I don't know if anyone else checked it out but I was completely appalled and disgusted that the level of racism that was directed toward black players across Europe. The coach of Spain calling the French soccer player a "black shit" and the bananas thrown on the field at the black players and the monkey sounds made whenever a black person touched a ball. My god I had absolutely no idea of the level of the racism. Of course I believe it still went on but when you have 80-90% of an entire stadium participating in it...its just disgusting and unacceptable.

The people with their swastika flags and doing their hail Hitler fascist arm movements I wouldn't think would be tolerated in the stands but obviously it is. Wow...I was shocked. I consider myself pretty aware but I had no idea of the degree of racism that still existed in the stadiums like that. Kudos to Real Sports for once again enlightening its audience.

At least 2 thoughts about this based on your post (I didn't see the story):
1. We didn't invent racism here in this hemisphere. In fact, it was imported from Europe. And while that was a long time ago, the racism directed at Jews in many parts of Europe is both historical and recent, even still ongoing. And there is a small percentage in Europe that has been racist in response to dark-skinned people living there. So while it saddens me, it doesn't surprise me. European society can be just as flawed and ugly as North American.

2. Are the black players actually treated worse than other football (soccer) players, by the fans I mean? After all, it is European football. English "fans", otherwise known as hooligans, have been banned in many countries because of how rowdy, even violent, they get. Aren't many of the fans often drunk at the matches? It doesn't excuse racism, or attacking a black player in hateful ways as described. But are they doing ugly things only to the black players, or to the opposition players regardless of race, conveniently using racist symbols with black players?

Did the story address the acceptance of black players in Europe, by many Europeans? When I was over there on visits, and revealed my ignorance about soccer, they'd talk about different things, (after they got over their disbelief that I really didn't know anything about soccer...too old to have played youth soccer anyway, but why kick a ball when there's a rim to shoot at?). Pele was mentioned the same way Michael Jordan is mentioned...as the best man ever to play. Not the best black man. And not in some arrogant way looking down on him, but seeing him as a man, a man to be respected.

Sorry I missed the story.

[ September 28, 2005, 07:58 PM: Message edited by: Good Hands ]

First of all, I have to stick up for England soccer fans. People there are fanatical in their own ways about their teams (read "Fever Pitch" by Nick Hornby if you don't believe me), but lumping them all together and calling them all hooligans creates an untrue statement. Most English fans are completed against hooliganism. And to be honest, most of the abuse has actually been suffered by English national team players. For example, in a match in Slovakia, several English players were racially abused by the Slovakian fans. The incident about the Spanish coach was VERY poorly handled by FIFA and the Spanish Federation. Neither imposed a serious fine on the coach or forced him to resign.

To be honest though, yes many of the fans are drunk. And yes, they'll attack players with many symbols. But in English soccer, you don't see racism like what's been described here so far. It's not like Manchester United fans find all their racist symbols when Arsenal, with star Thierry Henry, the player attacked by the Spanish coach, come to Old Trafford.

I think there's definitely racism in European soccer, but in England, it's not as bad as people want to make it seem. There are two questions to ask ourselves: Why is racism accepted in European soccer and what can be done to stop it? and Why isn't homophobia eradicated from soccer at the same time? FIFA and UEFA could put out a listing of various punishments: if your fans are caught making racist or homophbic cheers, then such and such will happen.

If you thought I was lumping all English fans as hooligans, then I must not of written my sentence very well. I was referring to the hooligans who have created such havoc and at times been banned. They have been referred to as "fans", but they stand out, in a bad way, because of their violence. I was expecting that the quotes around the word fans would make it obvious that I wasn't categorizing them with the large majority. Hope that clarifies my original intent. You don't need to stick up for English fans regarding my post, because I wasn't condemning or lumping them all together.

[ September 29, 2005, 09:03 AM: Message edited by: Good Hands ]

I misunderstood. The hooligans do need to be condemned, but as you said, the average fans are just intensely devoted.

Somewhat related to this thread is Jim Allen's story in Jock Talk (10.22.2005) about a display of homophobia in French football. Through a story he linked I went to the site of the Parisien gay football club that is playing an exhibition match against one of the pro teams playing during that earlier incident. In their \"liens\", which apparently means links, is an interesting international list of gay soccer teams. I'm surprised I have never heard of them.