Comments on: Pro Patria Racist Abuse

Pro Patria Racist Abuse

marienbad — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:24:07 -0800

Boateng walks off: Kevin-Prince Boateng, the former Tottenham and Portsmouth midfielder left the field after AC Milan players were abused in a friendly against Pro Patria. On his way from the pitch, Boateng applauded sections of the crowd, who then reacted angrily towards the corner of the ground from which the chants came. It was quickly established that play would not restart and AC Milan's official website said other black players in the Milan side - M'Baye Niang, Urby Emanuelson and Sulley Muntari - suffered abuse. [Video on Daily Mirror Website] BBC report.

By: marienbad

marienbad — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:24:23 -0800

Respect KPB, you did the right thing.

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:30:06 -0800

Hear hear.

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:31:23 -0800

The thing is what you guys don't seem to understand is that Europe doesn't have racism. So this whole incident was just a weird dream.

By: incandissonance

incandissonance — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:36:39 -0800

It would be interesting to see what would happen if high profile matches were called off for players leaving the field due to racial abuse. Especially if the offending home side were penalized with match forfeitures. Would fans begin policing themselves in the stands to prevent the abuse? That's just a dream - like the chants. replied Michel Platini.

By: TheWhiteSkull

TheWhiteSkull — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:42:45 -0800

Oh, Italy. Kicking racism back into football.

By: kuanes

kuanes — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:43:49 -0800

More proof that Platini is a douche: In June, Uefa president Michel Platini said that any players who walked off the pitch at Euro 2012 because of racist abuse would be booked.

By: Purposeful Grimace

Purposeful Grimace — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:48:15 -0800

It'll be nice to see Platini eat those words. Fuck these racists.

By: josher71

josher71 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:56:13 -0800

Michel Platini needs to go. Racism is getting worse and good on KPB and the rest of the players for walking off.

By: josher71

josher71 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:57:37 -0800

Imagine for a moment banana peels raining down on the head of Miami Heat basketball star LeBron James when he takes the court.

By: rosswald

rosswald — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:58:01 -0800

Booked?

By: josher71

josher71 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 10:59:00 -0800

Booked? Given a yellow card.

By: kendrak

kendrak — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:02:17 -0800

Oh, Italy. Kicking racism back into football. Lots of other European nations have been doing their part recently... Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Spain, and the list goes on. More players and teams need to take this stand. Kudos to Boateng and Milan.

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:02:50 -0800

Yellow or red carded.

By: josher71

josher71 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:06:10 -0800

Lots of other European nations have been doing their part recently... Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Spain, and the list goes on. The treatment of Danny Rose in Serbia was awful as was FIFA's punishment for the Serbian FA.

By: any portmanteau in a storm

any portmanteau in a storm — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:08:05 -0800

From josher71's link: There were those who commented immediately on Twitter that the moves by Boateng, the referees, and the Pro Patria players were easy because this wasn't an official league game. But Massimino Allegri, the coach of AC Milan, said afterward that his team would walk out again if one of their players were racially abused, regardless of either the competition or the situation. I'd love to see what would happen if AC Milan, or any other team suffering from racist abuse, were to walk out either during the league or a tournament (such as the Champion's League). It would almost need to be a non-English team for UEFA to take positive notice. One thing to note is that ticket sales are generally segregated (visiting fans get one area and the rest of the seats are for home fans) so there is more scope, and responsibility, for teams to police their own fans.

By: Jehan

Jehan — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:10:13 -0800

Good on him for walking off. The fans who hurl racist abuse should be ashamed of themselves, and, moreover, potentially face charges. It's clear that as both teams walked off, and that other fans clapped their decision, the time has come to kick the racists out of the stadium. Clubs should face having to play without their fans if they cannot be trusted to not abuse players.

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:13:21 -0800

Good. And if AC Milan took the forfeit, then even goddamn better. (Not because I have any feelings about AC Milan, but it takes real guts to take a loss for a higher purpose.)

