Black Footballers Association

[jimbob.someroo]

Firstly, let me state that I am a very liberal white male. I'm in my 20's and have plenty of friends from all social and ethnic backgrounds. I am a big believer in racial equality and like many others have been disappointed by the racism in football as of late.

It was announced today that there are plans in place (currently being discussed) for a Black Footballer's Association and I'm having difficulty understanding why - I was hoping somebody else can make me see a different point of view.

In my eyes, all footballer's in the UK should be looked after by the FA and the PFA. Although many believe these associations have let black players down in the last couple of years, I don't believe creating another organisational body is the answer. An organisation which solely 'protects the rights' of black players is never going to be a fair and unbiased one. Furthermore, I think it could create more confusion between all involved - a case of too many cooks, so to speak.

I think that the PFA and the FA need to do more to eradicate racism from the game, but I think it's something which will come over time. The game is lot better off now than 30 years ago (in terms of racism), despite there still being apparent, and in some cases accepted racism in the country as a whole - heck 5% of Londoner's voted BNP in the last mayoral election. At the end of the day, a lot of these players are kid's from poorer backgrounds, brought up with some elements of 'right-wingedness' in the home.

I'm aware many will have stopped reading by now (apologies!) but wanted to hear the other side of the coin on whether or not there should be a separate entity created solely to look after the interests of Black players.

 

[Jon321]

Ferdinand has already tweeted saying don't believe what you read so I think this is just something the papers have made up to stir things up again.

 

[stevie_r]

Racism in football exists for one simple reason only, namely that racism exists in society. Racism is unfortunately experienced in all walks of life, across all occupations and social strata. The problem needs dealing with across society as a whole not just football. To my mind, a black football players association would achieve nothing and could potentially lead to more problems.

 

[road2ruin]

Having been listening to R5 all day this appears to be true although if so it's just going to cause problems and probably create a far bigger 'them & us' situation. If you allow this to happen you're just going to get people asking about why there can't be a 'White Footballers Association' and so it continues.

The FA really do walk from one PR disaster to another however they are the body (along with the PFA) who should ultimately responsible for all footballers regardless of colour and we cannot have other parties being created, nothing will ever get done!

 

[Essex_Stu]

Could you imagine the fallout if players started up a white footballers association? This is disgusting and is making racism worse by trying to put themselves into a victim role. All players should be equal despite their race,creed or colour and there should be no need for minority groups like this.

 

[walshawwhippet]

In a word no.
The Uk is probably the most liberal and cosmopolitan society in Europe, if not the world. Indeed we are the epitamy of a mongral nation. Do we have a few problems ? Yes of course we do. But in comparison to the rest of Europe, well need i go on?
I don't agree with any of these sattalite organisations be they sexuality based, religious or ethnic.
Positive discrimination by definition is still discrimination.

 

[drawboy]

White footballers association......you are having a laugh surely. One thing is for certain while ever racism exists and it always will, white associations for anything will not be allowed full stop. Black associations will continue to have government guilt money poured into them. This is not a racist reply, it is factual but ultimately factual always is perceived as racist.

 

[bladeplayer]

Personaly i think what the players involved are trying to do is highlight the non action of the football assocations , UEAFA , & FIFA etc .. They are the ones promoting all this equality stuff but still they wont throw the book @ the likes of Serbia & other mainly old eastern block countries who blatantly dont care about it ..

Personaly if i was a black player i wouldnt be wearing these token t shirts either , they all did at the start but after no action from the powers that be , they realise its a joke .. as is the respect & shaking hands thingy.. tokenism ..

Action against the offenders is all that is required to push twords stamping all this stuff out ..

 

[cookelad]

There are so many thing I want to say regarding this as it's just wrong! Racism isn't just white people discriminating against black people - Racism occurs both ways!

 

[jimbob.someroo]

Personaly i think what the players involved are trying to do is highlight the non action of the football assocations , UEAFA , & FIFA etc .. They are the ones promoting all this equality stuff but still they wont throw the book @ the likes of Serbia & other mainly old eastern block countries who blatantly dont care about it ..

