Stavros
11-18-2011, 07:58 PM
Some of you will know that there are currently two disputes in English football (Soccer) in which one player is accused of racial abuse against another -Luis Suarez of Liverpool is alleged to have repeatedly called Patrice Evra of Manchester United a negrito, amongst other words during a game in which they repeatedly clashed with each other. John Terry of Chelsea is alleged to have called Anton Ferdinand of Queen's Park Rangers a black cunt; these sets of allegations are under investigation.
The cases are considered serious by some, dismissed by others as part of the rough and tumble of the game in which players regularly snipe at each other and shake hands at the end...in Australia cricketers who take the mickey out of their opponents and try to put them off their game call the process sledging. I don't know if cricket really is a more genteel game, but as I see it, there is a wide repertoire of abuse that any plyer can call on to put an opponent off their game or just to snarl in words: so why would one player use words and phrases that refer to another player's colour when there are alternatives? Because it is deliberate, it is a deliberate provocation, not an innocent, spur of the moment reaction. Zidane of France was sent off in the World Cup Final for head-butting an Italian player who repeatedly hissed at Zidane, your sister is a whore. It cannot be too much to ask players to exercise basic respect for their opponents because most of them do; I don't believe I have ever heard a tennis player shout racial abuse at another player; I don't know if it happens in Rugby Union.
Does this happen in baseball, basketball or American football, or anywhere else in the world? Or is it just soccer that seems to be cursed -and let's not even get into crowd abuse in the Balkans and Russia....
The cases are considered serious by some, dismissed by others as part of the rough and tumble of the game in which players regularly snipe at each other and shake hands at the end...in Australia cricketers who take the mickey out of their opponents and try to put them off their game call the process sledging. I don't know if cricket really is a more genteel game, but as I see it, there is a wide repertoire of abuse that any plyer can call on to put an opponent off their game or just to snarl in words: so why would one player use words and phrases that refer to another player's colour when there are alternatives? Because it is deliberate, it is a deliberate provocation, not an innocent, spur of the moment reaction. Zidane of France was sent off in the World Cup Final for head-butting an Italian player who repeatedly hissed at Zidane, your sister is a whore. It cannot be too much to ask players to exercise basic respect for their opponents because most of them do; I don't believe I have ever heard a tennis player shout racial abuse at another player; I don't know if it happens in Rugby Union.
Does this happen in baseball, basketball or American football, or anywhere else in the world? Or is it just soccer that seems to be cursed -and let's not even get into crowd abuse in the Balkans and Russia....