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The Beautiful Game....not!

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ToraToraTora | 00:03 Tue 04th Mar 2014 | News
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Anyone see dispatches this evening? Quite shocking, How can we get the bigotry out of soccer? Why won't the FA/Clubs/Law enforcement deal with this? Any suggestions for how this can be cleaned up?
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Yes I did, it was vile. Ban them from all football matches for life. Of course that means the police would have to act and not just stand there and let them get away with it.
What form of bigotry was it?

Missed the show.
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take your pick SP, homophobic, Racist, anti semetic, Islamaphobic
I didn't see it either - did it include that serial thug Pardew ?
Judging from the small part of it that I saw, getting match officials and attending coppers to take it seriously might be a start.

It would be nice to think that insults based around race, or sexual orientation would just become an irrelevance as society matures, but given that black footballers still face persistent racist taunts and insults, that is perhaps too much to hope for.

In all honesty, given the tribal nature of the support for football clubs,and especially the intense rivalry between local clubs, it seems unlikely to me that we are ever going to be able clear it up entirely. And I am not absolutely sure the fans that chant this stuff necessarily even recognise what it is that they are doing - they might just think of it as "banter".
I 100% agree with you LazyGun!

They will never stop it, and to do so they would need more police presence, which the football clubs wont pay for.
Very difficult to see what can be done. Can start with the obvious stuff but then you get to the borderline items (where one mans banter is another mans insult) and I can just imagine the field day the right-on liberals will have taking offence on behalf of someone else.
As it has been said before they will never be able to stop it, it has gone on throughout history, where large crowds gather, be it in the arena, the stadium or even during protests, safety in numbers they say.

Interesting to note however, banter and insults against individuals take place on a daily basis on such sites as this, yet most accept this kind of behaviour.

Providing it is not against a minority group, it doesn't seem to matter how much an individual is insulted.
In view of the amount of money some football clubs seem to squander ( 300k per week for a guy to to kick a ball about) do abers not think it would be a good idea to employ hefty bouncers who could be sent into the crowd to eject these troublemakers ?
AOG

"Interesting to note however, banter and insults against individuals take place on a daily basis on such sites as this, yet most accept this kind of behaviour."

From the AB Site Rules:

"Do not post material that discriminates on grounds of race, gender, age or religion, nor link to websites that do so."

I have watched a bit of the Dispatches programme on catch up tv, and I cannot see anything on the programme that has been replicated here. If anyone tried to, their post would be removed, and if they were a repeat offender, their account would be shut down.
@AoG "nteresting to note however, banter and insults against individuals take place on a daily basis on such sites as this, yet most accept this kind of behaviour.

Providing it is not against a minority group, it doesn't seem to matter how much an individual is insulted."

That is a facile analysis, trying to equate what you term "insults" here on AB with some of the frankly vile and despicable chants directed at minorities, be they ethnic, racial or sexual.

There is absolutely no equivalence whatsoever.
sp1814

Age or religion, eh.

Both seem to be ignored by some.
AOG

Have you watched the Dispatches programme?

If so, can you please describe which of the racist and/or homophobic taunts have been posted on AB?

Also - what do you think the FA can do to rid the terraces of these knuckle-draggers?
Ah yes; "knuckle-draggers"

The AB derogatory term for a right winger.
As opposed to Neanderthal for certain centre forwards, serial sh*ggers for certain London based centre halves, youngmafbog?
sp1814

/// If so, can you please describe which of the racist and/or homophobic taunts have been posted on AB? ///

I wasn't referring to those, I was merely pointing out that racial groups and gays etc should not have the sole right of being protected from taunts and insults.
Don't expect footballers to have a degree in philosophy, after all anyone who takes football seriously can't be using all of their faculties.
There is a massive difference between the insults (banter?) that are traded back and forth here on AB and those vile and hateful insults being offered up in the Dispatches documentary.

To try and suggest some kind of equivalence between the 2 is simply facile.

For every instance you see here of "knuckledragger" there are an equal number of trenchant descriptions of those taking the opposite view; "yoghurt knitting, right-on yooman rights PC brigade" or some variation thereof.

Fortunately, the number of those regularly offering up trivial insult on here is quite low, and anyway tends to undermine their own arguments - assuming they actually have an argument of course, rather than just wanting to hear the sound of their own voice.
AOG

"I wasn't referring to those, I was merely pointing out that racial groups and gays etc should not have the sole right of being protected from taunts and insults."

It sounds as if you think this is the case.

And it isn't.
youngmafbog

No. I've always used the term 'knuckle-dragger' specifically for racists, and people who verbally or physically abuse minorities.

Why would you assume that covers people who support right wing political ideas?

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