Racism
It exists and it's really going strong. But even knowing that I was hand on my heart shocked to read the following from the Examiner.
'CLAIMS that a young Nigerian footballer had to endure a torrent of racist abuse from spectators at an underage game in Carlow have prompted strong criticism from the state’s racism watchdog.
Teboga Sebala, who moved to Carlow town with his family six years ago, was allegedly subjected to racist comments as he played for the Éire Óg club in an U14 semi-final against O’Hanrahans last Monday night.
A complaint by the father of one of his teammates is set to be investigated by the county’s underage GAA board.
The claims have also prompted an angry response from the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI).
Adrian Tomlin and his wife were watching their son, Joe, play in goal for Éire Óg from the stand at Dr Cullen Park and he described how a group of young girls, encouraged by a group of adults nearby, shouted obscene and racial abuse at Teboga throughout the game.
“There were obscene racial comments like ‘kill the f***ing n***er’ and the like. It was ongoing throughout the match and Teboga was visibly upset,” said Mr Tomlin.
He said he pulled his wife away when she asked them to stop, because the group turned on her and she was in tears.
“I am beside myself, I am thinking of pulling my son from the sport,” he said, adding: “I come from the north of England where racial tension is a big problem and I bring up my children to be against this kind of behaviour.”
Teboga’s team manager Willie Quinlan said the player and his family did not want to talk about the matter, but revealed he had heard a lot of it on Monday night.
“When I asked him [Teboga] about it, he said ‘it’s just the usual, people are racist against my colour’. He knew where it was coming from but he doesn’t know who was saying it, he just said ‘it happens’.”
The manager should have pulled his team off the pitch if he could hear what was being said. Drive the bloody point home the hard way. You'll get fucking idiot and scumbags in all walks of life, but in this case you don't have to bloody pander to them. Any idiot who can verbally abuse a kid because of the colour of his skin is a filthy racist gobshite and their behaviour should not be condoned or tolerated.
'CLAIMS that a young Nigerian footballer had to endure a torrent of racist abuse from spectators at an underage game in Carlow have prompted strong criticism from the state’s racism watchdog.
Teboga Sebala, who moved to Carlow town with his family six years ago, was allegedly subjected to racist comments as he played for the Éire Óg club in an U14 semi-final against O’Hanrahans last Monday night.
A complaint by the father of one of his teammates is set to be investigated by the county’s underage GAA board.
The claims have also prompted an angry response from the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI).
Adrian Tomlin and his wife were watching their son, Joe, play in goal for Éire Óg from the stand at Dr Cullen Park and he described how a group of young girls, encouraged by a group of adults nearby, shouted obscene and racial abuse at Teboga throughout the game.
“There were obscene racial comments like ‘kill the f***ing n***er’ and the like. It was ongoing throughout the match and Teboga was visibly upset,” said Mr Tomlin.
He said he pulled his wife away when she asked them to stop, because the group turned on her and she was in tears.
“I am beside myself, I am thinking of pulling my son from the sport,” he said, adding: “I come from the north of England where racial tension is a big problem and I bring up my children to be against this kind of behaviour.”
Teboga’s team manager Willie Quinlan said the player and his family did not want to talk about the matter, but revealed he had heard a lot of it on Monday night.
“When I asked him [Teboga] about it, he said ‘it’s just the usual, people are racist against my colour’. He knew where it was coming from but he doesn’t know who was saying it, he just said ‘it happens’.”
The manager should have pulled his team off the pitch if he could hear what was being said. Drive the bloody point home the hard way. You'll get fucking idiot and scumbags in all walks of life, but in this case you don't have to bloody pander to them. Any idiot who can verbally abuse a kid because of the colour of his skin is a filthy racist gobshite and their behaviour should not be condoned or tolerated.
Labels: CColour is only on the outside being a fuckhead runs deep.
posted by fatmammycat at 10:19 a.m.
44 Comments:
i'm a 16 year old and this kind of disgusting behaviour makes me ashamed to be irish. One of my best friends is black and she puts up with this kind of bullshit all the time.
Referee should have banned them from the sidelines on pain of forfeiting the game to the side the kid was playing for.
The manager should have pulled his team off the pitch if he could hear what was being said. Drive the bloody point home the hard way.
No, do that and they win.
What he should have done was threaten to award the match to the Eire Og if O'Hanrahans could not control their fans.
This is disgusting. The parents should be leathered for it
Twenty makes a good point. The club is responsible for behaviour of fans on club property. The ref should've stepped in.
Fucking disgusting behaviour.
I'm with cate......beat them....hard
I don't understand it at all, what the fuck kind of mentality do you need to have to abuse a kid playing football. It is really really fucking disgusting. If I'd have been there I'd have had plenty to say to that crowd of shit heads. Standing by and not saying something is nearly as bloody bad.
racism in the GAA. how ... very ... unusual.
Lucky the boy wasn't of a different religion eh?
Do you remember the fella from monaghan or tyrone (one of those nordie feckers) anyway, he was a big man and used to get so much abuse for being protestant on a southern team that he just picked up and left.
