City fans disgusting behaviour | Aeroplane and monkey gestures | Do not dox please

[NewGlory]

What couple other qualities were you able to mine from the clip? Pray tell.

Lack of empathy, thinking on your feet and situational awareness to begin with.

 

[peridigm]

Can’t speak for everybody (err, anybody) angry at Sterling for not reacting to racism, but having watched the video - there was something else there that didn’t paint him in the best light.

Sterling was the closest City player to Fred, when Fred was bombarded by projectiles (including heavy water bottles) so badly that the game had to be stopped and Sterling had ZERO reaction. Like, it’s a human nature to go forward and comfort a person in distress. FFS, at the same time that Sterling stood nonchalantly there, his own team-mates – Mahrez, Silva, Otamendi – who were way behind Sterling rushed forward to help Fred, while Sterling just stood frozen.

Again - humans are imperfect and you can’t ask everybody to stand up to an occasion, show empathy in stressful situations. Maybe he got confused, maybe he froze. Whatever happened - it wasn’t a good look on him and certainly showed that he lacks leadership and couple other qualities.

At least that was my take-away from the incident. Can’t and wouldn’t elaborate further than that, however.

The way I remember it, they were stood waiving their arms in the air in the box until the ref went over and told them to go calm the fans down. Hard to say if they would've reacted on their own but since they were losing it makes sense for them to want the game to carry on instead of letting time waste.

 

[NewGlory]

The way I remember it, they were stood waiving their arms in the air in the box until the ref went over and told them to go calm the fans down. Hard to say if they would've reacted on their own but since they were losing it makes sense for them to want the game to carry on instead of letting time waste.

Good point about the ref. Didn't notice that before, but I think you are right about that one. Too bad, I was hoping at least Silva et al. rose up to the occasion on their own.

Regarding the time: I get that, but at the same time it was 67th minute, not 90th, and also at some point Fair Play and just basic humanity says "winning isn't everything" and you don't just ignore a fellow footballer being bombarded with all kinds of projectiles. Like I said - can't ask everybody (most) to be a bigger person, but leaders are expected to rise above petty desires.

 

[Anustart89]

I think some of you (well all of you) are missing the point...I don't think Sterling has any duty to be a spokesperson against racism, or has any obligation to do anything.

The problem is, he has made himself a spokesperson against racism through his own actions. He stirred the pot because he took it upon himself to attack the press for being racist, except the examples he gave weren't of racism, they were of negative stories about himself which he had perceived to be racist. The problem straight away is this is a potentially dishonest argument, since these stories by en large were very similar to criticisms other white England players have routinely received in the past. For example he was criticised for deciding he was too tired to play an England game. For being one of the worst players in an England squad that lost to Iceland. For showing off a tattoo of a gun he had gotten. For being caught playing round with women who weren't his girlfriend. These aren't racist criticisms. They are criticisms, and it's very difficult to tie them to racism just by saying "well your newspaper is racist" when the newspaper can point out literally 1,000 similar articles directed at other celebrities or sports stars. Well intended maybe but poorly thought out.

He has then come out publicly and said that teams should be docked 9 points if a member of the crowd engages in racist behaviour, specifically in reference to a team he had just played against (Chelsea). He's very vocal about racism against England players, against himself. He's received a lot of praise as a result (rightly to an extent as it takes an amount of courage). Suddenly though when it's the other team getting racially abused, or racism within his own squad, he has nothing at all to say.

There seems to be a fear of pointing out the convenience or actual daftness of this kind of approach (and it's not just Sterling who's guilty), and how it is actually counter productive. Punishing a whole football team and all of it's fans because one person is racist for example. This is a really dumb thing to suggest. Doing so would obviously fuel racism rather than solve it. How would you like it for example if you and all your colleagues were punished or docked pay at work because someone elsewhere in your company said something racist? Would this be fair? Would this make anyone less racist or would it anger people who are a little bit racist into being more racist and more open about it?

Now Sterling is definitely right to say there is a big problem. Problem is, when it happens in his own house and he suddenly has nothing bad to say about it, how much strength does anything he says actually carry? Next time Sterling brings up racism, what is the first question back to him going to be? "well what about when your own fans did it then?"

I am being unfair on him because yeah, but I don't think in the way that is being suggested. I'm not interested in point scoring. Every team has at least one idiot in the crowd who would do the same as the bloke on Sunday. At least one United fan has been ejected from the ground this season for similar behaviour. I'm unfair on Sterling because I'm using him as the main example of the wider problem with how I think this is being dealt with.

