ks.234
Half way to Infinity
And your point is…..?Right, during the Blair years hooliganism miraculously took a break. Not one incident.
And your point is…..?Right, during the Blair years hooliganism miraculously took a break. Not one incident.
Right, during the Blair years hooliganism miraculously took a break. Not one incident.
Did Blair encourage racism then?
Strong question. I’d point out that my recollection of dealing with football incidents/hooligans didn’t differ too much under a Labour government.
Policing isn’t apolitical. It’s wasn’t apolitical under a Labour government, either, from my perspective.
Hooliganism went hand in hand with racism. At the same time as the violence was the throwing of bananas and verbal abuse of black players. Great strides were made against hooliganism and against the open expression of racism.Which is a neat deflection. The main point here is that when faced with a group of players representing the country and repeatedly explaining their symbol of unity against racial injustice, this government's finest preferred to side with those booing them. Hooliganism may always have been with us, but ministers supporting racists over their own team certainly has not been.
I agree with almost everything you say, but many hooligan “firms” associated with league clubs back in the day were multi-racial, certainly those from more ethnically diverse cities and towns.Hooliganism went hand in hand with racism. At the same time as the violence was the throwing of bananas and verbal abuse of black players. Great strides were made against hooliganism and against the open expression of racism.
All of that was done when this government decided not to side with footballers making an anti racist gesture and instead sided with those who chose to boo the anti racist gesture. Anyone who boos an anti racist gesture, has to be anti anti-racism, or to put it more simply, has to be racist.
This government choose to set themselves against the anti racists and to provide shelter and ready made excuses for the the racists.
They blew to dog whistle of racism and the dogs started barking. Hooliganism and racism in football has come back into the open.
This government has set back anti racism by several decades