made me want to score more goals. I was delighted to score and I wanted another.

 

“I am used to it from opposition fans - but I was really frustrated when the referee gave me a yellow card.

 

“I don’t understand why I got booked. I was told it was for security reasons but I don’t see how that’s possible. I don’t see what I did which would affect the security of the fans.

 

"I just put my finger to my mouth to say ‘quiet’. But I suppose that’s football and you have to get on with it.”

 

Taking the p*ss eh? whatever next?

 

RE: the hand signals though - that's the player lying and the press box occupants either unable or unwilling to see what went on before them live or on the video playback. Just report the facts that fit eh?

 

3,000 people behind the goal though will tell them exactly which Olde English gesture Mido revealed on two occasions - whether it gets "officially" reported or not.

 

But in the words of Catherine Tate - are we bothered? Can anybody explain what difference any of this made?

 

Did we rush to find a constable and report our righteous indignation? did we f**k - we just gave Mido back what he gave us and thought no more about it.

 

It certainly didn't stir up the locals (those that bothered to turn up at all), the post-match mood echoing that of the pre-game buildup in being less and less threatening year on year.

 

And it's a bit rich for football writers to suddenly start becoming outraged at the utterances of the Newcastle fans on Teesside.

 

Variants of the unsavoury child abuse anthems that are trotted out annually were first heard back at Ayresome Park - talk of "paedo's" isn't new, even if rhyming it with Mido was. 

 

So:

 

kiddy fiddling jibes = OK

terrorist talk =  bang out of order

 

Did those same writers and those same papers embark on a sizeist crusade after those same travelling fans sang songs about Sammy Lee being a dwarf two weeks ago? No.

 

Mentions of hung monkeys, sex with flocks and floods could be heard in our pre-season away games, while countless examples litter our back pages - foot and mouth, throwing petrol bombs at Londoners etc.

 

It's called terrace humour - it's cruel, bawdy, coarse, always offensive to someone and often not funny.

 

It's got nothing to do with people in £300 coats making shapes in the street or chucking darts at each other - it's just football, along with people drinking to excess, crap toilets and the bloke next to you smelling like he's not washed his strip since he bought it.

 

Go anywhere else and you'll hear the variations on familiar themes - scummers, Munichs, Yiddos, whatever.

 

Mido was baited as opposition players have been since the game began - Frank Worthington, David Speedie, Dennis Wise anyone? - and he reacted, as he has done previously.

 

We're not suggesting everyone shouting "Mido, he's got a bomb you know" or "he's gonna blow in a minute" was aware that the player was once banned for six months by his country for kicking off with his coach at pitchside.

 

What a few more people are aware of though is that the bloke seems to have a sizeable ego, previously told journalists he'd signed for us when he hadn't and often seems "excitable" when seen live and on TV.

 

In short, perfect wind-up fodder - just like Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was here previously - when christened "Fat Eddie Murphy".

 

And what about the gentleman who scored our second goal? One-time "fat Aussie bastard" when at Boro and Leeds, now a canny lad.

 

Double standards? of course. Infantile? undoubtedly. Humorous? sometimes.

 

In reality it's all regrettable and avoidable and makes us look like a bunch of clowns, but that's just our opinion - where does one draw the line - and who draws it? Who defines what is religious or sectarian abuse and just exactly how do you police it?

 

When people with learning difficulties are being kicked to death twenty minutes up the road from here and children shot in the head at the other end of the M62, forgive us if we find it  hard to get really worked up about any of this frankly juvenile cobblers.

 

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johnnypd

johnnypd

Posted
Posted

cringeworthy from .com. could've easily said there was a minority of morons chanting and that it puts us in a bad light and said no more. instead they've went with the church sermon approach, contorting themselves with ridiculous arguments in a vain attempt to avoid direct condemnation of the chants. the "worse happens at sea" excuse is the lamest cop out EVER!

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BlueStar

BlueStar

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cringeworthy from .com. could've easily said there was a minority of morons chanting and that it puts us in a bad light and said no more. instead they've went with the church sermon approach, contorting themselves with ridiculous arguments in a vain attempt to avoid direct condemnation of the chants. the "worse happens at sea" excuse is the lamest cop out EVER!

 

It's a bit handwringing and apologist like.  If it's 'free speech' for the little ASBOites to chant their terrorist songs, then people certainly have the free speech to call them ignorant little bigots because of it.

 

The media definitely should have highlighted Mido's Vs though the odious little cunt.  How many times has he been kicked out his national squad now?

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Keefaz

Keefaz

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Wheeled out the 'well we used to call Viduka a fat bastard: some thing, innit?' excuse as well. It's not the same thing, and there's a fucking good reason there's a zero tolerance policy on racism in football grounds.

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Skirge

Skirge

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Our fans were dead wrong for singing what they did at him!!! They have got the club  into shit and are giving our fans a bad name..

 

Mido was right to be pissed off but he is a professional and should not have reacted to it, yeah  okay easy to say he should have ignored it but he knows the rules he has to stick to. The complaint by them seems to be more to do with Mido being booked for it though, I get the feeling if he had not been booked for his reaction then Boro would not e making such a fuss over it.