People seem to want to go to war with racism as if it IS a point scoring thing, or a way of getting on a moral high horse. Football going to war against racism...until it doesn't benefit your team. How many Liverpool fans think Suarez is a racist? How many Chelsea fans think John Terry and not Anton Ferdinand is the bad guy? How many England fans care that less than a week after the Bulgaria game, another game, in England, had to be abandoned, due to racism? The ITV commentators on that very England game were literally criticising the match officials for being Italian because apparently all Italians are slimy racists, whilst denouncing racism and calling for all manner of punishments against the team/country of Bulgaria. You tell me what this sort of convenience outrage approach gets you, other than more racism?

How come whenever there's an incident, Sky Sports, et al, only seem to want to talk to black footballers/ex footballers about it. Is this not making the issue worse by effectively seperating one group of people from another?

It isn't ridiculous at all to expect people to be consistent and responsible with what is a quite important issue. Sterling is one of those people and he's ducked out of doing exactly that, I'm afraid. I bring it up because I think he's milked the situation to his advantage rather than address the seriousness of it, and that's probably the very unpopular part of the opinion, but the problem I have with it is that it actually FUELS the problem of racism, because all it does is bring it to the surface as a form of point scoring or weapon to hit someone with. Then eventually one guy doing monkey mannerisms in a crowd becomes 20 guys.

Anyway rant over.

Quoting this so it doesn't get buried at the bottom of the last page.

I agree with this and I wanted to write something to this effect but I couldn't ever express myself as eloquently as you. I don't really give a toss about him not reacting on the pitch, as nobody involved noticed it at the time. The main point for me is that he himself's chosen to speak up multiple times on the issue, to the extent where you'd think this is something that is really important to him due to the matter at hand. Staying silent after such a big incident, that everyone in English football's been talking about after the game, just sits badly with me because it seems as if it's only a big issue if it happens to him, which makes all the previous talk about racism being bad get the subtitle "...when it happens to me".

 

[Anustart89]

The way I remember it, they were stood waiving their arms in the air in the box until the ref went over and told them to go calm the fans down. Hard to say if they would've reacted on their own but since they were losing it makes sense for them to want the game to carry on instead of letting time waste.

If I recall correctly, some of them thought it was appropriate to start pointing at their imaginary watches as well, as to indicate that the most important thing there was that the ref added a sufficient amount of time for the incident.

 

[DoomSlayer]

Deduct 9 points from City, that should be the correct punishment for their fans' behaviour.

 

[alexthelion]

If you're going to be a fighter against racism don't cherry pick! Stand up when it's against your own club. I don't like Sterling, has nothing to do with his race. If he wasn't black I think more people would hate him. Diving and whining little rat. Always was.

Yep, I would have thought it was more important to make a comment about your own fanbase rather than a lot of foreigners hundreds of miles away.

Want to be a moral crusader? Well, start at home before criticising anyone else.

 

[Posh Red]

I think some of you (well all of you) are missing the point...I don't think Sterling has any duty to be a spokesperson against racism, or has any obligation to do anything.

The problem is, he has made himself a spokesperson against racism through his own actions. He stirred the pot because he took it upon himself to attack the press for being racist, except the examples he gave weren't of racism, they were of negative stories about himself which he had perceived to be racist. The problem straight away is this is a potentially dishonest argument, since these stories by en large were very similar to criticisms other white England players have routinely received in the past. For example he was criticised for deciding he was too tired to play an England game. For being one of the worst players in an England squad that lost to Iceland. For showing off a tattoo of a gun he had gotten. For being caught playing round with women who weren't his girlfriend. These aren't racist criticisms. They are criticisms, and it's very difficult to tie them to racism just by saying "well your newspaper is racist" when the newspaper can point out literally 1,000 similar articles directed at other celebrities or sports stars. Well intended maybe but poorly thought out.

He has then come out publicly and said that teams should be docked 9 points if a member of the crowd engages in racist behaviour, specifically in reference to a team he had just played against (Chelsea). He's very vocal about racism against England players, against himself. He's received a lot of praise as a result (rightly to an extent as it takes an amount of courage). Suddenly though when it's the other team getting racially abused, or racism within his own squad, he has nothing at all to say.

There seems to be a fear of pointing out the convenience or actual daftness of this kind of approach (and it's not just Sterling who's guilty), and how it is actually counter productive. Punishing a whole football team and all of it's fans because one person is racist for example. This is a really dumb thing to suggest. Doing so would obviously fuel racism rather than solve it. How would you like it for example if you and all your colleagues were punished or docked pay at work because someone elsewhere in your company said something racist? Would this be fair? Would this make anyone less racist or would it anger people who are a little bit racist into being more racist and more open about it?