Personaly if i was a black player i wouldnt be wearing these token t shirts either , they all did at the start but after no action from the powers that be , they realise its a joke .. as is the respect & shaking hands thingy.. tokenism ..

Action against the offenders is all that is required to push twords stamping all this stuff out ..

Agreed.

However, it looks as though (and I may be wrong) that this is going to be just a UK organisation which I think is sort of missing the point on their behalf. I could understand if there was a Europe wide group (made of of players from ALL backgrounds) which was trying to raise awareness in some of the more Eastern European countries, but creating an angry UK group because of two main incidents over the past two years seems a bit knee-jerk. When you consider how many games of FA football are played each week, statistically I think the UK has done pretty well over the last few years to have less than a handful of incidents.

 

[Foxholer]

I'm all for it.

Provided John Terry is made its first President.

 

[6inchcup]

for years we had the multi national country rammed down our throats,we were told we should all integrate and live as one country having the same rules and laws,so can someone tell me why,black and asian people,gays lesbians and the likes are hell bent on having their own laws that differentiate from the rest of society,a christian woman says she doesn't allow two gays to share a bed in her business,outcry,court cases people angry take to the streets!!!! when was the last time we had a court case for some one calling anyone WHITEY,all racism is apporant but when we have each fraction of society seemingly hating another group then it is inevitable we will have bad feelings about those we think get a better deal than we do.

 

[FairwayDodger]

I think it's a fantastic idea and long overdue. In fact, I'm genuinely surprised it doesn't already exist. Hopefully a more coordinated and forthright response from the players most affected by racism will force the authorities to take it more seriously.

Some truly outrageous contributions on this thread from people who clearly have no concept of what it's like to suffer from prejudice and discrimination.

 

[MegaSteve]

Plays right into the hands of the BNP and other similiar groups...

Perfect recruiting platform for them...

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Don't think a black PGA is required. But black players should get their act together and ALL go on strike for one weekend. Would their clubs fine them or drop them - even if it was lawful to do so clubs just wouldn't do it. Would supporters criticise the players? Well if they did then that would tell us quite a bit about the general understanding of racism and need to stamp it out among the general football supporting public.

 

[Paul_Stewart]

We have just been discussing this on an American sports platform I am involved in. It's when Ian Wright starts putting his four brain cells to use to comment on it that you need to take the opposite view!

In terms of racism and equality in sports, a few years ago in the States, some liberal do-gooder started going on about there not being enough black quarterbacks in the NFL. I pointed out to him that all 28 teams at that time had black starting middle linebackers and would he be protesting about not enough white players getting their chance there? Not a peep of a reply to that.

 

[smange]

Cant say I blame them to be honest....

The FA should have acted immediately on the John Terry case and he should have been suspended from all football pending investigation, just as you or me would have had we been accused of this in our place of employment.

But instead the FA allowed him to represent his club and country during the whole scandal!! And now after the disgraceful events in Serbia the FA (quite rightly so) are demanding action be taken against Serbia for racial abuse!!

Absolute hypocrites if you ask me.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Cant say I blame them to be honest....

The FA should have acted immediately on the John Terry case and he should have been suspended from all football pending investigation, just as you or me would have had we been accused of this in our place of employment.

But instead the FA allowed him to represent his club and country during the whole scandal!! And now after the disgraceful events in Serbia the FA (quite rightly so) are demanding action be taken against Serbia for racial abuse!!

Absolute hypocrites if you ask me.

The FA have never been a bastion of consistent, fair-minded and even handed responses,sadly.

 

[MegaSteve]

Before laying all of the blame with the administration of the game... The players of all shades need to take a long hard look at their own conduct... Basically learn to keep their traps shut...

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

...on and off the field unless they have something that can be said in more than 147 characters and that they have thought about for more than the 10 seconds it took them to say it.