 

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Wullie

Wullie

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Posted

 

Can't say it comes as any shock at all. What did people think was going to happen? The FA was going to turn a blind eye to racist chanting?

 

You make it sound like it was the Newcastle fans in general, rather than about 5-10% of the Newcastle fans for barely any time at all.

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Keefaz

Keefaz

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Posted

 

Can't say it comes as any shock at all. What did people think was going to happen? The FA was going to turn a blind eye to racist chanting?

 

You make it sound like it was the Newcastle fans in general, rather than about 5-10% of the Newcastle fans for barely any time at all.

 

That's not what I meant. I'm just surprised if fans in general thought the behaviour of this minority was not going to be investigated and, as such, something that we could just conviniently forget or sweep under the carpet. The media love this shit, for a start.

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Wallace

Wallace

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I am irritated that I have yet to see one accurate report coming from the press, Boro or the player himself.

 

However, a minority of Newcastle fans were guilty of racist chants.  These only started after Mido's gestures when he scored.  The fans had been baiting him before that (with some unpleasant stuff it has to be said ie. the paedo stuff) but I don't recall any racist stuff before that.  He made gestures other than telling the crowd to shush and once it was onvious he was being wound up, the racist stuff started.  Not entirely sure myself if it was racist but it was deplorable nonetheless.  I cannot believe some of the excuses put forward about why people chose to chant such stuff as I am sure there was no such thought process applied and a judgement made that it was OK.  It would have been a few idiots and others joining in within thinking about what it has been said.

 

I am just worried about the outcome of this all.  As I said it did happen but not as being reported.  I am surprised also at .com's response.

 

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OzzieMandias

OzzieMandias

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Posted

I'm on 5 live tonight I think talking about the Mido chants

 

My advice would be simply to get the facts straight (actual chanters a minority of the crowd, "terrorist" stuff didn't really start until AFTER the "gestures") and don't try to fob them off with bollocks excuses like "we didn't heckle Tuncay" or "everyone could see he looks exactly like the shoe bomber".

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Paully

Paully

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Anthony Vickers blog - same as last season;

 

Derby "Banter" Is Beyond The Pale

 

SOME THINGS transcend the petty parochial squabbling of football rivalries. Whatever team you support and however passionately you express it, most people are still bound by the norms of society and the same moral spectrum that guides everyday life.

 

Only the foaming zealots fail to see that fans on the other side of the segregation lines are basically the same as them. Only the real hardcore idiots really believe the opposition are dehumanised scum and that anything goes. Only the ignorant dregs of humanity believe that being at a football match means you can set aside civilised standards of behaviour and have free licence to indulge in the basest of offensive behaviour.

 

You know, the kind who sing that someone is “a paedo” and think it is incredibly witty.

 

 

It was a derby match and so a certain level of earthy exchanges were to be expected. Boro fans for instance booed Mark Viduka as they reduced the emotional and financial wrangling of the heavyweight Aussie's long-running contract negotiations and subsequent choice of Newcastle as his future employers to the succint phrase: "You're just a fat greedy bastard". The visitors responded by pointing out Julio Arca's previous allegiance to Sunderland in a similar shorthand and added some barbs about empty seats. Fair enough, that is what you expect in the to and fro of matchday rivallry.

 

But beyond that, indeed beyond the pale, was something more sinister and far harder to sell as just robust derby humour. The baser elements of the travelling support had opted to target Mido, especially after they tumbled that his name rhymed with 'paedo' and so gave them the chance wheel out their tired and sick poison pen picture of Boro fans and twist a nasty knife. I was told later that the knuckle-dragging chorus of hate was clear as day on Setanta's coverage, which is tricky for the new broadcaster's bid to build a Sunday lunchtime armchair audience.

 

To that despicable slur you can add an element of gutter racist stereotyping with chants that Mido was 'a terrorist' and 'a shoebomber'. No wonder he celebrated so passionately and so pointedly in front of them when he scored. True, that it is a reflection of a dark undercurrent of Islamophobia that bubbles up through the tabloids and is present in pubs and clubs across the land rather than something formented specifically on the terraces but it is still indicative of the mentality at work here. Later in the game a female camera assistant had the misfortune to walk in front of the Geordie fans and was loudly entreated to "get your tits out for the lads". It was like being back in the Dark Ages.

 

The most shocking development was that the baseless sexual slurs long thrown at Boro fans collectively as a kind of malicious white noise on derby dfays became sharply focussed on one individual. That they had a specific target - and as he had a red shirt on, it seemed a legitimate one - intensified the hate to the point where even a press box normally insulated from the dynamics of the crowd were galvanised.

 

To her credit Louise Taylor in the the Guardian led their match report with a condemnation of the bile, the Daily Mirror made a special mention of it, and The Sun went big on the 'bomb' taunts.

 

But how could they not? The sight of phlegm-flecked faces contorted in hate and hurling invective at a stranger was disturbing. It was as crass, stupid, socially backward and morally bankrupt as throwing bananas and making monkey-noises at black players ever was.

