LOSE-UP John Barnes

MARXISM TODAY FEBRUARY 1988 LOSE-UP John Barnes For most people, Munich the field as well as off, he has 1958 is not of any major sig- presented few problems to nificance. But for one type of the club. An initial back- Liverpool fan it is commemo- woods unease among the rated in paint oh multiple fans about a black player on city walls. Drearily accom- the team has given way to panied by the NF logo, it wit- unbridled admiration. The nesses the night that Man- Jamaican-born son of an ex- chester United's multi- military diplomat, Barnes is fatality plane crash took the embodiment of modern place. For the inmates of the professional soccer's corpo- mad macho world of terrace rate identity. He is quiet and tribalism, this type of venom studious. To relax, he goes to is not reserved for the Manes sleep. There are no court along the A580. Now a new appearances for George slogan has made its debut on Best-style outbursts in night- the walls of the town's clubs, no overturned cars, toilets: 'Niggerpool'. none of the bag and baggage It would be bad enough if of the womanising braggado- neanderthal attitudes to race cio that accompanies football were solely the province of heroism. the beery banana-throwing Yet his very quiescence is thugs who represent away not without its problems. He clubs. Liverpool Football is emphatically silent on the Club (LFC) has been accused issue of racial taunting from of its own institutional rac- the crowds. Anti-racists may ism with a strong prima facie seethe on the terraces, but case to answer: the city has Barnes' own silence is almost the nation's most developed as annoying. To some it con- amateur league network veys a lack of principle. which is well representative Observers say this characte- of its 8% black population. rises other aspects of his life, Yet it has taken John Barnes including his playing career. to come from Watford before He is well removed from a black player can become the play-for-Liverpool or-die established in the first team. tradition of LFC stars. He Established is perhaps the made no secret of his dis- Barnes: Defying the racists wrong word. From a patchy appointment at not going to performer in the South to an play for Juventus and still ground. A recent visit by makes him a slippery figure unrivalled Kop crowd- locates Italy as the source of Newcastle fans produced the to hate. appeal, Liverpool has his ambition. He has been now Pavlovian 'oo-oo-oo' For all his silence on the brought out the genius that called the 'filofax footballer'. when Barnes took a corner. race issue, his impact at LFC has made Barnes a local hero He goes to work, he retires to Kemlyn Road erupted in pro- has challenged the appoint- and one of England's most his suite at the Moat House test. There is evidence that ments policy of neighbour- exciting internationals. Hotel (nee Holiday Inn), the police take a strong, not ing Everton's lily-white line- Maybe his mind has been where he nightly crosses the to say bruising, line with up. Perhaps under the influ- concentrated by the fact that official T&G picket line. In a observed banana-shiers. ence of left-leaning mil- a £900,000 transfer fee alone city where class can out- How far this conveys a lionaire philanthropist John guarantees nothing at Liver- weigh race in the loyalty change from life-long in- 'Mr Littlewoods' Moores, pool, but the competition for league, this has produced grained racist attitudes is Everton have made over- a first-team place has turned mutters of disaffection far hard to say but cynics put tures to black players - the Barnes into the heart and from the jeering yahoos of these responses down to the most notable, Mark Walters, soul of 'The Machine'. Saturday afternoon. 'he may be a black bastard going to Glasgow Rangers. Barnes lapel badges sell out But for Barnes, the policy is but he's our black bastard' This is not without its own the day they arrive at the to turn the other cheek. He mentality. irony, given the sorry history LFC souvenir shop. may not respond to the This is not to say that any of of Rangers' own 'Protestants Barnes was perhaps the crowd's taunts, he does not the fans would wish Barnes only' appointments. It is not ideal transfer for Liverpool's respond to the kicks and trips away. Comparisons are made clear whether Walters is a management. When Ian Rush on the field either. His back- with the best of world foot- Protestant but it is good to left for Italy, the Liverpool ground might be military but ball, and Pele's name crops see the absurdities of soccer Echo's 'Arriverderci Rushy' he is not aggressive. Perhaps up in casual conversations tribalism being broken campaign concealed genuine his silence is the most elo- with supporters. His pre- down, if only in patches and doubts about his replaceabil- quent response to the monk- sence undoubtedly produces by degrees. Sometimes a ity among the fans and club ey-chanting mob who take up coldness in the heart of the point is all that you can officialdom. This is the gap a large but increasingly iso- opposition, yet his whole- score. that Barnes stepped into. On lated section of Anfield's someness on and off the field Chris Jones 48 MARXISM TODAY FEBRUARY 1988.

Load more