The tournament hasn't even kicked off yet and the racist abuse has begun by the locals...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18363736
Uefa have gotten themselves into an awful mess here by giving the tournament to Poland and Ukraine. I fully support awarding tournaments away from the traditional powerhouses of football, but at the same time you have to be aware of the issues around those countries when awarding it and racism was always going to be an issue.
I really hope this doesn't blight the tournament but I can see a game being stopped because of it.
And before anyone else says it.......is it a coincidence that John Terry, also in Krakow with England, missed training with a "hamstring injury" on the same day that the Dutch were racially abused?
And so it begins....
posted on 8/6/12
but i just hope you never cheered on Suarez after his racist remarks
posted on 8/6/12
comment by california_bhoy (U3605)
posted 1 minute ago
then im sorry ive offended you
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I'm not offended.
comment by california_bhoy (U3605)
posted 39 seconds ago
but i just hope you never cheered on Suarez after his racist remarks
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People make mistakes but just because somebody racially abuses another doesn't mean he's a racist. If I were to see evidence, I'd be much less willing to support Suarez but since I haven't, I support him 100%.
posted on 8/6/12
I think Suarez actually admitted saying what he did which was racist but I'm sure south American countries use that term quite a bit in their own language not realising it's racist. God even Messi said it to a player last year.
posted on 8/6/12
Theresonly..
Only joking
Living in LA, ive got quite a good amount of mexican/spanish/south american friends and they all say it just depends on how he said it. They use it all the time.
posted on 8/6/12
comment by NNH - the slayer of whales <o> (U10730)
posted 2 minutes ago
I think Suarez actually admitted saying what he did which was racist but I'm sure south American countries use that term quite a bit in their own language not realising it's racist. God even Messi said it to a player last year.
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No. Suarez admitted to saying "negro" which means 'black' in English. However even then it wouldn't be racist but racial abuse. There is no way on this Earth, Suarez can be racist having come from a mixed race family, where his grandfather is black, and his parents mixed race.
posted on 8/6/12
I'm not a racist in anyway...but see all this media talk and concentration on the issue, for me its only worsening things.
Anyone ever had a noisy neighbour??
If you've got good neighbours, hearing the hoover going through the wall the odd time wont bother you a jot
If you've got really noisy neighbours that make an absolute racket on a Saturday night up to all hours.....you might find yourself muting the telly and listening intently through the wall when they've got the hoover on at half 2 on a Wednesday afternoon and going "FFS, does this never end, erseholes, dae ma nut in so they dae"
If its an issue you know exists, if you keep thinking about it, it'll affect you when to be honest it shouldnt be....know what I mean??
We all know racism is a problem in some eastern european countries, we've heard of enough instances of it happening over there to know its an issue.
There was never going to be a chance of it being completely eradicated just coz the Euro's are on...not a chance.
It exists over there and attempts are being made to stamp it out, if that was not the case I'd be up in arms, but they are trying to wipe it out so that should be commended.
However, if it does rear its ugly head, is it really that much of a surprise, is there really a need for such massive media coverage and a voice being given to these clowns??
and as for the folk saying "why did Uefa give them this tournament".......would you be saying the same thing if Uefa gave Scotland the Euro's and the sectarianism that we all know exists reared its ugly head at some of the matches...would an instance of sectarianism in Scotland be that much of a surprise to us all, would it generate huge media interest....or the real question....should it???
Its shocking that its happening....of course it is....but my opinion is that its going to happen at some point because its a deep rooted problem over there...and UEFA and everyone knew this well in advance.
For me, the tournament being a success would be a victory over it......games being halted because of it would be conceeding defeat to it, so Uefa should not be letting that happen
posted on 8/6/12
comment by St3vie (U11028)
posted 14 seconds ago
I'm not a racist in anyway...but see all this media talk and concentration on the issue, for me its only worsening things.
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Exactly and a point I was making earlier.
posted on 8/6/12
"We all know racism is a problem in some eastern european countries, we've heard of enough instances of it happening over there to know its an issue."
I think the point is that the countries in question need to be made to deal with the issue, and for as long as countries like the UK and organisations like UEFA treat it with a light touch, they won't deal with it.
Look at English hooliganism - UEFA came down hard, and suddenly the government were doing something about it, and now? Not an issue anymore.
it was a deep rooted cultural problem, and it was, eventually, successfully dealt with - and without EXTERNAL intervention and tough sanctions, it's likely this would still be a problem.
posted on 8/6/12
"Look at English hooliganism - UEFA came down hard, and suddenly the government were doing something about it, and now? Not an issue anymore."
Wouldnt go that far....nowhere near as bad as it was but fans on a jolly abroad still cause trouble at times, English fans still have a rep (and of course Rangers fans in Manchester)...wonder how much any instances of this will be highlighted eh??
I'm all for external intervention.....just not so much slavering over it in the media when we all know its a problem that exists over there, its a bit OTT at times.
Reminds me of the incident at the Emirates when a banana was thrown on the pitch cloes to Neymar and it was construed as an incident of racism by the Scotland fans...turned out it was a German tourist sitting with the Brazil fans that did it with no racial intent.
The intent is obviously there when it comes to problems at Euro 2012......but folk are kidding themselves on if they think its not going to happen.
posted on 10/6/12
"Wouldnt go that far....nowhere near as bad as it was but fans on a jolly abroad still cause trouble at times, English fans still have a rep (and of course Rangers fans in Manchester)...wonder how much any instances of this will be highlighted eh??"
The point is that it happens so seldom and on such a small scale now that the media aren't really interested, they've moved on. They used to be reporting about fans behaviour before they'd even got to the tournament. If there is a small fight in the street in Kracow tomorrow there's no reason why it should be reported - 10 years ago it would have been, because it was a live issue and the media were looking for it (and didn't have to look very hard). That's a measure of how much things have improved.
I honestly don't know the last time there was trouble with English fans abroad, that could be blamed on those fans. Rangers fans - that's an entirely different story.