 

And just as racism was back in the dark ages, it will be defended by the perpetrators as being “just banter”. Already the internet message boards are buzzing with indignant Geordies justifying the chanting or trying mitigating it by pointing out that Boro fans are no angels and that a section of the Riverside crowd gave Kieron Dyer and Titus Bramble a verbal mauling in the aftermath of the sleazy London hotel 'roasting' scandal three years ago so somehow the whole Boro crowd have 'asked for it'. That is a demonstration of exactly the kind of short-sighted moral equivilence that underpins indescriminate attacks on the innocent by hooligans and tit-for-tat sectarian violence across the globe.

 

But this goes far beyond banter - and beyond the pale. It is just about the most offensive thing you can think of and to make it a calculated set-piece within your repertoire plumbs new depths.

What kind of person thinks smearing people with most horrific crimes against children imaginable passes as 'just banter' and anyone who is offended should ‘lighten up’?

 

It is lower than the Munich chants directed at Manchester United by Leeds fans and right down there with Chelsea or Arsenal fans hissing in imitation of Zyklon B and singing about Auschwitz when they play Spurs.

 

Many angry Boro fans have asked the Gazette over the years why the police take no action on this outrageously insulting behaviour which far from fading seems to be growing in volume and intensity and is increasingly creating friction and the potential for confrontation.

 

Racist chanting at football is a criminal offense and is dealt with vigorously, and rightly so. Derby games are heavily policed because of the potential for disorder. In recent years there have even been warnings that visitors wearing smogsuits to the Riverside will be regarded as a provocation and treated as a public order offence.

 

Yet here we have a clear breach of the Public Order Act going unpunished. It is an offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. The law is used to arrest demonstrators chanting empty political slogans at faceless corporations and states so why shouldn't be used to stop this grossly offensive chanting that insults and abuses individuals and creates atmosphere calculated to cause confrontation.

 

A few arrests may sharpen minds and make some reconsider their behaviour although many of the worst offenders would become more bitter, would see it as Boro failing to have a sense of humour and redouble their efforts the wind us up. Indeed, there is the danger it coudl spread to other sets of opposing fans not yet initiated into this dark mentality .

 

Ultimately though, as with racism, this will not be changed by prosecutions. If anything they will just raise the stakes. These vile chants will only end when there is a cultural sea-change among supporters at Newcastle - and Sunderland and Leeds too - who find it an acceptable and entertaining aspect part of derby banter.

 

The fight against racism in football did not come from above. If anything the authorities - the clubs, the FA, the police - tried their best to ignore the chanting, hoping it would go away.

The campaign against racism stemmed from decent, articulate, socially responsible fans standing up to against the idiots within their own crowd, through agitation from the fanzine movement and from grassroots organistions like the Football Supporters' Association demanding that the clubs took action.

 

And that is what is needed here. It is down to decent Newcastle fans to stand up and insist that this behaviour is unacceptable and like the racist chanting it must stop. The bulk of Newcastle fans are no different from any other crowd. There will be decent respectable, socially aware Newcastle fans who will be mortified by this chanting and who will be thoroughly embarrassed at the way the idiots portray the club, the fans and their home town.

 

They must act. Silence on this issue gives the green light to the mindless idiots to continue their twisted malice. The fanzines and internet forum must condemn this publicly and start a debate within their fans and local media over what is acceptable banter and what is grossly offensive. It is down to fans to draw the line and police it themselves.

 

The club should condemn such it publicly too. Newcastle owner Mike Ashley was sat at the Riverside in his replica shirt, identifying himself with his new audience. He must have heard it. It was unavoidable. If not he must have read the shocked reports of the chants in the national press. Surely he must have an opinion on the potential damage such moronic behaviour does to his expensively purchased new brand?

 

"We had to get him to calm down a bit in the first half," Gareth Southgate said later when quizzed about Mido running the gauntlet of hate. “I always find it strange that 3,000 people are allowed to abuse one person and nothing’s done and when the boot is on the other foot, he gets in trouble. In terms of civil liberties, I find that a strange situation.”

 

He added that the club have no plans to make an official complaint. They should. Like the battle against racism, it has to start somewhere and a complaint may force Newcastle into the bout of soul searching that is so clearly demanded.

 

 

 

THE GAME offered compelling evidence that fans should sometimes just keep their gobs shut.

 

Just as there was a righteous poetic justice about Mido scoring for Boro to respond in style to the black and white barracking so after all the taunting from his former faithful there was an air of inevitability about Viduka scoring for Newcastle.

 

And Boro's second leveller also came from a player who had every right to feel stung into action by the ill-advised visiting taunts. Julio Arca had twice been loudly lambasted as a "sad mackem bastard" but had the last laugh as he delighfully swept home from the edge of a crowded box.

 

If only they had picked on Woodgate too Boro may have taken all the points.

 

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Guest alex

Guest alex

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Posted

"It is lower than the Munich chants directed at Manchester United by Leeds fans and right down there with Chelsea or Arsenal fans hissing in imitation of Zyklon B and singing about Auschwitz when they play Spurs. "

Jesus cunting wept.

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