3 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Like has been said, if he did say anything racist, then ban him, he'll get everything he deserves.

Sterling's comments were pretty vague though. It's hard to tell if he is saying that this guy did say something racist or if he is complaining about how he is treated because he's a black man.

Martin Samuel in the Mail is reporting that Sterling has told the police he was racially abused. Haven't seen that anywhere else.

14 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

I think we may be forgetting that the coverage of the incident is far from the most important thing here... as irritating as it may be to hear the various talking heads jumping on their high horses and condemning the fanbase as a whole, we should remember that a young man was [possibly] subjected to appalling, unacceptable abuse which has no place in our, or any, club. If it is proven that the incident did happen, I hope we punish the perpetrators with the full extent of our power.

A nasty occurrence which marred what should have been a perfect day.

 

I know, god forbid Sterling on his 300k a week wages can sleep at night after being called a "c***" by Mark in the stands. 

13 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I know, god forbid Sterling on his 300k a week wages can sleep at night after being called a "c***" by Mark in the stands. 

WTF has his wages got to do with anything?

6 hours ago, Old Shaggy said:

I'm sorry, but you don't think alleged racist abuse should be investigated?

It should be investigated by the club. The idea that the police can come after you for possibly offending someone is horrifying to people who believe in freedom. I understand that freedom of speech is a foreign concept to most of you. 

27 minutes ago, Old Shaggy said:

WTF has his wages got to do with anything?

Because people are acting like the bloke is guilty of racist abuse already. 

And on top of that several posters in the thread are going on as if the abuse is appalling because people are mouthing off to him in the stands. I'm not going to feel sorry for a footballer on those wages getting a bit of an earful in the stands, racist abuse is another thing, and we don't know if that's what happened yet. 

4 hours ago, Backbiter said:

Martin Samuel in the Mail is reporting that Sterling has told the police he was racially abused. Haven't seen that anywhere else.

Fair enough then, and if that is true then the guy should be banned for life.

3 hours ago, kiwi1691 said:

It should be investigated by the club. The idea that the police can come after you for possibly offending someone is horrifying to people who believe in freedom. I understand that freedom of speech is a foreign concept to most of you. 

Us Aussie dont have freedom of speech, there is now such right or law. Does England?

I see that the Kick it Out are chomping at the bit. No racist incidents ( alleged in otherwise), no cosy little jobs for them.

 

The way we are viewed will probably end up with a points deduction or relagation, for failing to control fans.

Shocking behaviour from grown men who should know better. No excuse for it - this isn't the 1970's - it's NOT alright to behave like that and hope the idiots are banned.

But we have to be careful here that things don't get even more ridiculously PC. Heard Darren Lewis on TalkSport this morning and of course being a black sports-writer he is often brought on to give his views when anything like this happens. So he says all the usual stuff that no-one would disagree with but then goes on to talk about how certain black players get labelled as lazy. He said that is racist too - to refer to Lukaku and Pogba as lazy. WTF?!!. NO, supporters watch Lukaku and Pogba underperform and call it like it is, they aren't saying it because they happen to be Black. Think he's getting confused with Ron Atkinson's comments all those years back re Desailly. So it's okay to say Mata or Phil Jones was lazy there but not Lukaku, because he's black and it's giving a stereotype view on black players? What a load of bollocks.

I'm all for stamping out racism in football, but soon commentators & pundits will have to think about what they say everytime a black player is involved. 

 

Media has to take responsibility here as do those idiots who really don't get it. Why the f**k would you insult people in the first place? Let alone drag race here. These days everyone is well informed how to behave. I know emotions can take reigns in a heated game but come on.. Life long ban.

Just so sad our club is involved with these things year in year out. 99.9% of the fans would never do such a thing. 

8 hours ago, kiwi1691 said:

It should be investigated by the club. The idea that the police can come after you for possibly offending someone is horrifying to people who believe in freedom. I understand that freedom of speech is a foreign concept to most of you. 

It’s classed as a hate crime, it’s illegal to racially abuse somebody and the police have every right to act on it if it’s true. 

People here also have the right to go to work and not be abused which seems to be forgotten when it comes to footballers. 

Edited December 10, 20187 yr by Munkworth

9 hours ago, kiwi1691 said:

It should be investigated by the club. The idea that the police can come after you for possibly offending someone is horrifying to people who believe in freedom. I understand that freedom of speech is a foreign concept to most of you. 

There's a substantial difference between freedom of speech and abusing people (racially or not). I for one am perfectly happy to live in a society where people aren't free to verbally abuse others

9 hours ago, Slojo said:

Because people are acting like the bloke is guilty of racist abuse already. 

And on top of that several posters in the thread are going on as if the abuse is appalling because people are mouthing off to him in the stands. I'm not going to feel sorry for a footballer on those wages getting a bit of an earful in the stands, racist abuse is another thing, and we don't know if that's what happened yet. 

That's exactly what the police are investigating, as racial abuse is a crime. 

And it seems to me that abuse, even if it's not racial or homophobic or whatever, can be as unpleasant to one who is on huge wages as for one on low wages. The fact that it's deemed "normal" - mostly by the abusers - doesn't make it more palatable.

2 hours ago, Shug said:

The way we are viewed will probably end up with a points deduction or relagation, for failing to control fans.

