[Jaspersharpe]

Yes the FA are pathetic but as that Observer article mentions, the responsibility really lies with the employer, the clubs. If you look at how Liverpool and then Chelsea have dealt with these issues it's at best embarrassing and if you really think about it, quite disgusting.

I'm trying to imagine a parallel to my job and I suppose it would be a high ranking partner at KPMG calling one of HMRC's senior inspectors a fucking black cunt while in heated discussions over an investigation case. Of course, this would never happen but even if something similar but much more minor did the partner would be sacked for gross misconduct.

Liverpool and Chelsea have shown themselves to be inherently racist employers by not sacking Suarez and Terry (and in Liverpool's case actually vehemently supporting the racism of their employee, who can forget those t-shirts?).

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

Ian Herbert, Independent on Chelsea/Terry.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/chelsea-and-john-terry-make-a-mockery-of-the-fight-to-beat-racism-8217242.html

Word.

[Jaspersharpe]

Some scary comments on that article.

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

Truro City out of Conf South.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20005762

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

"I don't know what point he's trying to make,"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20003368


Here's a clue, Chief Inspector Taggart:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19994204

"Reading striker Jason Roberts will not wear a Kick It Out T-shirt in protest at what he perceives to be the campaign group's lack of action in combating racism in football."

[rich d]

"I don't know what point he's trying to make,"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20003368


Here's a clue, Chief Inspector Taggart:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19994204

"Reading striker Jason Roberts will not wear a Kick It Out T-shirt in protest at what he perceives to be the campaign group's lack of action in combating racism in football."

Seems a strange stance though as kick it out doesn't have any authority or jurisdiction. Surely after this last year wearing the shirt would make more sense.

I think it's amazing how much the terraces have changed since I started watching Leeds in the late 80's. There has been a social swing that racism and racist chants are now thankfully unacceptable. Weird that some players and the governing bodies are lagging behind the fans (however reading those comments to the guardian article I may have to change my opinion). I think the kick it out in it's present and previous incarnations has been a key to changing terrace attitudes and behaviours.
Chelsea, Liverpool, the fa and the England team should be ashamed of their support for racist behaviour and individuals - the analogies with our normal lives and jobs show how far removed and morally corrupt football is.

[tomtom]

I think the issue Jason Roberts has with the Kick Racism out of Football campaign is that, whilst it is paid for/supported by the FA,  EPL, PFA - it has no powers. It is just a publicity machine. Albeit a machine with an important message - but one with no teeth.

You could, for example, have set up a national phone line - where fans could anonymously report racist behaviour at grounds from other fans (you can easily find out the seat someone is sat in). Clubs could have been forced to investigate complaints fully and take appropriate action. But theres nothing like that anywhere (AFAIK).

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

Ferguson has, of course, whole-heartedly denounced racism, and re-iterated his support for the campaign, also adding the no-one should be subject to abuse simply based on the colour of his or her skin.


And I for one unreservedly endorse the opinions of the purple-faced twat.

[butters]

First I have heard of this - the Duncan Jenkins parody tweet thing and what would appear to be a bit of an over reaction by LFC's Director of Communications.

The man behind the Duncan Jenkins blog gives his version of events here. 

[fatneck]

Chris Kirkland attacked by Leeds fan....

[rich d]

Chris Kirkland attacked by Leeds fan....

I no way am I condoning the fan's actions and I think he should get a custodial sentence, but Kirkland went down a bit easy, can't imagine why he'd need treatment for that, unless he injured himself after throwing himself to the ground.

[Falling Down]

First I have heard of this - the Duncan Jenkins parody tweet thing and what would appear to be a bit of an over reaction by LFC's Director of Communications.

The man behind the Duncan Jenkins blog gives his version of events here. 

  indeed

[tomtom]

First I have heard of this - the Duncan Jenkins parody tweet thing and what would appear to be a bit of an over reaction by LFC's Director of Communications.

The man behind the Duncan Jenkins blog gives his version of events here. 

  indeed

Wow, missed that Butters..

[butters]

For those who haven't followed the story, and there cannot be many,

Think there are a fair few more people than at first thought who are unaware of this - it wasn't until I read the article that I knew anything about it.

[butters]

And in other news Paul Jewell is thinking about quitting as manager at Ipswich - I really hope he makes one decent decision in his time there and that will be it. 

[Dolly]

Chris Kirkland attacked by Leeds fan....

I no way am I condoning the fan's actions and I think he should get a custodial sentence, but Kirkland went down a bit easy, can't imagine why he'd need treatment for that, unless he injured himself after throwing himself to the ground.

