"Well, since we have been wonderfully succesful in kicking out Racism from our national game, lets all petition to ban Spain from competitions"

"We will very seriously study what can be done especially regarding the re-inforcement of teaching in social values in schools."

What a pathetic response.

It seems to have damaged Madrid's Olympic bid beyond repair, which is a good start. I don't suppose they had much chance anyway, but even so it must be painful for the city fathers to know that they've wasted so much money, all thanks to Luis Aragonés.

The Spanish are blaming the English media. Typical.

No, he didn't call him 'that black shit', that's a bit literal, a better translation would be 'fucking nigger' or 'black bastard'.

Yeah, that's nice and may well work in 20 years. What are you going to do about the individuals NOW?

ones for the odd conspiracy theory eh?

i've not been to a game for a while either - incidents involving racist abuse towards black players seems by and large extinguished in the national game here. although Wright-Phillips did encounter some abuse at a QPR game not too long ago - i'd suggest that could've happened anywhere and that racism (casual or otherwise) is no more a problem at QPR than any other English club.

i was at a Tottenham game a couple of years ago and some lads behind me were being quite nasty towards some German people who'd turned up late and were trying to find their seats. so there's a more casual xenophobia (as opposed to racism) that still seems common among club supporters generally, as well as casual homophobia which continues to hang over what are perceived as male-dominated pursuits and pastimes, particularly sport (that is to say homophobia remains more tolerated in society than racism so it's simply an reflection of that - the issue of gay footballers receiving abuse seemingly not taken as seriously as racism incidents, possibly because it is not as common - although at Euro 2004 the Croatian coach was criticised/mocked for homophobic comments towards one his squad i understand).

although what will happen when british-asian players reach the top leagues remains to be seen (i'm still at a loss to explain their absence).

and as for homophobia, that a whole different kettle of doo-dahs...

i agree, it's astonishing how they're not making major inroads here already, given the huge support and enthusiasm for football among the Asian community

i was in landsdowne when one of the danish players was heckled because he played for a protestant club, glasgow rangers. like the game in madrid, it was amazingly widespread in the crowd, not just a small minority.

there's always been a fair bit of unpleasantness at domestic games, also. jason sherlock (of asian descent) endured some really hateful abuse. mark rutherford - one of the best players in the irish premier division at the time - was regularly referred to in racist terms by his own supporters (who liked him, and seemed to think there was something affectionate about greeting his moments of excellence with remarks like "well done, monkey man")

what i think i'm trying to say is that spain may have valid cause for complaint re: them not being the sole guilty party (should they be banned or deducted points). of course, if it's a matter of degree, they may be more to blame than most, and perhaps should receive a fittingly severe punishment.

But, as someone said upthread, just because there's no racism against black players now, doesn't mean there's no racism. Four or five years ago when Bradford were in the Premier League I remember reading that visiting fans would sing 'you're just a town full of Pakis'. And last year when England played Turkey up in Sunderland there was sustained abuse of the Turkish fans/team including chants of 'I'd rather be a Paki than a Turk'.

I thought what happened in Madrid the other night was sickening, and it's true that it wouldn't happen here, but I think there's still a long way to go before we should be slapping ourselves on the backs.

i'm ashamed to say that i still call referees wankers, sometimes, when they're being wankers (not in the literal sense).

referees normally get called wankers when they make poor decisions - this isn't wankerish behaviour, it's an honest mistake. refereeing must be quite a frightening job.

Arrogantes could've been sacked at the time he made the Henry comment - too late now as he hasn't really said anything incendiary since (other than winding up/responding to British press winding-up tactics, which many managers tend to fall into)

the only thing that can realistically be done is to fine the Spanish FA and put more pressure on them to instigate a proper 'no racism' campaign - probably too unrealistic to suggest that be increased to include 'wiping out ALL abuse based on attributes a person has no control over (their race, their sexuality)', esp. in a country like Spain

if racist abuse occurs on this scale against other countries with black players, then it would be time to consider sterner punishment. for some reason i can't help but think that won't happen, and it was just because it was England.

Remember, Spain play their games all round the country, they make the effort to play in obscure places and the players always got to a local sports centre and spend time signing stuff for the local schoolkids. The Spain national team is actually quite a force for good, I think. Just because the Real Madrid wankers are wankers doesn't mean everybody is a wanker (although they probably are).

It would also be appropriate for Mr Aragonés to retire once and for all. He did threaten to die on the bench though. It's unfortunate that it was such a good performance.

He has a friend who pronounces 'allergy', 'Algeria' (only in Spanish). At the time I thought this was funny, now it seems indicative of a wider malaise. Well, not really.

xpost

what do you think it actually is? 65/35 white? more? less?

proportion of Black faces in the crowd to White faces in the crowd

85/15 white?

It would appear that they have apologised now they've realised it's not going to go away.

the WWE is pretty racist

I remember someone saying the Rangers fans did this as well, can anyone confirm? Given the proliferation of N@tional Fr0nt crap that's available outside Ibrox it wouldn't surprise me.
Their "Pride before prejudice" thing doesn't seem to be working if the "Bobo Balde peels bananas with his feet" (to the tune of Yellow Submarine) chants earlier in the year were anything to go by.

I strikes me as odd the number of people condemning Spain for the attacks rather than the individual Spaniards who abused the players. There have been many occasions in the past (every football tournament for years) when the media has taken the stance that England as a team and a nation shouldn't be punished for the actions of groups of supporters. Maybe they should apply the same standards to Spain. Or is "all Spaniards are racist" a reasonable stance to take?

I'm of to watch the Old Firm game now and will no doubt shout all sorts of abuse at the television. Hopefully I'll be civilised again by 2:30.

Yes, things have changed a lot since the bad old days of mass booing of black players, but there are still chants at opposing supporters such as those referred to by Jamie upthread. By a minority, certainly, and I'm pleased to say that it is now more common for their behaviour to be challenged - but it is a depressingly large minority.

http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/european/story.jsp?story=588801

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7225523.stm

ireland would have to be banned as well, fo sho.
i was in landsdowne when one of the danish players was heckled because he played for a protestant club, glasgow rangers. like the game in madrid, it was amazingly widespread in the crowd, not just a small minority.

See also Neil Lennon getting death threats in Northern Ireland when playing for what is perceived to be a Catholic club (Celtic).

That Lewis Hamilton thing is totally WTF.

Following racist abuse suffered by English footballers in Spain in recent years, Sutcliffe believes strong action is required now.

"Racism should not be tolerated and this is not the first time British sportsmen have been racially abused in Spain," he said.

Didn't Samuel Eto'o suffer abuse as well? It's not just confined to Spain v black English/British people.