FOOTBALLTHE BEAUTIFUL GAME? The National Front were active in the late ‘70’s, FOOTBALL AND RACISM. leafleting outside football grounds in London, notably Chelsea, Millwall, Arsenal and West Ham. Indeed at West Ham, the clubs memora• The disease that threatens the game of football bilia, unofficial of course, was adorned with ‘NF’ has reared its ugly head again in the last few slogans and motifs. There were racist ‘fanzi• months • racism. nes’ being produced back then, exalting the use of racism. There were also fanzines pro• When played Spain in Novemberduced specifically against the use of racism 2004, Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright•Phillipsalthough these were few and far between. were subjected to monkey chants from sec• tions of the crowd at the Bernabeu. In the 1980’s, the National Front was using England trips abroad to recruit members. Nazi There were people who said that the England salutes, slogans and fascist symbols were used team should have walked off the pitch. Others at England games: France and South America in said that to stay on and carry on playing was 1984; West Germany in 1987 &1988; and the best thing to do to beat the racist insects on Sweden, Poland and Albania in 1989. In 1984, the field of play. Whatever the England team England beat Brazil 2•0 in the Maracana. John did, or didn’t do, this whole incident has re•Barnes scored the second goal. The next day, opened a mass debate. flying down to Uruguay for the next game, members of the National Front were on the Racism can be traced back to the 1930’s! The same plane as the England team and they legend that was Dixie Dean was dark•skinned. would just not accept that had He played for Everton and was leaving the pitch scored a goal. They were adamant England in one game in London when racist comments had won 1•0. What insects! were aimed at him. He went over to the person who had made the comments and punched Famously, a certain Ken Bates, the then Chel• him in the face! A police officer that was sea chairman, desperately tried to get electric standing nearby allegedly went over to the fan fences introduced at football matches around and said he deserved the punishment he re• Britain to stop hooliganism, which a lot of the ceived! time stemmed from racism. The British Gov• ernment thankfully, rejected this idea. Imagine In the 1970’s, West Bromwich Albion fielded a what the death toll at Hillsborough would have trio of very talented black players, namely Cy• been had electric fences been in place… rille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendan Batson. Although these players were well re• English players who signed for Italian, Spanish ceived by locals, many other clubs did not take and many other European clubs soon came to them very well at all. It was very common for back to British soil. , who signed for bananas and peanuts to be thrown at blackInter Milan, cited racial abuse as the reason he players, also monkey chants, sometimes ac•returned to England after such a short spell companied by monkey type gestures as if to with the club. Dalian Atkinson spent just one say, “there’s a monkey on the pitch.” season with Spanish side, Real Sociedad be• fore leaving. This sort of behaviour from fans isn’t just directed at English players either. Israeli international, , Dutch players Ruud Gullit and Aaron Winters have been victims as well. Currently, far•right groups are ominously infiltrating hooliganism in Eastern European countries, which is leading to more and more racist violence.

The ‘Lets Kick Racism Out Of Football’ campaign was established in 1993. The aims of the campaign are pretty self•explanatory, to rid football of racism, once and for all. To show support for this campaign, professional players such as Thierry Henry, and all wear the black and white wristbands. These wristbands aren’t just aimed at professionals though. I wear one myself. I wear it to show people that I am completely against racism, whether it be in football or in everyday life. I will not tolerate it in my presence, nor should anyone else.

Many British clubs are openly against racism. Fulham, Leicester City, MK Dons, non•league Telford United, Manchester United and Leeds United to name but a few. The IFA held a Northern Ireland Football Against Racism training day in Belfast in December 2004 to try and address the issue of racism. Many football associations across the globe are active in their quest to rid football of racism. Recently, Luther Blisset, the former Watford, AC Milan and England forward, went to the press saying that he believes the racism problem has reached the managerial level. He’s tried hard to get into management, to no avail, and blames racism on the part of the directors and chairmen as the reason he still hasn’t found a position. If a man as well known as Luther Blisset cannot get a job as a manager then I think he’s right about the racism issue.

So what about here at the Cross? Are we whiter than white? In fairness we have come along way since the days when Jason Sherlock was greeted with mocking red Indian howls. Or Sligo goalie Nicky Brujos was welcomed by the Shed with “Where’s your f*cking passport?” But have we totally eradicated the problem? I’m not sure that we have. So what can you or I do about it? Well for a start we can buy and wear a wristband. If you hear anybody making racist comments at the Cross, report it to a steward. If you hear racist comments in the street report it to a Garda. Let’s stamp it out together! (PROFESSOR YAFFLE) ______Travelling to Away games?

Just a quick reminder from Ian Sheehan that he will be running buses to all City away games this season. Ian has been running buses to away games for several seasons. To book or for further information call or text Ian on 087 1373446