Big Geordie Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Obviously, the subject of racism is back in the news in recent days and weeks -the student from Jesmond who was arrested for tweeting abuse to Collymore, and this latest 'mackem' who has been lifted for aiming racist abuse at NUFC via Twitter. At the age of almost 39, I remember the dark days of the 1980's when racism was still rife at St James'. I remember the skinheads from the National Front trying to shift their rubbish outside the Gallowgate on matchdays (my old man kept me away from them!) I also remember the likes of Watford's John Barnes and Bobby Barnes from West Ham being on the recieving end of monkey noises, etc. As a kid of 11 or 12 at the time I didn't really understand the issues involved and I'd like to think that I don't remember joining in with those around me. However, life at St James has changed from those days and much of that is down to the likes of Andy Cole and Les Ferdinand who blazed a trail for black players to become heroes and thus doing much to shift racist abuse from the ground. I don't doubt that it still goes on from a few individuals and I would encourage anyone who hears such filth inside the ground to shop the perpatrators to the nearest steward. The North East on a whole has become more diverse, but there is still a problem in areas and this isn't helped by the likes of the BNP targeting the likes of Fenham and Elswick when it comes to trying to win seats at election time. Am I right in thinking there is also a BNP presence in Sunderland? Show Racism the Red Card has done much fantastic work over the years to try and enlighten people and dis-spell ignorance. More needs to be done and by that I mean people taking responsibilty not only for their own actions, but dealing with the unacceptable actions of others. Any thoughts lads and lasses? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Seems to be rearing its head...maybe it never went away in the first place andhas just been bubling under the surface. Maybe with the all these new social sites and live communication its been given and outlet again. I dunno really. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 it's still there but a lot less than it was and isn't peculiar to the north east. what i hear, and it's getting less as the slow of learning catch on, is the type thats akin to "lanky", "ginger", "big nosed", "baldy" type of abuse which the majority now know just not to use and get caught in the debate. as regards the bnp in sunderland, i'm lead to beleive that sunderland was the first city in the uk to have a bnp candidate in every ward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skirge Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Sadly brain dead ignorant fools will always exist, not so sure its as big an issue in football in the UK as it used to be but any incident will be so widely reported it will seem more wide spread. The latest issue of this piece of scum on twitter last night just proves racist scum really are thick as pig shit, he was a grown man and must have thought he was safe sat behind his PC. Hope he gets jail time I really do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benwell Lad Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Strange that the only club named in the newspaper report about yesterday's disgraceful twitter rants is the one who's players were attacked by the racist. Why is it not mentioned that the racist is a supporter of Sunderland who comes from Sunderland ? The way their management has been bigging up the criminals on their playing staff, and routinely ignores violent pitch invasions, I think it is unlikely they will see fit to condemn the racist rants made by one of their fans. Sunderland AFC should make a public condemnation of the fan but most likely it will be a Liverpool type screen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 What did this Knacker say? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benwell Lad Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 What did this Knacker say? Some pretty vile stuff aimed at Newcastle and it's black players. Was posted in Sunderland thread yesterday - not sure if it's still there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themanupstairs Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 What did this Knacker say? Some pretty vile stuff aimed at Newcastle and it's black players. Was posted in Sunderland thread yesterday - not sure if it's still there. Bluestar posted it in the Sunderland thread me thinks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roger Kint Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Strange that the only club named in the newspaper report about yesterday's disgraceful twitter rants is the one who's players were attacked by the racist. Why is it not mentioned that the racist is a supporter of Sunderland who comes from Sunderland ? The way their management has been bigging up the criminals on their playing staff, and routinely ignores violent pitch invasions, I think it is unlikely they will see fit to condemn the racist rants made by one of their fans. Sunderland AFC should make a public condemnation of the fan but most likely it will be a Liverpool type screen. Same way the 'lad from Jesmond' is from Liverpool yet a few reports i read/heard failed to mention it. On the subject of racism, i dont go to matches now but in the 15 or so years i did it was pretty rare and usually a case of one pissed up fan. Never seen or heard anything where its a noticable problem. Naturally that doesnt mean its not happening elsewhere, just the section of the Gallowgate i sat was fairly mixed between families and younger fans with a handful of older blokes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Still hear it at the game every now and then tbh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themanupstairs Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Still hear it at the game every now and then tbh. That's really sad, and puts the whole Suarez/Evra saga into perspective. In some ways I refuse to believe it. I've only ever been in Newcastle and St James' once in my life, and had such a wonderful experience, that hearing about this sort of thing makes me want to block it out, as to me it's still the most beautiful city I have ever been in, and want nothing to tarnish that experience/memory. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benwell Lad Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Still hear it at the game every now and then tbh. I find that surprising, I have not heard racist abuse at a football match for years or even decades. Do you hear it openly or is it in conversation ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Ive heard the odd comment but only very rarely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocho Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Still hear it at the game every now and then tbh. I find that surprising, I have not heard racist abuse at a football match for years or even decades. Do you hear it openly or is it in conversation ? I've heard it a few times at away matches as well, but it's the odd incident. I've heard it shouted against the opposing players, but strangely enough to ours as well. Shola and Babayaro getting a bit of abuse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Geordie Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Still hear it at the game every now and then tbh. You not fancy grassing up those guilty, Dave or is it just comments you hear but are unable to identify who said what? Would be good if supporters could self-police on this one. Away games are a bit of a different matter though. Anyone remember the Coventry stuff that happened when SBR was manager? (think it was in 1999) From what I remember reading about it, it was bang out of order and I'm not sure if those guilty of chanting 'A town full or Paki's' were ever caught. Brought shame to the rest of us good supporters. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 never went away man, people just started to be more careful where they said it as it became less and less acceptable socially...perhaps people have just stopped giving a shit about being 'caught' i work in the oil game, for example, and i'd estimate that 90%+ of the expats i work with say something racist without a second thought... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benwell Lad Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Still hear it at the game every now and then tbh. I find that surprising, I have not heard racist abuse at a football match for years or even decades. Do you hear it openly or is it in conversation ? I've heard it a few times at away matches as well, but it's the odd incident. I've heard it shouted against the opposing players, but strangely enough to ours as well. Shola and Babayaro getting a bit of abuse. I certainly haven't heard it at SJP. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest johnson293 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 With regards the tweets yesterday, I logged into another Twitter account I have, and followed him, and managed to get a screen grab of Peter Copelands offending Tweets, all of which are still there today... http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a249/johnson293/twitter.jpg I won't post the image up, as its quite big, but hopefully the link is ok to show what he'd been posting. Now, whether he is the 'man arrested' is anyones guess - but the same tweet appears to be mentioned in the news article. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benwell Lad Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 never went away man, people just started to be more careful where they said it as it became less and less acceptable socially...perhaps people have just stopped giving a s*** about being 'caught' i work in the oil game, for example, and i'd estimate that 90%+ of the expats i work with say something racist without a second thought... Sadly, remarks like that will be made by people from every part of the world. I was mildly amused when I was "racially insulted" in a foreign language, it's probably happened to almost everyone without them even knowing about it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I've heard it in the pub, but it was a while ago. Kieran Dyer getting some vile abuse from our own fans. I actually challenged the bloke at the time at was shit scared! The way I see it, human suspicion of people different from yourself will never go away, it's hard-wired. What we can learn to do is bring in our reasoning mind to stop us from expressing or putting too much stock in our instinctive reactions/feelings. I think things have definitely improved in football, ironically the fact that this stuff is now reported more probably indicates that it is more rare. When it was happening all the time there wasn't the feeling that it was exceptional or unacceptable. Loads more work to go, but it's a problem for society rather than football specifically. As we become more familiar with people of different races and religions hopefully this stuff will become irrelevant. It will obviously take years and probably can't be done in one lifetime. I would still love to see more proactive efforts from everyone to encourage people to mix with other cultures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaKa Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 never went away man, people just started to be more careful where they said it as it became less and less acceptable socially...perhaps people have just stopped giving a s*** about being 'caught' i work in the oil game, for example, and i'd estimate that 90%+ of the expats i work with say something racist without a second thought... Pretty much. Being able to "hide" behind the computer allows them to say these sorts of things again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themanupstairs Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 never went away man, people just started to be more careful where they said it as it became less and less acceptable socially...perhaps people have just stopped giving a s*** about being 'caught' i work in the oil game, for example, and i'd estimate that 90%+ of the expats i work with say something racist without a second thought... Sadly, remarks like that will be made by people from every part of the world. I was mildly amused when I was "racially insulted" in a foreign language, it's probably happened to almost everyone without them even knowing about it. I'm involved in 4th division football here in Cyprus (not as a player), and our team has a few Africans and Arabs in it, who constantly get racist abuse from opposition Greek players, even when their own teams have foreigners. It's disgusting, but as you say, happens all over the world. Find it amusing when our Afrian players get told to go back to Gaza Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 There' still some complete creeps that sit centrally in the lower 3 or 4 rows in the Gallowgate. I was 'asked' to leave once for confronting one of the arseholes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Still hear it at the game every now and then tbh. You not fancy grassing up those guilty, Dave or is it just comments you hear but are unable to identify who said what? Would be good if supporters could self-police on this one. Away games are a bit of a different matter though. Anyone remember the Coventry stuff that happened when SBR was manager? (think it was in 1999) From what I remember reading about it, it was bang out of order and I'm not sure if those guilty of chanting 'A town full or Paki's' were ever caught. Brought shame to the rest of us good supporters. They're just comments overheard from the area around me. Heard them home and away, and if you're engrossed in the game then it's hard to know who's said it. Don't get me wrong, with the exception of some prick at West Ham away it's not a continuous stream of vile racist abuse, but it's still out of order. I just wanted to make the point that it exists everywhere, including us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I was mildly amused when I was "racially insulted" in a foreign language, it's probably happened to almost everyone without them even knowing about it. unquestionably, some people seem to think whitey is the only one at it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now