Now Sterling is definitely right to say there is a big problem. Problem is, when it happens in his own house and he suddenly has nothing bad to say about it, how much strength does anything he says actually carry? Next time Sterling brings up racism, what is the first question back to him going to be? "well what about when your own fans did it then?"

I am being unfair on him because yeah, but I don't think in the way that is being suggested. I'm not interested in point scoring. Every team has at least one idiot in the crowd who would do the same as the bloke on Sunday. At least one United fan has been ejected from the ground this season for similar behaviour. I'm unfair on Sterling because I'm using him as the main example of the wider problem with how I think this is being dealt with.

People seem to want to go to war with racism as if it IS a point scoring thing, or a way of getting on a moral high horse. Football going to war against racism...until it doesn't benefit your team. How many Liverpool fans think Suarez is a racist? How many Chelsea fans think John Terry and not Anton Ferdinand is the bad guy? How many England fans care that less than a week after the Bulgaria game, another game, in England, had to be abandoned, due to racism? The ITV commentators on that very England game were literally criticising the match officials for being Italian because apparently all Italians are slimy racists, whilst denouncing racism and calling for all manner of punishments against the team/country of Bulgaria. You tell me what this sort of convenience outrage approach gets you, other than more racism?

How come whenever there's an incident, Sky Sports, et al, only seem to want to talk to black footballers/ex footballers about it. Is this not making the issue worse by effectively seperating one group of people from another?

It isn't ridiculous at all to expect people to be consistent and responsible with what is a quite important issue. Sterling is one of those people and he's ducked out of doing exactly that, I'm afraid. I bring it up because I think he's milked the situation to his advantage rather than address the seriousness of it, and that's probably the very unpopular part of the opinion, but the problem I have with it is that it actually FUELS the problem of racism, because all it does is bring it to the surface as a form of point scoring or weapon to hit someone with. Then eventually one guy doing monkey mannerisms in a crowd becomes 20 guys.

Anyway rant over.

Wrong. He quoted stories about two different academy players at Man City.

 

[momo83]

That bolded part is patently untrue. Most self-respecting employers have zero-tolerance rule for racism. His employer stated that they do indeed have one and they suspended him pending internal investigation - which is EXACTLY what anybody should expect after being racist on a TV. He was NOT fired based on social media mob accusation - he is suspended pending proper internal investigation, so no need for exaggeration.

Mob lynching is unacceptable in any situation – police, City club and his employer should deal with him, but that dude is no innocent victim, as well. No particular need to feel overly sorry for his idiocy. We’ve seen his video (and not just a screenshot as he claimed) - it’s pretty clear what he was doing. Him trying to lie that he was just “putting hands in the pockets” is simple cowardice and not at all believable.

Don’t feel sorry for him. But at the same time don’t like the lynching on social media as I said in a previous post it’s just the same as online bullying people enjoying destroying someone but with a feeling that it’s justified because he’s done wrong.

 

[momo83]

I can see your point, but criminals have always paid a price beyond their sentence. For example, trying to get a job after release isn't easy. Turns out employers aren't keep on hiring ex-cons. That pre-dates the twitter mobs. Not excusing Twitter mobs. Sad, bitter armchair SJW activists are some of the worst people on earth.

Good points all around.

 

[momo83]

Rules are not the same for fans and players. Like Rashford could score a goal, run to the corner flag and throw his shirt at my face. I on the other hand cannot throw my shirt back at him.

Hahaha

 

[adexkola]

It all sounds a bit similar to the ‘Muslims should take responsibility for the bad apples’ argument we hear every time there’s an Islamic terrorist attack

It's very similar. And just as idiotic.

I can see your point, but criminals have always paid a price beyond their sentence. For example, trying to get a job after release isn't easy. Turns out employers aren't keep on hiring ex-cons. That pre-dates the twitter mobs. Not excusing Twitter mobs. Sad, bitter armchair SJW activists are some of the worst people on earth.

They aren't supposed to. If they do, society has failed. Plus, do we think such people just disappear into the ether? They are still members of society.

 

[Prometheus]

I think some of you (well all of you) are missing the point...I don't think Sterling has any duty to be a spokesperson against racism, or has any obligation to do anything.

The problem is, he has made himself a spokesperson against racism through his own actions. He stirred the pot because he took it upon himself to attack the press for being racist, except the examples he gave weren't of racism, they were of negative stories about himself which he had perceived to be racist. The problem straight away is this is a potentially dishonest argument, since these stories by en large were very similar to criticisms other white England players have routinely received in the past. For example he was criticised for deciding he was too tired to play an England game. For being one of the worst players in an England squad that lost to Iceland. For showing off a tattoo of a gun he had gotten. For being caught playing round with women who weren't his girlfriend. These aren't racist criticisms. They are criticisms, and it's very difficult to tie them to racism just by saying "well your newspaper is racist" when the newspaper can point out literally 1,000 similar articles directed at other celebrities or sports stars. Well intended maybe but poorly thought out.