Rich, seriously you need to read what you wrote and consider it. What do you mean "he went down a bit easy" ? This is not a player going down under a challenge as Diouf did so many times last night. This is either GBH or ABH.
I deliberately didn't post or reply earlier as I wanted to reflect and consider my opinion before I replied as a "biased" Owls Fan. Having considered that, he was one of any number of Leeds "fans" who could have committed that offence last night. He was sheltered, protected, applauded and hidden as he returned to his seat.
The sense of violence and hatred coming from the away end last night was different to anything I've seen before. To give some context To that comment, I'm not wet behind the ears. I've been watching Wednesday since 1979 and I've shared stands with Chelsea, West Ham and other fans wearing Wednesday colours in the late 70s and early 80s but without the same atmosphere. I've been on the Wednesday fans coach outside Stamford Bridge before Chelsea were a nice club and their fans came on to shout and throw things at us. I've walked the full perimeter of highbury looking for the away entrance wearing Wednesday colours. I've seen us against Leeds loads of times. I've been to many Sheffield derbies against our most bitter rivals, but none of it felt like last night. It felt different. It was nasty.
There were Jimmy Saville chants FFS.

This is not about raucous or passionate fans. I understand that and appreciate it. Sunderland sang for a full 9 minutes without stopping. They brought 9000 and were brilliant. So were Man City.
This was different. I heard kids asking to be taken away because they were scared.
It wasn't about "one idiot"

There was Something about the idiots (not fans) who came last night that was violent and inexcusable. Shame on Leeds.
I'm sure you're a reasonable bloke Rich, but I'm afraid your comments sound like an attempt to contextualise those actions as less than they were.
Please accept my apologies if I've misrepresented you or your point. I'm sure with some consideration you'll appreciate why I wrote what I wrote.

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

Meanwhile player asserts not enough is being done to combat racism in the game, and takes stand agaist lip-service and the trite wearing of badges and tee-shirts. [Presumably to be put away for another year?]

Fined same as racist scumbag, and significantly less than racist scum acting in concert.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/rio-ferdinand-will-be-fined-the-same-amount-1390755


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2219756/Lazio-fined-32-500-fans-monkey-chants-Spurs-stars.html


Resign, Ferguson, you're not fit to manage!

[rich d]

Chris Kirkland attacked by Leeds fan....

I no way am I condoning the fan's actions and I think he should get a custodial sentence, but Kirkland went down a bit easy, can't imagine why he'd need treatment for that, unless he injured himself after throwing himself to the ground.

Rich, seriously you need to read what you wrote and consider it. What do you mean "he went down a bit easy" ? This is not a player going down under a challenge as Diouf did so many times last night. This is either GBH or ABH.
I deliberately didn't post or reply earlier as I wanted to reflect and consider my opinion before I replied as a "biased" Owls Fan. Having considered that, he was one of any number of Leeds "fans" who could have committed that offence last night. He was sheltered, protected, applauded and hidden as he returned to his seat.
The sense of violence and hatred coming from the away end last night was different to anything I've seen before. To give some context To that comment, I'm not wet behind the ears. I've been watching Wednesday since 1979 and I've shared stands with Chelsea, West Ham and other fans wearing Wednesday colours in the late 70s and early 80s but without the same atmosphere. I've been on the Wednesday fans coach outside Stamford Bridge before Chelsea were a nice club and their fans came on to shout and throw things at us. I've walked the full perimeter of highbury looking for the away entrance wearing Wednesday colours. I've seen us against Leeds loads of times. I've been to many Sheffield derbies against our most bitter rivals, but none of it felt like last night. It felt different. It was nasty.
There were Jimmy Saville chants FFS.

This is not about raucous or passionate fans. I understand that and appreciate it. Sunderland sang for a full 9 minutes without stopping. They brought 9000 and were brilliant. So were Man City.
This was different. I heard kids asking to be taken away because they were scared.
It wasn't about "one idiot"

There was Something about the idiots (not fans) who came last night that was violent and inexcusable. Shame on Leeds.
I'm sure you're a reasonable bloke Rich, but I'm afraid your comments sound like an attempt to contextualise those actions as less than they were.
Please accept my apologies if I've misrepresented you or your point. I'm sure with some consideration you'll appreciate why I wrote what I wrote.

hi dolly I wasn't trying to represent the moron's actions as anything less than criminal. To put it into context I won't take my wife and kids to Leeds matches due to the atmosphere of vitriol and violence and it's even worse away. The majority of Leeds fans i know think this moron should be put away, however the vast majority of Leeds fans are probably the arm chair fans like me who go to occasional matches. When you look at the away support there seems to be a large proportion of twats who seem to want be in a northern version of football factory. Inexcusable and you're right it let's the city down, especially when you consider the behaviour of our rugby league fans.

