Black players are taunted in Spain

By John Haydon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

I'm frustrated, baffled and mad.

I'm mad at people who think it's funny to taunt black soccer players. I'm saddened that a small group I hope it's just a small group but I have my doubts of stupid fans are ruining, what Pele called the "beautiful game" with racist attitudes.

Take a breath this is not happening at RFK Stadium but in the heart of so-called sophisticated Europe. It's immature, warped, boorish and pathetic.

During a "friendly" between Spain and England in Madrid on Wednesday, England's black players Ashley Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jermaine Jenas were viciously taunted with monkey noises and crude chants every time they touched the ball. In recent years, England's black players have received this kind of treatment in Serbia and Slovakia, but the scale of taunting in Spain, took everyone by surprise.

Sadly it ruined what was a brilliant display of soccer by Spain in a 1-0 win.

So what's going on in Spain? Is this a return to the Dark Ages?

Well, part of the blame for the recent incident lies at the feet of Spain's national team coach, Luis Aragones.

Last month Aragones got in trouble when he told Spanish star Jose Antonio Reyes that French ace Thierry Henry was a "a piece of black [expletive]." Henry, probably the best player in the world, is a teammate of Reyes with English club Arsenal. Aragones insisted he was just trying to "motivate" Reyes and make him believe he was better than Henry.

But Aragones never apologized for his remarks, which were caught on TV and caused an uproar in England. The crusty old Spanish coach defended himself in an odd way, saying, "Some of my best friends are black, and they have told me that English people were after them in the days of the colonies."

That didn't go down too well either. As if Spain never had any colonies.
Spain's soccer bosses rushed to defend Aragones. Said Jorge Perez: "Luis is a sensitive man but also a common man and perhaps this is a moment which should be left on the training field."

Amazingly, Aragones stubbornly refused to condemn the Spanish fans after Wednesday's game. "I am only interested in talking about football," was all he could muster before a throng of stunned reporters.

England coach Sven Goran Eriksson was praised for ignoring the nasty taunts in Madrid and keeping his black players in the game, even when the chants got even worse later in the contest.

"The day I don't send a player on or take one off because of the color of his skin, then football is finished. It is over," Eriksson said. "To be booed when you are not playing well is bad enough. To be jeered for other reasons is awful, simply awful."

Obviously, a lot of soul-searching is needed to be done to put the game back on the right track in Europe.

Phoebus

Italy

OLD SKOOL

NOV 20, 2004 04:28 PM

Disgustingly enough, this isn't the first time shit like this has happened to Thierry or other players of various ethnicities, skin color, or religion.

In fact, I'm ashamed to say that fans of our archrival team in Greece, subjected Thierry to similar humiliating behavior during a match between that club and Thierry's.

There's no way of predicting how things will go down. This year, the top clubs from Greece and Turkey, respectively, met in a friendly match and fans were respectful. Similarly, our national teams' last friendly went down unexpectedly well. Last year, though, I saw both Albanian and Greek fans go over the line, spit on it, and revel in excesses of vulgarity and violence that shocked me. And I'm used to people shooting at me.

I like how the fucking Time's writer had to throw in a nice cheap shot toward Europe, though. 'Cause anything bad that happens there makes us so much more pristine by default.

Keith

Oklahoma City, OK

August 2002

NOV 20, 2004 04:38 PM

Come back and talk to us when you've got a source that doesn't come from someone with magic moonie underwear on.

Phoebus

Italy

OLD SKOOL

NOV 20, 2004 04:43 PM

Keith, this is really happening. Ekathimerini (the electronic version of Kathimerini, or "Daily") from Greece posted an article two weeks or so about the humiliation Thierry had to endure from fans of Panathinaikos (Pan-Athinean) FC. My family in Greece confirmed this as well, and while I have no doubt that the Times will take every opportunity to schew the event to make Europe look bad, I have not doubt this poor guy had to suffer through all that.

Keith

Oklahoma City, OK

August 2002

NOV 20, 2004 04:57 PM

Phoebus said:
Keith, this is really happening. Ekathimerini (the electronic version of Kathimerini, or "Daily") from Greece posted an article two weeks or so about the humiliation Thierry had to endure from fans of Panathinaikos (Pan-Athinean) FC. My family in Greece confirmed this as well, and while I have no doubt that the Times will take every opportunity to schew the event to make Europe look bad, I have not doubt this poor guy had to suffer through all that.

It's appalling bullshit, but it seems to happen in every country and in every sport where minorities, especially blacks, are gaining prominence where another ethnic group had previously dominated. Witness what happened here with boxing and basketball. Believe it or not, basketball only a hundred years ago was dominated by small Jewish men from the north east.

Even today, while you don't get as much overt racism, you still hear some fans "joke" about how few whites they perceive are playing their favorite sport.

In short, I think it's just something that'll have to work itself out. Once the black players are everywhere, and show that they're not going away, the fans will have to deal with it.

[Edited on Nov 20, 2004 by Keith]