He has then come out publicly and said that teams should be docked 9 points if a member of the crowd engages in racist behaviour, specifically in reference to a team he had just played against (Chelsea). He's very vocal about racism against England players, against himself. He's received a lot of praise as a result (rightly to an extent as it takes an amount of courage). Suddenly though when it's the other team getting racially abused, or racism within his own squad, he has nothing at all to say.

There seems to be a fear of pointing out the convenience or actual daftness of this kind of approach (and it's not just Sterling who's guilty), and how it is actually counter productive. Punishing a whole football team and all of it's fans because one person is racist for example. This is a really dumb thing to suggest. Doing so would obviously fuel racism rather than solve it. How would you like it for example if you and all your colleagues were punished or docked pay at work because someone elsewhere in your company said something racist? Would this be fair? Would this make anyone less racist or would it anger people who are a little bit racist into being more racist and more open about it?

Now Sterling is definitely right to say there is a big problem. Problem is, when it happens in his own house and he suddenly has nothing bad to say about it, how much strength does anything he says actually carry? Next time Sterling brings up racism, what is the first question back to him going to be? "well what about when your own fans did it then?"

I am being unfair on him because yeah, but I don't think in the way that is being suggested. I'm not interested in point scoring. Every team has at least one idiot in the crowd who would do the same as the bloke on Sunday. At least one United fan has been ejected from the ground this season for similar behaviour. I'm unfair on Sterling because I'm using him as the main example of the wider problem with how I think this is being dealt with.

People seem to want to go to war with racism as if it IS a point scoring thing, or a way of getting on a moral high horse. Football going to war against racism...until it doesn't benefit your team. How many Liverpool fans think Suarez is a racist? How many Chelsea fans think John Terry and not Anton Ferdinand is the bad guy? How many England fans care that less than a week after the Bulgaria game, another game, in England, had to be abandoned, due to racism? The ITV commentators on that very England game were literally criticising the match officials for being Italian because apparently all Italians are slimy racists, whilst denouncing racism and calling for all manner of punishments against the team/country of Bulgaria. You tell me what this sort of convenience outrage approach gets you, other than more racism?

How come whenever there's an incident, Sky Sports, et al, only seem to want to talk to black footballers/ex footballers about it. Is this not making the issue worse by effectively seperating one group of people from another?

It isn't ridiculous at all to expect people to be consistent and responsible with what is a quite important issue. Sterling is one of those people and he's ducked out of doing exactly that, I'm afraid. I bring it up because I think he's milked the situation to his advantage rather than address the seriousness of it, and that's probably the very unpopular part of the opinion, but the problem I have with it is that it actually FUELS the problem of racism, because all it does is bring it to the surface as a form of point scoring or weapon to hit someone with. Then eventually one guy doing monkey mannerisms in a crowd becomes 20 guys.

Anyway rant over.

Sterling has been subjected to racist abuse on the pitch several times. So it's frankly disingenuous for you to say that he's become a spokesman through his own actions by ''stirring the pot''.

As for the media problem, the Sun/Daily Mail attack him in an exceedingly disproportionate fashion; and it's because they have a readership that has internalised the whole problematic black male image. The Sun ran a headline of dead teenagers and linked it to his tattoo! I very much doubt they would have done that to a white player. Distorted patterns of portrayal of black men in general has been studied for long time so it really baffles me when people bury their head in the sand and pretend like it doesn't exist.

He has the right to speak against racism whenever he wants. He has no obligation to be consistent about his criticism of racist incidents nor does he have to react in a specific way. You're essentially monitoring his behaviour and reactions because he had been speaking against racist abuse himself and other players had been subjected to and this is wrong. How is this not victim blaming, to say the least?

 

[Anustart89]

He has the right to speak against racism whenever he wants. He has no obligation to be consistent about his criticism of racist incidents nor does he have to react in specific way. You're essentially monitoring his behaviour and reactions because he had been speaking against racist abuse himself and other players had been subjected to and this is wrong. How is this not victim blaming, to say the least?

You're right he doesn't have an obligation to speak out whenever a racist incident occurs. But when someone says "well, he's cherry picking when to speak out" they're being called racist. Is that fair?

How is it 'blaming the victim' for anything? In case you hadn't noticed, he wasn't the victim. Fred was. People are just saying he's being picky about when racism is an issue to speak up about, and conveniently enough it's not something to speak up against when it's your team's fans doing it.