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:15:41 -0800

Imagine for a moment banana peels raining down on the head of Miami Heat basketball star LeBron James when he takes the court. I think a more apt analogy is Jeremy Lin, or a black player at a hockey game, where its still a relative anomaly. And no, in either of those situations I'd assume the fan or fans continually being racist would be removed or punched in the face or both. There is certainly racism at American sporting events, but a lot more diversity in the crowd and a less permissive security force means it's not this kind of mass insanity. Except the Palace of Auburn Hills. That place is basically a contained riot.

By: bukvich

bukvich — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:22:39 -0800

In my city's NFL stadium they have a flagging mechanism where if some obnoxious drunk is making the game unpleasant in your seating section you send a text message to the stadium security and they investigate and if they agree the obnoxious drunk needs to go they just remove the guy. With 2013 tech this is an inexpensive problem to fix.

By: Greener Backyards

Greener Backyards — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:24:50 -0800

The thing is what you guys don't seem to understand is that Europe doesn't have racism. So this whole incident was just a weird dream. Weird comment. Who's ever said there's no racism in Europe?

By: notyou

notyou — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:25:07 -0800

Not just football.

Agent Eustace King says the sad aspect of Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds experiencing racial taunts in a game in the Czech Republic Sunday is that his client already has experience in dealing with such incidents. "He knows how to manage and deal with this kind of stuff," King said. "But he doesn't feel like he should have to deal with it. This is another incident, about 12 months from the last one, and people who do these things need to be addressed swiftly and sternly. It's about behavior modification. Other people will have their behavior modified by what happens to these fans. With NHL players locked out, Simmonds is playing for a road game Liberec in the Czech league, and reports say the Chomotov fans began chanting the word "opice" at him after he had a on-ice fight with Miroslav Zalesak. Opice translates to "monkey" in English. "From what I've heard, and I don't have a confirmed source, it was a group in the crowd or a small section," King said. King said Simmonds, who doesn't speak Czech, had no idea what fans were saying until he was informed after the game. He plays on the Liberec team with fellow African American Chris Stewart of the St. Louis Blues.

The league followed up the incident with a fine. Both Simmonds and his Czech league teammate Chris Stewart (also black*) left the team a couple of weeks afterward. Simmonds returned to Toronto. Stewart re-joined a team in Germany he had left previously. ----------------- *What's the preferred term for Canadians of African descent? Also "African-American"?

By: Catchfire

Catchfire — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:32:05 -0800

Imagine for a moment banana peels raining down on the head of Miami Heat basketball star LeBron James when he takes the court. Yes, because American media never invites comparisons between its black athletes and primates...

By: josher71

josher71 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:38:00 -0800

But it's not like black players are an anomaly in soccer, Potomac Ave.

By: robocop is bleeding

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:40:26 -0800

Good. And if AC Milan took the forfeit, then even goddamn better. It was a friendly, so no big hit for AC Milan. I'm not sure Pro Patria even takes much of a hit as they still get to keep their share of ticket sales. If they play again, Pro Patria gets rewarded with even more sales (unless they do a replay, but then you have a problem of same assholes returning, plus I'm sure more tickets would be sold in any event - that stadium did not look full). Maybe they do it again, but include some clause in the deal that if the racial abuse recurs, then Pro Patria not only forfeits their shares of the proceeds, but has to pay double to an anti-racism charity (hopefully one with more teeth than Kick It Out). I'm also glad the players walked out, but it never should have got that far. The refs should have ended the match. I hope the ref that got in Boateng's face at the start of the clip gets cast off on some island somewhere to think about what he's done and what he failed to do. And as for the racists themselves? They should be given tickets to the upcoming African Cup of Nations and made to attend every game in special Team Racist kit. I bet they'll learn pretty quickly what it's like to be a minority and how unpleasant it is when an element of the majority is a bunch of dickwads.

By: markkraft

markkraft — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 11:45:45 -0800

"eft the field after AC Milan players were abused in a friendly against Pro Patria." So... who's surprised that Northern Italy was the heartland of Berlusconi's support?! He was the Great Enabler, really.

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:14:31 -0800

Look up who owns AC Milan.

By: Xoder

Xoder — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:17:46 -0800

Okay MartinWisse, Berlusconi owns Milan. What's the relevance here?

By: IAmBroom

IAmBroom — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:18:09 -0800

TheWhiteSkull: Oh, Italy. Kicking racism back into football.

