Kevin Prince Boateng & Milan walk off pitch after abuse

[Guest San Don]

Kicked the ball into the crowd at an Italian friendly against a lower league team then walks off. Rest of the Milan team followed him.

 

I see that powar didnt take long to jump on the bandwagon either.

 

 

Video: AC Milan's Kevin-Prince Boateng leads team off pitch in protest at racist chanting in friendly match with Pro Patria - Telegraph

[moof]

Good on him

[xerxes]

Have you actually watched this San Don?

[kalasoma]

It's too bad he didn't take one of those idiots out with the ball. That would have been fantastic.

[bonesman]

Kicked the ball into the crowd at an Italian friendly against a lower league team then walks off. Rest of the Milan team followed him.

 

I see that powar didnt take long to jump on the bandwagon either.

 

 

Video: AC Milan's Kevin-Prince Boateng leads team off pitch in protest at racist chanting in friendly match with Pro Patria - Telegraph

 

What you mean Piara Powar, executive director of Football Against Racism in Europe ? strange he would want to "jump on the bandwagon" isnt it ..

[A_S]

He should have kicked the ball at Powar (were it physically possible), the fucking selective agenda picking, hypocritical twat.

[Johnny Cougar]

I don't know the whys and wherefores and the agenda behind it, but on the face of it, good on them.

This is 2013 and discrimination on the basis of race is a cowardly shithouse thing. That scruffy little fucking jakey Platini needs to start taking this seriously and banning any nation found guilty of it for longer than their fucking shithouse, no mark nation has been in existence.

It is wrong. No discussion. No arguments. No fuck all. Discrimination on the grounds of race, gender or sexuality is wrong.

Players SHOULD walk off, be supported for doing so and the offending Nations FA banned for a lengthy period.

Free fucking speech my arse. These fuckers still live in the 19th century.

[kalasoma]

Platini will probably call for a ban and a fine of 100K on Boateng for stopping the game and kicking the ball at the racists in the crowd.

[TheHowieLama]

Have you actually watched this San Don?

 

I did, what are you suggesting?

[ZonkoVille77]

According to Samuel it was suarez that started it.

[JohnnyH]

This can't and shouldn't happen in every game there is racist chanting as then fans would use it to their own gain, but it’s good it happened this time. Some kind of stand needs to be taken and this publicises the whole thing very well.

 

But where does it stop? Should it only happen if a black player is abused? Should Yossi Benayoun walk off when fans hiss at him? Should a Spanish or Italian player walk off if called a Dago or Spick? Should an Irish player walk off if called a Fenian murderer? Abuse of people is extremely hard to legislate and even harder to act on. I’m not sure where this whole thing will go. Fan self-policing seems to be the only real way it’ll ever be stopped.

 

With UEFA appealing the Serbian FAs fine as too lenient, I’d say they are shitting it now given that appeal will be under significantly more scrutiny now.

[stringvest]

It's relatively easy to clamp down on in a ground like Anfield, and most other grounds in the PL. CCTV, Stewards, a high proportion of season ticket holders and credit card payment for tickets mean that it shouldn't be beyond the wit of the club to identify and ban the perpetrators.

[Guest San Don]

This can't and shouldn't happen in every game there is racist chanting as then fans would use it to their own gain, but it’s good it happened this time. Some kind of stand needs to be taken and this publicises the whole thing very well.

 

But where does it stop? Should it only happen if a black player is abused? Should Yossi Benayoun walk off when fans hiss at him? Should a Spanish or Italian player walk off if called a Dago or Spick? Should an Irish player walk off if called a Fenian murderer? Abuse of people is extremely hard to legislate and even harder to act on. I’m not sure where this whole thing will go. Fan self-policing seems to be the only real way it’ll ever be stopped.

 

With UEFA appealing the Serbian FAs fine as too lenient, I’d say they are shitting it now given that appeal will be under significantly more scrutiny now.

 

You open an interesting question here regarding other forms of abuse towards say, Jewish, spanish and italian etc players. Clearly, abuse directed towards a jewish player is based on religious intollerance whereas spanish or italian is nationality.

 

While one person is chanting abuse is one person too many, their voices are seldom heard above the crowd. Likely exception is the anti semetic chanting directed at spurs players for years. A rather obnoxious song used to be sung at spurs when we played them by a small minority of 'supporters' and thankfully that has stopped to my knowledge.

 

The spotlight is firmly on racial abuse and it would be wrong to argue that racial abuse is any different to religious or nationality(?) abuse. In the current climate, racial abuse is in the spotlight although the spurs situation has been highlighted of late too.

[Gym Beglin]

Seedorf criticising him for walking off.

 

 

Makes me think as well, with Ferguson so vocal on it and being such a model of integrity for the issue...if United were 3-0 against Liverpool and Ferdinand was being racially abused and wanted to walk off, and several of his team mates wanted to join him, would Ferguson allow it?