 

[adexkola]

You're right he doesn't have an obligation to speak out whenever a racist incident occurs. But when someone says "well, he's cherry picking when to speak out" they're being called racist. Is that fair?

How is it 'blaming the victim' for anything? In case you hadn't noticed, he wasn't the victim. Fred was. People are just saying he's being picky about when racism is an issue to speak up about, and conveniently enough it's not something to speak up against when it's your team's fans doing it.

They aren't being racist. They're being stupid.

Again, he is under no obligation to speak out. As it stands, he's getting more flack than those players who have not said a single word against racism, because he hasn't done it "consistently enough". FOHWTB.

 

[Prometheus]

You're right he doesn't have an obligation to speak out whenever a racist incident occurs. But when someone says "well, he's cherry picking when to speak out" they're being called racist. Is that fair?

How is it 'blaming the victim' for anything? In case you hadn't noticed, he wasn't the victim. Fred was. People are just saying he's being picky about when racism is an issue to speak up about, and conveniently enough it's not something to speak up against when it's your team's fans doing it.

I didn't call it racist. I called it wrong.

Sterling doesn't speak against racism in a vacuum. He speaks against it in the context of him being racially abused/subjected to racist bias. The criticism offered here amounts to saying you were vocal against the racism you were subjected to why aren't you reacting in this particular way when it happened to someone else? and that's victim blaming, to say the least.

 

[tomaldinho1]

I think some of you (well all of you) are missing the point...I don't think Sterling has any duty to be a spokesperson against racism, or has any obligation to do anything.

The problem is, he has made himself a spokesperson against racism through his own actions. He stirred the pot because he took it upon himself to attack the press for being racist, except the examples he gave weren't of racism, they were of negative stories about himself which he had perceived to be racist. The problem straight away is this is a potentially dishonest argument, since these stories by en large were very similar to criticisms other white England players have routinely received in the past. For example he was criticised for deciding he was too tired to play an England game. For being one of the worst players in an England squad that lost to Iceland. For showing off a tattoo of a gun he had gotten. For being caught playing round with women who weren't his girlfriend. These aren't racist criticisms. They are criticisms, and it's very difficult to tie them to racism just by saying "well your newspaper is racist" when the newspaper can point out literally 1,000 similar articles directed at other celebrities or sports stars. Well intended maybe but poorly thought out.

He has then come out publicly and said that teams should be docked 9 points if a member of the crowd engages in racist behaviour, specifically in reference to a team he had just played against (Chelsea). He's very vocal about racism against England players, against himself. He's received a lot of praise as a result (rightly to an extent as it takes an amount of courage). Suddenly though when it's the other team getting racially abused, or racism within his own squad, he has nothing at all to say.

There seems to be a fear of pointing out the convenience or actual daftness of this kind of approach (and it's not just Sterling who's guilty), and how it is actually counter productive. Punishing a whole football team and all of it's fans because one person is racist for example. This is a really dumb thing to suggest. Doing so would obviously fuel racism rather than solve it. How would you like it for example if you and all your colleagues were punished or docked pay at work because someone elsewhere in your company said something racist? Would this be fair? Would this make anyone less racist or would it anger people who are a little bit racist into being more racist and more open about it?

Now Sterling is definitely right to say there is a big problem. Problem is, when it happens in his own house and he suddenly has nothing bad to say about it, how much strength does anything he says actually carry? Next time Sterling brings up racism, what is the first question back to him going to be? "well what about when your own fans did it then?"

I am being unfair on him because yeah, but I don't think in the way that is being suggested. I'm not interested in point scoring. Every team has at least one idiot in the crowd who would do the same as the bloke on Sunday. At least one United fan has been ejected from the ground this season for similar behaviour. I'm unfair on Sterling because I'm using him as the main example of the wider problem with how I think this is being dealt with.

People seem to want to go to war with racism as if it IS a point scoring thing, or a way of getting on a moral high horse. Football going to war against racism...until it doesn't benefit your team. How many Liverpool fans think Suarez is a racist? How many Chelsea fans think John Terry and not Anton Ferdinand is the bad guy? How many England fans care that less than a week after the Bulgaria game, another game, in England, had to be abandoned, due to racism? The ITV commentators on that very England game were literally criticising the match officials for being Italian because apparently all Italians are slimy racists, whilst denouncing racism and calling for all manner of punishments against the team/country of Bulgaria. You tell me what this sort of convenience outrage approach gets you, other than more racism?

How come whenever there's an incident, Sky Sports, et al, only seem to want to talk to black footballers/ex footballers about it. Is this not making the issue worse by effectively seperating one group of people from another?