The ref should have called off the match after getting someone on a speakerphone to announce that it has been cancelled because there are racist scumbags in the audience.
In Cork, they used to throw bananas at Seán Óg Ó'hAilpín.
They don't now.
You are joking.
Happens here - they throw bananas at black players and make monkey noises. It's such an inhuman and pathetic way to behave and shows a low level of intelligence. I think the only way to stop it is to have stewards on duty who can remove such people instantly and ban them permanently. No exceptions and no appeals. Total exclusion. Not difficult to circulate photo IDs of perpetrators around all the clubs. It would also provide a deterrant to other would be thugs too. Hit them where it hurts.
This is borne from ignorance as opposed to malice. Same thing happened in Scotland when the first black man came to play in an Old Firm Game. There is no excusing it, but it should have been dealt with at the time, the parents should be tracked down and the kids place in an intensive educational programme. The thing is, they would be up in arms if I called them bogtrotting mucksavages.
As an aside, would it be reasonable to halt a match if some knackers on the sidelines were shouting insults regarding someones weight/haircut/height etc?
'I'm not sure Get the fat lanky bloke with the crew cut is quite the same thing.
Probably not Sheepie, but insults about weight and height while being unpleasant isn't really the same as insulting someone on basis of race. Or at least I don't think it is.
I've gone to a couple of soccer matches and I don't need the smelling salts listening to the terrace shouts and chants, but something about this particular story really stoked my ire this morning. This is a kid, playing for his team, and these ignorant fuckers targeted him for no other reason other than his skin colour. They're trying to humilate him and make him feel inferior and I find it repugnant. I'd have kicked the arse off them if I'd been there, and taken whatever consequence came after.
King Bob, I think it should have been dealt with there and then too. If the match had of been stopped other spectators might have taken a dim view of their carry on.
Shebah, in barcelona the crowd used to do monkey chants at E'To whenever he got the ball too, horrible.
Sorry Twenty, we crossed, but yeah, not the same at all.
SPOUSE used to umpire baseball games. The second a fan or a parent of a player got out of hand, whether calling insults to the other team, or berating a player in any unseemly way, he would call the game and that team would forfeit. I think the officials at this soccer game should have issued a warning and then if it continued, called it and given the victory to the Nigerian kid's team. The fact that they did nothing is absolutely reprehensible.
I bet that put manners on them pretty quickly Andraste.
Jesus....that's just made me feel really sad. The poor little dude. Don't you just love it when Irish taxi drivers' start their vile little rants with 'now I'm not a racist, but...' Ignorant shits. Just because you're Irish they think it's completely acceptable. As an aside, I have an English mate (of Asian descent), and every time she gets into a taxi they practically take her to Wicklow, figuring she's a for-den-ger wo hasn't a clue of the place. She's lived here for years.
I would have done the same Miss Cat. The little shits. Twenty is right though they should have stopped the match and awarded his team the game The team we have is under 10’s and there is no hassle. I know there was some issue over a young lad on a slightly older team. I think they may have been about 12. Anyway it was one incident were they followed the little lad home pushing and shoving him calling him names because he was black. It was brought up at a board meeting, they were kicked off the team and other local clubs were made aware of it. They would be pretty standard practice. In general the kids are ok. Some of the parents are a bit mental but it is usually with their own kids. Well done to the father who brought it to the GAA’s attention. Aside from anything else it is really sad when the colour of a his skin outweighs the fact that he is a simply a child.
Nonny
No one should have to take that level of abuse.
Outrageous.
FMC & Twenty: You're right, it's not the same, but it's still discrimination. I was just thinking about where the line blurs and how starting a precedent of stopping games could snowball (not in THAT way).
I'm just thinking aloud here - obviously I'm disgusted by the actions of the knackers and apparent disinterest from the officials, teams and crowd.
Racism happens everywhere, always has, is it such a shock..really? What happened cannot be condoned, but it is out there and among a large percentage of the population.
The government and media don't really want to touch the subject. Carlow Town has a large African population, and the racism is there to be seen, among evryday ordinary people and contrary to popular belief racists are not all shaven headed beer bellied yobbos, you would be surprised.
i agree, FMC. silence when these things happen is almost as bad as doing it yourself. it's despicable and disgusting, and the fact the no one did anything is abominable.
as for where the line blurs - i think it's a common-sense judgment call, with certain offenses warranting a series of warnings, while others deserve permanent expulsion.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing"
I heard his Dad talking on Newstalk earlier and it seems this wouldn't be the first time the poor kid puts up with this sort of thing, although his Dad says he tries to tune it out as best he can. Fucked up. Imagine trying to explain to your young child why people are calling him names like that?
Name and shame these despicable little shites. Ban them for life from attending team games.
Ban the team from their next game. Force them to get a better class of supporter.
In cases like that, the game should be forfeited to the other side, like others have said.
Hold any and all officials who fail to take action to account.
