Racism in European football (or Europe itself)

[remote2book]

After watching a couple of recent documentries my eyes have been opened to the fact that there is alot of racism in european football ..and i had somewhat of an idea but since many of you guys/girls are from europe i wanted to know your opinion on the issue ..i know this is a delicate issue but are players of colored really looked down in football? i saw some lazio fans booing there own player cuz he was black..and the incident with spains coach ....and eto'o being abused it really disgusts mei could not bieleve what i saw ..i just wanted to know since alot of you guys live in europe how it is..and mods if you feel like this isnt appropriate than you are welcome to close the thread

[_Ace]

not all fans are racist scum, but some are.
for instance, look at Seedorf, he's one of the most worshiped players in Italy.

[Hasan Rossonero]

Edit--double post.

[Hasan Rossonero]

I normally steer clear of topics like this, but what the heck.

Of course, there are many decent fans in Italy and Spain. Certainly, clubs like Verona and Lazio have a less tolerant fan-base. I think most Italians and Spaniards (I am sticking to these two groups since you specifically mentioned them) are naturally repulsed at what happens in the terraces, but amidst the standard pieties ("racism is wrong"), there are also educated Italians who think it's not that bad.

Consider: I have a friend, who is from Rome, is supremely educated, and thinks that it's only logical that if fans "want to get under the skin of black players, they should make monkey noises". He says it with a degree of contempt, too, as if the whole reaction is blown out of proportion. Of course, it's easy to say these thing when one has never experienced them. Needless to say, there is a difference between one heckling C. Ronaldo for diving and winking and Eto'o for being black. But, presumably, for aforementioned apologists both are fair game. Also, I doubt people who make monkey noises are only racists in the stadium; they are surely racists, who only need an excuse to act.

In England you rarely hear of this now because the constitution of races in the country does not allow it. The immigration dynamic in Spain and Italy is completely different. Seedorf and Eto'o provide a service, and as long as they're doing it well they will be defended from the monkey noises--how sincerely is anyone's guess. There are enlightened souls everywhere who genuinely recoil at such behaviour, and I am sure they exist in good number in Italy and Spain. But as long as UEFA and FIFA only provide lip service, this problem will remain in some degree.

[hany.Egypt]

Another very sensitive thread after the ‘Do you believe in God? ’ I think that racism in European football is getting clearer and clearer despite all the rules that condemns it, and it turn from racism against colour only to be racism against both colour and religion
Especially after September 11th .


I am stressing here on the religious racism because I am a ‘’white’’ Egyptian which means that I don’t suffer of colour racism but I just suffer from the religious one,
I don’t agree with Hasan when he says that this phenomena doesn’t or rarely happens in England because it did happen twice with two Egyptian players there, first with Ahmed fathy in Sheffield united, and the second with Mido.
I won’t go on with Fathy’s incident because he was not hurt a lot but I will talk about Mido’s one the guy plays with his teammates took the ball and scored a goal, every thing looks ordinary till this moment but Newcastle fans did not accept the truth that there team was behind so they started singing ( we are sure that Mido is carrying a bomb ) and when the player asked then to shut up by putting his finger infront of his mouth (something that Vieri did in the world cup against Korea) the ref booked him and the English FA fined him! And did not fine Newcastle which was really strange and unfair!

The problem here is the way that European officials deal with this ugly gly phenomena because Plater condemned what DE Canio did when he celebrated by stretching his arm after scoring a goal and ignored what Newcastle fans did with Mido like if this was racism and that was not.

So saying that it rarely happens in England is not true and even if it was true is not enough it should never happens in any place in the world and there must be some very strike punishments like point deduction and massive money fines or even sending to the lower class if the fans of a certain team did that otherwise racism will be a part of our life not just in football because football is a game that has huge influence on people in general and kids in particular and when kids watch this phenomena on TV they will start to feel like its familiar and ordinary to patch people because of colour and religion.

[Hasan Rossonero]

Another very sensitive thread after the ‘Do you believe in God? ’ I think that racism in European football is getting clearer and clearer despite all the rules that condemns it, and it turn from racism against colour only to be racism against both colour and religion
Especially after September 11th .


I am stressing here on the religious racism because I am a ‘’white’’ Egyptian which means that I don’t suffer of colour racism but I just suffer from the religious one,
I don’t agree with Hasan when he says that this phenomena doesn’t or rarely happens in England because it did happen twice with two Egyptian players there, first with Ahmed fathy in Sheffield united, and the second with Mido.
I won’t go on with Fathy’s incident because he was not hurt a lot but I will talk about Mido’s one the guy plays with his teammates took the ball and scored a goal, every thing looks ordinary till this moment but Newcastle fans did not accept the truth that there team was behind so they started singing ( we are sure that Mido is carrying a bomb ) and when the player asked then to shut up by putting his finger infront of his mouth (something that Vieri did in the world cup against Korea) the ref booked him and the English FA fined him! And did not fine Newcastle which was really strange and unfair!

The problem here is the way that European officials deal with this ugly gly phenomena because Plater condemned what DE Canio did when he celebrated by stretching his arm after scoring a goal and ignored what Newcastle fans did with Mido like if this was racism and that was not.

So saying that it rarely happens in England is not true and even if it was true is not enough it should never happens in any place in the world and there must be some very strike punishments like point deduction and massive money fines or even sending to the lower class if the fans of a certain team did that otherwise racism will be a part of our life not just in football because football is a game that has huge influence on people in general and kids in particular and when kids watch this phenomena on TV they will start to feel like its familiar and ordinary to patch people because of colour and religion.
Yes hany, but look how rare it is. We don't hear players in England suffering monkey chants week in and week out.

Of course there is racism against Muslims in England (and many other countries), but those two incidents are the most recent ones. I can't think of any after that...I may be wrong. In Spain and Italy it's almost a weekly occurrence.

We have to be fair. There isn't much I like about English football, but the way they have cleaned up the sport is exemplary, especially considering how hooligans were running amok a few years ago.

As for the "white" Egyptian part, I know what you mean. But in North America (I can't speak for any other country) an Arab is an Arab. They don't consider Arabs with lighter skin white.

[hany.Egypt]

Of course there is racism against Muslims in England (and many other countries), but those two incidents are the most recent ones. I can't think of any after that
Roony called Muslims ''trouble makers and then added I hate them all'' no one even blamed this clown for that.

[Hasan Rossonero]

Roony called Muslims ''trouble makers and then added I hate them all'' no one even blamed this clown for that.


Really? Was this in his biography? Well Rooney (or for that matter the England team) are not the most erudite and refined bunch. We all have our prejudices. I was talking more about fan trouble in the stadia.