European Soccer
Stingray
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in Sports Talk
Did anyone see that special on the state of European soccer and the way they treat the black players. Was very appauling. Could not believe they allow people to come into the stands with Nazi flags.
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These groups ( Im thinking the Nazi and other hate groups in particular ) take advantage of the poor working class people that attend these games. They look at it as a great recruiting base for their hate, knowing alot of the younger, poorer fans will be more susceptable to joining up with them. Alot of the general hate going around in Europe is bad.
There is such an influx of refugees and immigrants coming into Europe from Africa and other places that people over there are having a hard time dealing with it. I guess they feel like jobs and their cultural identity is taking a hit. Either way it is obviously wrong.
-- Yogi Berra
funny that the euro's say american football is too violent, but i watch a game and fall asleep in my recliner.. while they watch games and go out stomping people half to death..
For years we have taken all manners of s**t from the Europeans because of our, shall we say, fragile race relations. The fact that soccer fans can't go to a game without getting off a racial blast comfirms what I've always suspected; namely, that the Euros are as bad as we are when it comes to racial harmony. But it hasn't been until recently that we've gotten a chance to see it first hand.
I've considered the Jackie Robinson analogy before, but in the final analysis I don't think I buy it. Frickin' Pele was black, and he was playing soccer on the global stage forty years ago. When Jackie Robinson came up nobody had ever seen a man of color in a MLB uniform. The Euros can't say the same about soccer. Also, Jackie Robinson came from the very same race that white Americans had enslaved as recently as ninety years prior, and there was long history of racial discord in this country between blacks and whites. The Euros can't make that same claim. What, the whole of Lyon has felt menaced for fifty years by the nine black guys living there? Uh uh. The racial unrest on the other side of the Altantic lacks the sense of context that ours has-- which doesn't the jerk-asses who threw black cats on the field when Robinson came up to bat off the hook, but it does paint our respective sins in dissimilar lights.
<< <i>yes.. all hell will break loose.. the german thugs are going to be hunting down the british hooligans to bash their heads in and vice versa, etc... there will be bananas thrown on the field.. it will be a total disgrace.. still, i can't wait.. i love the world cup.. USA has come leaps and bounds in soccer and should not be taken lightly this time.. last i heard they were ranked #4 in the world.. unthinkable a few years ago.. i'd love to see us win the whole thing just to piss off the world..
funny that the euro's say american football is too violent, but i watch a game and fall asleep in my recliner.. while they watch games and go out stomping people half to death.. >>
Nobody who watches professional rugby should be calling out American football for being too violent. And you're 100% right-- we Americans can embarrass ourselves at sporting events, but not nearly to the degree that the Euro's do with their fruity little soccer matches. Twenty two years ago a couple guys set fire to a car here in Detroit after the Tigers won the WS, and people are STILL talking about it. But if the clips we see here are any indication a couple car fires are de rigeour over there after every 0-0 snoozefest between Man U and Liverpool.
I caught something else about soccer a while ago, which involved fans throwing human poop at each other in the stands. So that's nice. Nothing like a little dung-in-the-bag to foster a sense of harmony and brotherhood between men. I'll probably tune in to a bit of the World Cup, but only in hopes of seeing some illiterate Englishman ripped to the t*ts on Bass Ale beating on a Paraguay fan's kidneys with a big stick during halftime.
<< <i>I've considered the Jackie Robinson analogy before, but in the final analysis I don't think I buy it. Frickin' Pele was black, and he was playing soccer on the global stage forty years ago. When Jackie Robinson came up nobody had ever seen a man of color in a MLB uniform. The Euros can't say the same about soccer. >>
I didn't see the TV feature, but I'm not sure I understand the parallel you are making. The circumstances between Pele and Robinson were entirely different. Pele never played as the lone black man on an all-white team in a predominantly white nation like Robinson. He never played for a European club team. The only times he played in Europe were as a member of the predominantly black Brazil national team, so he was never in a position to be singled out like Robinson was.
All Paraguayan kidneys remained intact at today's match.
<< <i>
<< <i>I've considered the Jackie Robinson analogy before, but in the final analysis I don't think I buy it. Frickin' Pele was black, and he was playing soccer on the global stage forty years ago. When Jackie Robinson came up nobody had ever seen a man of color in a MLB uniform. The Euros can't say the same about soccer. >>
I didn't see the TV feature, but I'm not sure I understand the parallel you are making. The circumstances between Pele and Robinson were entirely different. Pele never played as the lone black man on an all-white team in a predominantly white nation like Robinson. He never played for a European club team. The only times he played in Europe were as a member of the predominantly black Brazil national team, so he was never in a position to be singled out like Robinson was. >>
True, but Pele did play in (and dominated) the World Cup, and had played against Europe's elite players in international competition. But my larger point is that the Euro's aren't tossing racial slurs at the opposing players because 'they're not used to seeing black guys playing soccer'. It's not a question of a lack of familiarity, it's just good old fashioned mean spirited racism.
Bummer about the kidneys. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Hopefully it's a clean game and all the poop stays in the toilets.
<< <i>True, but Pele did play in (and dominated) the World Cup, and had played against Europe's elite players in international competition. But my larger point is that the Euro's aren't tossing racial slurs at the opposing players because 'they're not used to seeing black guys playing soccer'. It's not a question of a lack of familiarity, it's just good old fashioned mean spirited racism. >>
Was it lack of familiarity that was responsible for what Robinson went through? It's not like he was the first black guy to put on a baseball uniform. The negro leagues had been around for years. Robinson was a target not because he was a black baseball player, but because he was a black baseball player on an all-white team in an all white league.
<< <i>
<< <i>True, but Pele did play in (and dominated) the World Cup, and had played against Europe's elite players in international competition. But my larger point is that the Euro's aren't tossing racial slurs at the opposing players because 'they're not used to seeing black guys playing soccer'. It's not a question of a lack of familiarity, it's just good old fashioned mean spirited racism. >>
Was it lack of familiarity that was responsible for what Robinson went through? It's not like he was the first black guy to put on a baseball uniform. The negro leagues had been around for years. Robinson was a target not because he was a black baseball player, but because he was a black baseball player on an all-white team in an all white league. >>
Familiarity is a relative term. People weren't familiar with blacks in MLB uniforms, although they were familiar with blacks in baseball uniforms.
What are we arguing here? I just want to know so I don't get redundant. To reiterate, my point is that I believe there have been blacks playing in European soccer leagues for quite some time, so the shock value of seeing a black guy playing for the opposition does not expain these racially charged reactions.