[Guest San Don]

Seedorf criticising him for walking off.

 

Yes and seedorf's seems to be the lone voice against it.

 

 

Makes me think as well, with Ferguson so vocal on it and being such a model of integrity for the issue...if United were 3-0 against Liverpool and Ferdinand was being racially abused and wanted to walk off, and several of his team mates wanted to join him, would Ferguson allow it?

 

What? Liverpool fans en masse racially abuse a black manc player? Yes, there are untold hyperthetical scenarios that we couldnt contemplate the end reality to, I suppose.

[TheHowieLama]

hyperthetical

 

My new favorite word.

[Kevin D]

Good for him, really.

[Iceman]

Should have just hosed the fuckers down end of. Cant sing racist bollocks when your gob is full of 40mph water.

[BillyBob]

People have been calling for this to happen, i.e. a player to walk off the pitch if he is being racially abused.

 

As someone else has pointed out, does racial abuse trump all other forms of abuse? If a player is getting homophobic abuse, xenophobic abuse etc etc is it okay for them to walk off?

 

What is to stop a player whose team is 3 nil down to suggest he was being racially abused and then walk off?

 

I am in no way condoning racial abuse, but to support a player walking off the pitch is imo wrong! It causes more problems and opens up a can of worms that could lead to any similar situation being manipulated, or even imagined in order to gain an advantage!

 

Racism is a social/cultural problem and this has seeped into football, until the social/cultural outlook is changed then it will always be a problem due to there being sections of society that have racist views.

[Saintslfc13]

You open an interesting question here regarding other forms of abuse towards say, Jewish, spanish and italian etc players. Clearly, abuse directed towards a jewish player is based on religious intollerance whereas spanish or italian is nationality.

 

While one person is chanting abuse is one person too many, their voices are seldom heard above the crowd. Likely exception is the anti semetic chanting directed at spurs players for years. A rather obnoxious song used to be sung at spurs when we played them by a small minority of 'supporters' and thankfully that has stopped to my knowledge.

 

The spotlight is firmly on racial abuse and it would be wrong to argue that racial abuse is any different to religious or nationality(?) abuse. In the current climate, racial abuse is in the spotlight although the spurs situation has been highlighted of late too.

 

With Jewish people the line gets blended it seems as being Jewish seems to be both a race and a religion at times to some people. I've always thought of Judaism as a religion but there are loads who identify being Jewish as their race.

 

The way I see it is, all abuse based on a non-choice (a "result of birth" if you will) is detestable, whether it be racial, xenophobic, or otherwise. Calling someone who's just had a photo of them pissed up at the club posted on the internet a drunk is less detestable (although depending on the person could be just as harmful). I think racial abuse gets the most press because it's the easiest to get a rise out of people with. More people identify with a certain race than with religion or even nationality I'd imagine and most people irregardless of whether they identify with the race being abused or not believe racism is completely abhorrent whereas taking the piss out of a Christian, Jew, Muslim, pagan etc. isn't.

 

That said, I fear walking off can be a double-edged sword. On one hand it shows that you won't put up with it and are taking a stand, but on the other it shows that the words are truly affecting you as a player and person which might only encourage those spouting abuse further.

[torahboy]

Clarke Carlisle said that those using racist comments should be told to "cease and desist". That should do it.

[BillyBob]

With Jewish people the line gets blended it seems as being Jewish seems to be both a race and a religion at times to some people. I've always thought of Judaism as a religion but there are loads who identify being Jewish as their race.

 

The way I see it is, all abuse based on a non-choice (a "result of birth" if you will) is detestable, whether it be racial, xenophobic, or otherwise. Calling someone who's just had a photo of them pissed up at the club posted on the internet a drunk is less detestable (although depending on the person could be just as harmful). I think racial abuse gets the most press because it's the easiest to get a rise out of people with. More people identify with a certain race than with religion or even nationality I'd imagine and most people irregardless of whether they identify with the race being abused or not believe racism is completely abhorrent whereas taking the piss out of a Christian, Jew, Muslim, pagan etc. isn't.

 

That said, I fear walking off can be a double-edged sword. On one hand it shows that you won't put up with it and are taking a stand, but on the other it shows that the words are truly affecting you as a player and person which might only encourage those spouting abuse further.

 

I agree with this, especially the last paragraph.

 

I really think that walking off is not the answer, as I said earlier, it opens up a huge can of worms and could enable fans and players to use racial abuse as a way to manipulate games!

 

I mean, if this type of action is endorsed then what is stopping players manipulating the situation?

 

The whole issue is bigger than football, the FA tried to tackle it but fucked it up with their guessing game and using the extremely low 'burden of proof' argument as a finite judgement!

 

The real problem is with society in general, i.e. an understanding of what is acceptable and what is not. The footballing authorities just added to the problem with their half-arsed judgements that ignored social and cultural differences.

[ElishaScottBC]

 

what a total legend