It isn't ridiculous at all to expect people to be consistent and responsible with what is a quite important issue. Sterling is one of those people and he's ducked out of doing exactly that, I'm afraid. I bring it up because I think he's milked the situation to his advantage rather than address the seriousness of it, and that's probably the very unpopular part of the opinion, but the problem I have with it is that it actually FUELS the problem of racism, because all it does is bring it to the surface as a form of point scoring or weapon to hit someone with. Then eventually one guy doing monkey mannerisms in a crowd becomes 20 guys.

Anyway rant over.

Excellent post. Racism is alive and unnervingly kicking in the PL, if someone who has chosen to be spokesperson against racism (and this should be hugely praised) then does nothing when they see it first hand purely because it's their own fans it undermines the fight against these morons who we all want booted out of the game.

 

[Duafc]

Glad to see we're now getting to the core of this incident in examining, almost exclusively, 1 player's response to racist abuse.

 

[adexkola]

Glad to see we're now getting to the core of this incident in examining, almost exclusively, 1 player's response to racist abuse.

fecking insane isn't it.

I didn't call it racist. I called it wrong.

Sterling doesn't speak against racism in a vacuum. He speaks against it in the context of him being racially abused/subjected to racist bias. The criticism offered here amounts to saying you were vocal against the racism you were subjected to why aren't you reacting in this particular way when it happened someone else? and that's victim blaming.

Worse, it implies that unless you're willing to speak out at every proximal racist event, you're best off shutting the feck up.

 

[Prometheus]

fecking insane isn't it.



Worse, it implies that unless you're willing to speak out at every proximal racist event, you're best off shutting the feck up.

Well put. It's baffling that people don't see the problem with this.

 

[Big Andy]

It's been bad at Anfield at times, don't get me wrong, but this is one of the worst I've witnessed. Disgusting club.

I’ve seen cups of human excrement thrown at Anfield...

 

[FlawlessThaw]

As a victim of racial abuse and constant media attacks which I think only Meghan Markle for some reason has only experienced to a similar level, I can forgive Sterling for being a bit over zealous with comments like a 9 point deduction for clubs found guilty of racism. I guess we would be taking that deduction following the Palace game.

I imagine Sterling condemns the actions of the fan who was racist. I think it should go without saying and that the fact that a lot of people expect him to do so is a shame.

 

[Cascarino]

Sterling has been subjected to racist abuse on the pitch several times. So it's frankly disingenuous for you to say that he's become a spokesman through his own actions by ''stirring the pot''.

As for the media problem, the Sun/Daily Mail attack him in an exceedingly disproportionate fashion; and it's because they have a readership that has internalised the whole problematic black male image. The Sun ran a headline of dead teenagers and linked it to his tattoo! I very much doubt they would have done that to a white player. Distorted patterns of portrayal of black men in general has been studied for long time so it really baffles me when people bury their head in the sand and pretend like it doesn't exist.

He has the right to speak against racism whenever he wants. He has no obligation to be consistent about his criticism of racist incidents nor does he have to react in a specific way. You're essentially monitoring his behaviour and reactions because he had been speaking against racist abuse himself and other players had been subjected to and this is wrong. How is this not victim blaming, to say the least?

Well said.

 

[lsd]

Every club has racist idiots. Didn't we have one at old Trafford a couple of months back against palace was it?

I think Keane was the only one really nailed it when he simply said "there are idiots everywhere "

You can look for excuses and people to blame in the media etc but the truth is there will always be idiots, thick ignorant morons .

 

[USREDEVIL]

I saw their little forum. They seem mad.
Bunch of entitled feckers.

 

[calodo2003]

You can see the racist incident starting at 1:02. Honestly I’m struggling to see where this gorilla gesture is. He shakes his hands for a second but I think that’s because it’s cold. He’s an idiot but I don’t think he was racially abusing Fred or Lingard.

It’s pretty clear. I could also spout some nonsense about him ‘shooting his cuffs’ as if he did that often during the day wearing a jacket. Maybe it’s second nature to shoot his cuffs no matter what he is wearing. But he wasn’t practicing his cuff shoots, he was acting as the racist bellend & deserves to be punished harshly.

 

[RedCurry]

You're right he doesn't have an obligation to speak out whenever a racist incident occurs. But when someone says "well, he's cherry picking when to speak out" they're being called racist. Is that fair?

How is it 'blaming the victim' for anything? In case you hadn't noticed, he wasn't the victim. Fred was. People are just saying he's being picky about when racism is an issue to speak up about, and conveniently enough it's not something to speak up against when it's your team's fans doing it.

If I punched your face and you went to police, do you then go to police every time someone is punched? No? I’d say that’s you cherry-picking frankly.