Where were the fucking adults here? The two who were willing to speak up had to leave because of the abuse they got. What about the other adults there? They should be ashamed.
ah well, least it gave you all something to ponticicate about and a chance express some righteous indignation...I'm off for a skinny latte...
I love a good ponticicate, myself. But I think that anyone who thinks expressing disgust at a racist assault amounts to nothing more than "ponticicating" needs to excricate his* head from his overly puckered misguided arse.
I don't usually pick on misspellings - we all make thim (see?) - and though I'd like to think that this was a case of misspelling and assume "guy knows what he means, just made a mistake", you know, I really can't be sure of that. We already know he lacks a spine - posting as Anonymous for Christ's sake.
*Or her, but I can't be arsed writing out "or her" every time for someone called Anonymous.
Ach Sam, like I said to Docky yesterday, don't mind the monkeys. Don't feed them, don't even take any notice of them, if they had anything useful to add to the conversation they would, but since they don't they make 'pithy' comments instead.
I'm surprised actually that more people didn't say anything, but as the paramour pointed out people are easily cowed by aggression and as that man said when his wife did remonstrate they turned on her too. Clearly a pack of fucking halfwits and shite pipes, pick on a small boy and a woman. You can be sure if a big hard looking bloke had told the to shut their traps the 'meep' would have reverberated around the grounds as their mouths snapped shut. Cowards.
This is a horrible story, but I'm not surprised by it. It was always a question of 'Ireland's not racist, we don't have any niggers'. And the same people using the phrase really have no fucking clue what they're talking about.
I was on O Connell st one night, and a group of kids were standing next to a couple black adults and their beautiful four year old daughter who was a little bit apart from the group. One of hte guys looked at her, and started quietly abusing her - he hissed 'slave' at her and laughed maliciously, delighted with himself.
And I just thought, seriosuly, what the fuck do you even know about it? Where does this white, southern, post slavery brand of racism fit into modern Ireland?
Clueless assholes. But in a country where we've a racial history of fighting with people form the next town, it's no surprise that many are still threatened by people so removed from them as to have a different skin colour.
I don't understand anonymous's dig. I think it's of vital importance that people lend vocal support to refusing to tolerate racism - especially in the moment. My husband used to kick people out of the off licience he worked in for being racist or sexist - that's the sort of role modelling I see as effective and necessary.
Good for your husband.
You're dead right about the town wars, and even dislike of 'non- local' people, never mind skin colour. Where I'm from people can still be referred to as 'low-ins' despite the fact that they may have lived in the area for any number of years.
Slave, pfft, what a fucking tool.
heh, my hometown is the same, unless you're an inbred hillbilly you're just a blow in.
Racism is the flip-side of altruism with respect to your family. We hold our families to be something special and will defend and protect another member of our immediate family, almost more than we will defend and protect ourselves. Selfish gene theory would say that this is because a brother or sister has almost the same genes as you, so you are protecting your own genes by protecting your siblings. Conversely, in the struggle for survival, we try to outcompete individuals that do not have our genes (i.e. those from a different tribal group/family). This is why there is an inbuilt antipathy to 'johnny foreigner'. It is not a justification for it, just an explanation for why it is a worldwide phenomenon across our entire species. Also xenophobia in general is not skin-colour based. However, skin colour is a useful handle for the xenophobe in their desire to discriminate.
Racism seems more pronounced up here since the ceasefires, especially toward the asain and eastern european communities. Every other week there's a 'foreign' family burned out've their homes or put in hospital.
Sheepie, what's the excuse/justification? They're 'taking all the jobs' or is their even a reason given?
No reason FMC. None at all.
That is really disturbing. How can they terrify a family and destroy their homes for no reason. It's so cruel.
Well they've been doing it for years FMC, so it's no real surprise that the bigots found a new target.
Im not 100% sure of this either, but it seems Asians tend to settle in more loyalist areas (shankill rd, sandy row, donegall road) which puts them in direct contact with people who the rest of society try their best to stay away from. Thats just my theory tho.
People usually settle where there own folk are. IN Barcelona there was a whole Chinese area, and if you're ever strolling along Parnell Street it's an absolute hive of Asian store and restaurants, great food, vibrant atmosphere. It's such a shame to hear they're being threatened.
Must go to Parnell St when I'm next in Dublin. That sounds like a major improvement!
There is racism here in Britain, but over time even if people have those attitudes, they have learned that it is generally unacceptable to air them.
Ireland seems to have no such social 'brakes' which worries me. People seem to think being a racist arsehole is perfectly ok. The mind boggles.
Some people Dee Dee, not all, trust me on that.
Sorry, I know it's not everyone. My parents aren't racist, for example. I meant, a larger segment of society than over here.
They were just as bad here 25 years ago mind you, or so I'm told.
I haven't lived in Ireland since 1997, I go back home a few times a year but it's not for long.
Spot on with this write-up, I truly feel this site
needs a lot more attention. I'll probably be back again to see more, thanks for the information!
Feel free to visit my website: how much should i weigh for my height and age
Post a Comment
<< Home