Was that an ironic use of bigotry against Italy?

By: Homeboy Trouble

Homeboy Trouble — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:36:41 -0800

*What's the preferred term for Canadians of African descent? Also "African-American"? Black Canadians is generally used to my understanding; the largest group of Canadians of historical African descent are of Caribbean origin (Jamaicans particularly), who have a pretty different cultural history than the "African-American" experience of slavery on the North American continent. This latter group, which has a notably large community in Halifax and Toronto (as terminals of the Underground Railroad) are more likely to call themselves African Canadians, as are the third (but increasing) group of Canadians who have come in recent years (in effect, since the 1962 reform to the previously highly racist immigration laws) directly from African countries. I suspect the term African and Caribbean Canadians will be the term most used in the future. To bring this back to sport a little bit, Chris Stewart's heritage is Jamaican, his teammate Wayne Simmonds' heritage is African-Canadian in the "African-American" sense, and Jarome Iginla's heritage is African Canadian in the sense that his father was born in Nigeria.

By: dry white toast

dry white toast — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:41:29 -0800

*What's the preferred term for Canadians of African descent? Also "African-American"? Not to derail too far, but when it comes to the Caribbean in particular, we tend to attach the specific country of origin: Jamaican-Canadian, Haitian-Canadian, and so forth.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 12:54:56 -0800

This is a novel way of dealing with spectator misbehaviour:

Under new rules approved by Turkey's soccer association, only women and children under 12 will be admitted to games involving teams sanctioned for unruly fan behavior. [...] The visiting team was greeted with applause, instead of the usual jeering, the Anatolia news agency reported.

By: TheWhiteSkull

TheWhiteSkull — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:03:37 -0800

Was that an ironic use of bigotry against Italy? No- it was a comment about a country where supporters abuse a black player while he is playing for the national team. Of course, as kendrak points out, it is by no means limited to Italy (fuck you, Zenit), but Italian ultras are particularly notorious in this area.

By: kmz

kmz — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:15:20 -0800

Weird comment. Who's ever said there's no racism in Europe? You must have missed the last Zwarte Piet thread.

By: kendrak

kendrak — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:28:25 -0800

The Guadian's Amy Lawrence wrote a good piece about Boateng's stand this afternoon (or evening). I liked this bit:

There are those who argue that this kind of protest is letting the aggressors win, that the best way to counter it is to ignore it and keep playing. But it is hard to sustain that argument when it does not work. The aggressors have clearly not got the message yet via any other attempts to consign such moronic behaviour to the dustbin.

And that's why racism in football continues to be an issue.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:42:33 -0800

Italy did also seal a world cup victory using this technique on the field of play.

By: Copronymus

Copronymus — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:36:43 -0800

It's from a few years ago, but the routinely excellent Brian Phillips wrote something for FreeDarko about racism in basketball and soccer on both sides of the Atlantic. He points out a number of tensions feeding into the racist incidents that have cropped up in soccer over the last decade or so, like how so many teenagers are snapped out of Africa and South America and how the Premiership is no longer a league supported by local fans but instead by a worldwide media machine.

By: devious truculent and unreliable

devious truculent and unreliable — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 04:00:37 -0800

I'd love to see what would happen if AC Milan, or any other team suffering from racist abuse, were to walk out either during the league or a tournament (such as the Champion's League). The protesting team would be fined, heavily, and might be banned from the tournament for a year. There is no support from the rulemakers to do anything about this. Last year a player was fined 25 000 euros for taking off his shirt (and revealing a commercial logo on his undershirt). At the same time, a team was fined 20 000 euros because of racist abuse by their fans. Meanwhile, Sepp Blatter says if one player hurls racist abuse at the other they should settle it with a firm handshake at the end of play. I think the way to do it is to get to advertisers. If anyone who runs the game thought that racism might cost them any sponsorship money, they'd be down on offenders like a ton of bricks.

By: dfan

dfan — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 07:20:07 -0800

The thing is what you guys don't seem to understand is that Europe doesn't have racism. So this whole incident was just a weird dream. Weird comment. Who's ever said there's no racism in Europe?

It's a reference to this thread.