 

[Isotope]

That bolded part is patently untrue. Most self-respecting employers have zero-tolerance rule for racism. His employer stated that they do indeed have one and they suspended him pending internal investigation - which is EXACTLY what anybody should expect after being racist on a TV. He was NOT fired based on social media mob accusation - he is suspended pending proper internal investigation, so no need for exaggeration.

Mob lynching is unacceptable in any situation – police, City club and his employer should deal with him, but that dude is no innocent victim, as well. No particular need to feel overly sorry for his idiocy. We’ve seen his video (and not just a screenshot as he claimed) - it’s pretty clear what he was doing. Him trying to lie that he was just “putting hands in the pockets” is simple cowardice and not at all believable.

Are you saying that Barcelona FC and Liverpool FC aren't self-respecting employers?

 

[Isotope]

I think some of you (well all of you) are missing the point...I don't think Sterling has any duty to be a spokesperson against racism, or has any obligation to do anything.

The problem is, he has made himself a spokesperson against racism through his own actions. He stirred the pot because he took it upon himself to attack the press for being racist, except the examples he gave weren't of racism, they were of negative stories about himself which he had perceived to be racist. The problem straight away is this is a potentially dishonest argument, since these stories by en large were very similar to criticisms other white England players have routinely received in the past. For example he was criticised for deciding he was too tired to play an England game. For being one of the worst players in an England squad that lost to Iceland. For showing off a tattoo of a gun he had gotten. For being caught playing round with women who weren't his girlfriend. These aren't racist criticisms. They are criticisms, and it's very difficult to tie them to racism just by saying "well your newspaper is racist" when the newspaper can point out literally 1,000 similar articles directed at other celebrities or sports stars. Well intended maybe but poorly thought out.

He has then come out publicly and said that teams should be docked 9 points if a member of the crowd engages in racist behaviour, specifically in reference to a team he had just played against (Chelsea). He's very vocal about racism against England players, against himself. He's received a lot of praise as a result (rightly to an extent as it takes an amount of courage). Suddenly though when it's the other team getting racially abused, or racism within his own squad, he has nothing at all to say.

There seems to be a fear of pointing out the convenience or actual daftness of this kind of approach (and it's not just Sterling who's guilty), and how it is actually counter productive. Punishing a whole football team and all of it's fans because one person is racist for example. This is a really dumb thing to suggest. Doing so would obviously fuel racism rather than solve it. How would you like it for example if you and all your colleagues were punished or docked pay at work because someone elsewhere in your company said something racist? Would this be fair? Would this make anyone less racist or would it anger people who are a little bit racist into being more racist and more open about it?

Now Sterling is definitely right to say there is a big problem. Problem is, when it happens in his own house and he suddenly has nothing bad to say about it, how much strength does anything he says actually carry? Next time Sterling brings up racism, what is the first question back to him going to be? "well what about when your own fans did it then?"

I am being unfair on him because yeah, but I don't think in the way that is being suggested. I'm not interested in point scoring. Every team has at least one idiot in the crowd who would do the same as the bloke on Sunday. At least one United fan has been ejected from the ground this season for similar behaviour. I'm unfair on Sterling because I'm using him as the main example of the wider problem with how I think this is being dealt with.

People seem to want to go to war with racism as if it IS a point scoring thing, or a way of getting on a moral high horse. Football going to war against racism...until it doesn't benefit your team. How many Liverpool fans think Suarez is a racist? How many Chelsea fans think John Terry and not Anton Ferdinand is the bad guy? How many England fans care that less than a week after the Bulgaria game, another game, in England, had to be abandoned, due to racism? The ITV commentators on that very England game were literally criticising the match officials for being Italian because apparently all Italians are slimy racists, whilst denouncing racism and calling for all manner of punishments against the team/country of Bulgaria. You tell me what this sort of convenience outrage approach gets you, other than more racism?

How come whenever there's an incident, Sky Sports, et al, only seem to want to talk to black footballers/ex footballers about it. Is this not making the issue worse by effectively seperating one group of people from another?

It isn't ridiculous at all to expect people to be consistent and responsible with what is a quite important issue. Sterling is one of those people and he's ducked out of doing exactly that, I'm afraid. I bring it up because I think he's milked the situation to his advantage rather than address the seriousness of it, and that's probably the very unpopular part of the opinion, but the problem I have with it is that it actually FUELS the problem of racism, because all it does is bring it to the surface as a form of point scoring or weapon to hit someone with. Then eventually one guy doing monkey mannerisms in a crowd becomes 20 guys.

Anyway rant over.

Well thought post. The only reason I can think of, maybe Sterling is still waiting for the legal verdict of this people, whether it was proven racism happened.

