uspompeyfan wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:49 pm
Weybridge wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:26 pm
Stamp Out Racism was rejected years ago for being toothless and ineffectual by the very people it was designed to help. It was demonstrably a slogan and nothing more.
It was replaced by KickItOut in the 90s, who record incidents of racial abuse and discrimination from grassroots football right through to the professional game. And since just under half the racist abuse is still from the Under-18 game and prevalent on social media, the education clearly isn't getting through.
All Lives do matter - but from the evidence shown above, some lives are just valued a lot less than others.
Appreciate the update Weybridge. My main point was to build on what has occurred...you don't just stop something on a dime, you take the positives that did work and realize what and why other areas went wrong. Kick it Out would still be more 'real' to footballers with a renewed effort, rather than Black Lives Matter.
Who is more affected by racism in the U18 population (genuine query)? If I recall, it used to be more the Muslim / brown (Olive) skin color more than the Black athlete back in the early 90s. I realize that 70s and 80s was predominantly the Black populace in the Professional game (Viv Anderson, John and Justin Fashanu were the early beacons for anti-racism IIRC)
In the UK we do appear to have a bigger issue with Islamophobia, but the fact there is targeting at all is shameful. Particularly since Indian partition and the Windrush immigrants, we have 3rd and soon to be 4th generation black and Asian families here in the UK.
As for the black populace in the game, remember Justin Fashanu killed himself over abuse (false allegations in his case), Viv Anderson recently claimed nothing has changed in terms of race in 20 years, and Sol Campbell - while his rants are often misguided, isn't wrong about the dearth of black managers.
Some on here know I'm a bit of a cricket nut. I've probably played close to 1000 matches in my life, umpired a few hundred too. Mostly around Surrey, Middlesex, West London, ie. a disproportionate non-white population and the team line-ups are usually a fair racial representation, Indian, Pakistani, Caribbean, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, plus the usual visiting Aussies and Saffers. Yet I've never seen a single racially motivated incident on the cricket field, whether its been alongside teens or senior-citizens. Sledging, yes. Fist-fights, yes. Nothing ever racially motivated. It proves it can be done. A lack of prejudice is not just expected, its demanded. Is it because of 42 Laws set down by some old, white guys in North London? No, its just common decency, and the game is better for it.
"Look, we've all got something to contribute to this discussion. And I think what you should contribute from now on is silence."
That is very much taking the stance of "I'm not wrong, everyone else is." USPF, I know you are smarter than that and surely that was either a mis-type of a wind up. Either way, it made me chuckle.