Ah, the self-pity "we're victimised" angle 

Edited December 10, 20187 yr by Valerie

Well the police with all the other more serious crimes happening in a time of austerity are going to have 'fun' looking into this lot. For me 5 or 6 culprits from this angle.

Three of them look obvious for abuse though maybe not racial abuse and there are others that are saying something that could be racially abusive or not.

Time and money will tell hopefully though the JT one with a more obvious culprit was never quite satisfactory. 

Pic from F365

The Mail are basically a pseudo right wing, xenophobic, facist publication anyway, the fact they wrote 2 articles on Man City youths and the black kid is getting a hard time of it is a disgrace but nothing you wouldnt expect from that shower in the Mail and it clearly filters down to their readers who I'd imagine are nothing but knuckle dragging idiots, at best.

I'm no fan of Raheem but hes right on the money what hes saying about the Mail.

3 hours ago, Nibs said:

Shocking behaviour from grown men who should know better. No excuse for it - this isn't the 1970's - it's NOT alright to behave like that and hope the idiots are banned.

But we have to be careful here that things don't get even more ridiculously PC. Heard Darren Lewis on TalkSport this morning and of course being a black sports-writer he is often brought on to give his views when anything like this happens. So he says all the usual stuff that no-one would disagree with but then goes on to talk about how certain black players get labelled as lazy. He said that is racist too - to refer to Lukaku and Pogba as lazy. WTF?!!. NO, supporters watch Lukaku and Pogba underperform and call it like it is, they aren't saying it because they happen to be Black. Think he's getting confused with Ron Atkinson's comments all those years back re Desailly. So it's okay to say Mata or Phil Jones was lazy there but not Lukaku, because he's black and it's giving a stereotype view on black players? What a load of bollocks.

I'm all for stamping out racism in football, but soon commentators & pundits will have to think about what they say everytime a black player is involved.

It's not about individual cases though, its about the press and pundits using tired racial stereotypes towards black players far more often than white players. It's not that a black player can't be lazy, but black players get labelled as lazy, or unintelligent, or like beasts a lot more than white players do. You can find exceptions of course, but its very easy to see the trend once you start looking for it.

15 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

It's not about individual cases though, its about the press and pundits using tired racial stereotypes towards black players far more often than white players. It's not that a black player can't be lazy, but black players get labelled as lazy, or unintelligent, or like beasts a lot more than white players do. You can find exceptions of course, but its very easy to see the trend once you start looking for it.

Hmmmm, I'm not so sure. I'll agree, there will be instances of that but too many people have got a chip on their shoulder and regrettably, some folk in these PC times seem to make it their duty to be offended by everything. 

1 hour ago, RMCM said:

There's a substantial difference between freedom of speech and abusing people (racially or not). I for one am perfectly happy to live in a society where people aren't free to verbally abuse others

If I got a pound each time someone compemtely misunderstood the concept og freedom of speech, Id be a rich man. How hard of a concept is it to understand? 

I'm slightly dubious about the whole situation, as surely if someone was screaming racial abuse, it would have at the very least drawn some funny looks from the people around them, especially since some of those people around the area were also black.

2 hours ago, Munkworth said:

People here also have the right to go to work and not be abused which seems to be forgotten when it comes to footballers. 

Please don't sterilise the game completely, their is illegal abuse in the shape of hate crime as you say, but their is also the panto style banter, without hearing the exact words it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two. 

In this case it does look more venomous, and i won't be surprised if it turns out they were saying whats been purported. With all the publicity they are getting, a life ban is the least of their worries, and rightly so.....if guilty. 

If not guilty of anything other than overzealous banter, then we could be ruining the lives of innocent people. Makes you sort of hope they are guilty because i would hate to see innocent people have their lives destroyed.

3 minutes ago, Xfaxtor said:

If I got a pound each time someone compemtely misunderstood the concept og freedom of speech, Id be a rich man. How hard of a concept is it to understand? 

Its ridiculous isnt it, its surely a simple thing to understand. Ho can anyone believe the freedom of speech exempts you from being respectful or having boundaries. 

Just now, Zeta said:

I'm slightly dubious about the whole situation, as surely if someone was screaming racial abuse, it would have at the very least drawn some funny looks from the people around them, especially since some of those people around the area were also black.

I had this thought originally, but soundings are I was wrong. 

What is irritating is this perception that Chelsea fans are all like this. I have only ever heard one comment like that in 20 years of going to matches (although have heard more than enough anti semitic stuff for my liking). When I heard someone be offensive against (in this case, some black PSG fans) it stuck out like a sore thumb. There was a real awkward air. 

Also, people need to be careful not to paint Chelsea fans in a 'racist' light. That only fuels it and creates a tribalism. Its a society problem, not a Chelsea fan one. 

Hopefully the next time Citeh come, we give Sterling a good ovation at the Bridge. That would be a great response from the fans and it would also - selfishly -probably put him off his game a bit!

31 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Hmmmm, I'm not so sure. I'll agree, there will be instances of that but too many people have got a chip on their shoulder and regrettably, some folk in these PC times seem to make it their duty to be offended by everything. 

I agree, theres a push by certain individuals with agendas to head towards positive discrimination at times, you only have to look at the Serena Williams thing a few months ago where some people were arguing her case based entirely on her skin colour or sex and not the actual incident.