 

[psychdelicblues]

I think it’s the new form of racism where it’s used as an insult by people who lack the ability to get to people in any other way. So they resort to racist comments etc.

I remember reading about John Barnes and other great players get death threats telling them not to sign for the clubs that they were linked too. Today’s type of racism is just as deplorable but I doubt any of those fools would object if tomorrow their team was going to sign any good black player.

There is nothing new about it.

 

[NewGlory]

Are you saying that Barcelona FC and Liverpool FC aren't self-respecting employers?

What do you think?

 

[Isotope]

What do you think?

Arsenal was also almost bought him, if only they had more cash around.

So apparently, it doesn't matter to most of these big Clubs/companies with large fanbase. Even Messi seems like cherish Suarez as teammate. Do you think he doesn't have self-respect also?

 

[NewGlory]

Arsenal was also almost bought him, if only they had more cash around.

So apparently, it doesn't matter to most of these big Clubs with large fanbase. Even Messi seems like cherish Suarez as teammate. Do you think he doesn't have self-respect also?

I am not sure what point you are trying to make, but

1. Their official take is that Suarez served 8 match ban, it was deemed adequate punishment and so it's water under the bridge, as long as it hasn't happened since. Whether you agree with that or not is up to you.
2. Barcelona bought him after dude literally bit his opponent at the World Cup. That's a fecking assault in normal contexts. Try biting your co-worker and see what happens? But rules are different for big-time sports players and clearly Barcelona doesn't have an exemplary moral compass, by normal humans standards. Industries where big money is involved are usually more corrupt: movies, sports, etc. so hypocrisy of Liverpool, Barca etc. is not surprising, doesn't mean it's right
3. At the time of Evra incident Liverpool tried to deny anything even happened. They claimed that the political cachet of United at FA got Suarez convicted, but otherwise Suarez was blameless. You can believe that if you want, but if you don't then clearly Liverpool's take on it is absolutely deplorable.

Thats is what I think if you really wanted to know.

 

[VJ1762]

For the last time, who cares what Sterling thinks? The fact that it is still happening means that Kick it Out and everything else hasn't worked out as intended. Maybe they need to rethink on how to tackle this problem.

And Sterling is paid to kick a ball. He spoke out because he felt he was being unfairly treated due to being black. Doesn't mean that he now has to suddenly become Martin Luther King and take up the fight. We should appreciate the fact that more people are now willing to speak out.

 

[Zlaatan]

They aren't being racist. They're being stupid.

Again, he is under no obligation to speak out. As it stands, he's getting more flack than those players who have not said a single word against racism, because he hasn't done it "consistently enough". FOHWTB.

It's insane that people aren't realizing this. Then they try to argue that it isn't victim blaming as well because "Sterling wasn't the victim".

 

[Needham]

Can’t speak for everybody (err, anybody) angry at Sterling for not reacting to racism, but having watched the video - there was something else there that didn’t paint him in the best light.

Sterling was the closest City player to Fred, when Fred was bombarded by projectiles (including heavy water bottles) so badly that the game had to be stopped and Sterling had ZERO reaction. Like, it’s a human nature to go forward and comfort a person in distress. FFS, at the same time that Sterling stood nonchalantly there, his own team-mates – Mahrez, Silva, Otamendi – who were way behind Sterling rushed forward to help Fred, while Sterling just stood frozen.

Again - humans are imperfect and you can’t ask everybody to stand up to an occasion, show empathy in stressful situations. Maybe he got confused, maybe he froze. Whatever happened - it wasn’t a good look on him and certainly showed that he lacks leadership and couple other qualities.

At least that was my take-away from the incident. Can’t and wouldn’t elaborate further than that, however.

Yeah he should have used his Birdman powers to freeze the lighters in mid flight. Can't believe he didn't.

 

[momo83]

There is nothing new about it.

Still a long way to go but we’ve made progress from the NF ideology which would have probably seen a significant minority disgusted at their own club signing Pele.. to today.

Although i agree with G Neville in that political rhetoric has embolden some other the past few years.

 

[Le Red]

Law and order can absolutely be dystopian, in fact I'd say that an oppressive and aggressive law and order system would be the cornerstone of any dystopian totalitarian reality.

This is right, but law and order is also the cornerstone of democratic states. It all depends on how it's utilized.
Riot police on standby is not aggressive in a place where there might be riots. They are not there to intimidate the common folk.

 

[TRUERED89]

Just Stockport with money. Not even surprised.

This

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Has anyone seen/heard anything about the stuff being thrown? Googled and can't see anything... seems to have been lost in the "racist fan" maelstrom