[philo]

FTM

[Dr T]

Meanwhile player asserts not enough is being done to combat racism in the game, and takes stand agaist lip-service and the trite wearing of badges and tee-shirts. [Presumably to be put away for another year?]

Fined same as racist scumbag, and significantly less than racist scum acting in concert.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/rio-ferdinand-will-be-fined-the-same-amount-1390755


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2219756/Lazio-fined-32-500-fans-monkey-chants-Spurs-stars.html


Resign, Ferguson, you're not fit to manage!

shows what a farce this lip service is.....
good for Rio but there shouldn't be that price (or any) on standing up for what is right.

[Jaspersharpe]

Also worth noting that Mr Ferdinand probably has more first hand experience of racism than Mr Ferguson (unless you count being called a fucking porridge gobbling cunt that is).

[Richie Crouch]

FTM

Hoping for a 3-3 thriller with hatricks for ba and fletcher today 

[Jaspersharpe]

Re Leeds, is this a recent development cos I went to both Brighton Leeds and Leeds Brighton last season and didn't detect any particular air of malice at either (even when we did them in the last minute at Elland Road)?

In fact I remember the Leeds fans at the Amex being sound in the pubs before the game and on the train (usual decent banter) and Albion fans in the ground being impressed with the turn out (it was a Friday night game) and the noise Leeds made. Helped that it was a cracking three all draw but it's still mentioned as one off the best atmospheres created at the new stadium and a lot of it was down to the travelling fans.

I know they have no axe to grind with us compared to Wednesday but still, the horrible scenes Dolly describes seem the polar opposite of my experience of Leeds away support only a year ago.

[aLICErOBERTSfANkLUB]

Chris Kirkland attacked by Leeds fan....

I no way am I condoning the fan's actions and I think he should get a custodial sentence, but Kirkland went down a bit easy, can't imagine why he'd need treatment for that, unless he injured himself after throwing himself to the ground.

Rich, seriously you need to read what you wrote and consider it. What do you mean "he went down a bit easy" ? This is not a player going down under a challenge as Diouf did so many times last night. This is either GBH or ABH.
I deliberately didn't post or reply earlier as I wanted to reflect and consider my opinion before I replied as a "biased" Owls Fan. Having considered that, he was one of any number of Leeds "fans" who could have committed that offence last night. He was sheltered, protected, applauded and hidden as he returned to his seat.
The sense of violence and hatred coming from the away end last night was different to anything I've seen before. To give some context To that comment, I'm not wet behind the ears. I've been watching Wednesday since 1979 and I've shared stands with Chelsea, West Ham and other fans wearing Wednesday colours in the late 70s and early 80s but without the same atmosphere. I've been on the Wednesday fans coach outside Stamford Bridge before Chelsea were a nice club and their fans came on to shout and throw things at us. I've walked the full perimeter of highbury looking for the away entrance wearing Wednesday colours. I've seen us against Leeds loads of times. I've been to many Sheffield derbies against our most bitter rivals, but none of it felt like last night. It felt different. It was nasty.
There were Jimmy Saville chants FFS.

This is not about raucous or passionate fans. I understand that and appreciate it. Sunderland sang for a full 9 minutes without stopping. They brought 9000 and were brilliant. So were Man City.
This was different. I heard kids asking to be taken away because they were scared.
It wasn't about "one idiot"

There was Something about the idiots (not fans) who came last night that was violent and inexcusable. Shame on Leeds.
I'm sure you're a reasonable bloke Rich, but I'm afraid your comments sound like an attempt to contextualise those actions as less than they were.
Please accept my apologies if I've misrepresented you or your point. I'm sure with some consideration you'll appreciate why I wrote what I wrote.

Already supposed to be serving a ban.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/leeds-united-hooligan-aaron-cawley-1389741

[Dolly]

[/quote] hi dolly I wasn't trying to represent the moron's actions as anything less than criminal. To put it into context I won't take my wife and kids to Leeds matches due to the atmosphere of vitriol and violence and it's even worse away. The majority of Leeds fans i know think this moron should be put away, however the vast majority of Leeds fans are probably the arm chair fans like me who go to occasional matches. When you look at the away support there seems to be a large proportion of twats who seem to want be in a northern version of football factory. Inexcusable and you're right it let's the city down, especially when you consider the behaviour of our rugby league fans.
[/quote]

Cheers Rich. That's a good point you make about the rugby leaue fans a well