Sunday, June 04, 2006
Sporting chances
Wales on Sunday tells us this morning that Catholic Priest Father Michael Burke believes that fans should check their conscience before they roar on Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago and Sweden, who play against England in the group stage.
Father Burke, communications chief for the Mid Wales Minerva diocese, said: "It's the wrong attitude. It's not the Christian attitude, certainly.
"No-one wishes ill on anyone. It is no better than wishing bad fortune on your next-door-neighbour. These games are meant to be seen in a light-hearted way and should be taken in this context."
The priest said he was not sure whether it could be deemed a sin, but that fans should think before jumping on the anti-England bandwagon.
Elsewhere they tell us that any complaint of chants or jokes against England will be treated as a racist attack - and could land football fans in jail.
Police have been told remarks about the English should be treated no differently than attacks on ethnic minorities.
One source at a Welsh police force said: "If it's a specific racist term, that person is liable to be arrested. Shouting something like 'English b*****d' could be considered a racist attack if somebody is offended by that. It's no different to calling somebody a 'Pakistani b*****d'.
For goodness sake! It is a game, not a war. People need to start getting a sense of perspective. Football has always been tribal and as such strong passions will be aroused. Although fans have a duty not to let their feelings get out of hand so that they drift into unacceptable behaviour, the Police too need to keep their feet on the ground.
It is enough to make me want to take up chess again!
Update: The Western Mail today (7 June 2006) supports my point that we need to be a lot more robust and much less sensitive about these matters:
It astonishes us that the amount of official action against prejudice seems to be in inverse proportion to how serious it actually is. The pub landlady in Somerset is visited by police officers, as are any number of MPs and government advisers over the "f***ing Welsh" comment Tony Blair is alleged to have made seven years ago.
Meanwhile Sunday Times columnist AA Gill calls the Welsh "immoral liars, stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious little trolls" in his newspaper and is not prosecuted.
We really do need to put these things into perspective more.
Father Burke, communications chief for the Mid Wales Minerva diocese, said: "It's the wrong attitude. It's not the Christian attitude, certainly.
"No-one wishes ill on anyone. It is no better than wishing bad fortune on your next-door-neighbour. These games are meant to be seen in a light-hearted way and should be taken in this context."
The priest said he was not sure whether it could be deemed a sin, but that fans should think before jumping on the anti-England bandwagon.
Elsewhere they tell us that any complaint of chants or jokes against England will be treated as a racist attack - and could land football fans in jail.
Police have been told remarks about the English should be treated no differently than attacks on ethnic minorities.
One source at a Welsh police force said: "If it's a specific racist term, that person is liable to be arrested. Shouting something like 'English b*****d' could be considered a racist attack if somebody is offended by that. It's no different to calling somebody a 'Pakistani b*****d'.
For goodness sake! It is a game, not a war. People need to start getting a sense of perspective. Football has always been tribal and as such strong passions will be aroused. Although fans have a duty not to let their feelings get out of hand so that they drift into unacceptable behaviour, the Police too need to keep their feet on the ground.
It is enough to make me want to take up chess again!
Update: The Western Mail today (7 June 2006) supports my point that we need to be a lot more robust and much less sensitive about these matters:
It astonishes us that the amount of official action against prejudice seems to be in inverse proportion to how serious it actually is. The pub landlady in Somerset is visited by police officers, as are any number of MPs and government advisers over the "f***ing Welsh" comment Tony Blair is alleged to have made seven years ago.
Meanwhile Sunday Times columnist AA Gill calls the Welsh "immoral liars, stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious little trolls" in his newspaper and is not prosecuted.
We really do need to put these things into perspective more.
Comments:
<< Home
I'm confused as to where you're coming from with those closing remarks. I assume that you're not saying anti-English racism is OK, or claiming it's not racist to abuse the English.
I am saying that we need to get a sense of perspective. There are degrees of abuse and I cannot see how any of the examples given merit a prosecution for racism.
Well i thought the vicar and policeman you quoted spoke a lot of sense.
Naturally there are degrees of abuse, but the degrees should be treated equally, no matter what the race of the the target(s).
So if calling someone a "Pakistani b*****d" is racist abuse so equally should be calling someone an "English b*****d". There's no lack of proportion there. If the latter is acceptable in football so is the former. Which I severely doubt.
However there should be parity in the action taken, if calling someone a "Paki b****rd" warrents a telling off, a caution or a fine, then calling someone an "English b*****d" shouldn't merit a greater punishment.
If that's all you were saying it wasn't clear.
Naturally there are degrees of abuse, but the degrees should be treated equally, no matter what the race of the the target(s).
So if calling someone a "Pakistani b*****d" is racist abuse so equally should be calling someone an "English b*****d". There's no lack of proportion there. If the latter is acceptable in football so is the former. Which I severely doubt.
However there should be parity in the action taken, if calling someone a "Paki b****rd" warrents a telling off, a caution or a fine, then calling someone an "English b*****d" shouldn't merit a greater punishment.
If that's all you were saying it wasn't clear.
the worst thing that i have ever heard a welsh football fan chant about england is "Why are you watching england, why are you watching england" (when we were still doing quite well in the qualifying campaign for 2004)
all this doesn't mean that i am going to support england, i will stick with my inifference as to their progress.
all this doesn't mean that i am going to support england, i will stick with my inifference as to their progress.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/5051162.stm
and people are worried about the welsh being racist towards the english!
Post a Comment
and people are worried about the welsh being racist towards the english!
<< Home
