Tom English: 'UEFA's vows on racism are about as hollow as its threats to Rangers'

[ian1964 10,720]

Published Date: 15 November 2009

THE MEN of UEFA live in a parallel universe, a place of privilege and certainty, a world where nobody questions anybody or anything and where everything they do is right and proper. They're the Stepford Blazers, their righteous path illuminated by the Nyon lights.

So you end up with a situation whereby Michel Platini announces a zero tolerance policy against racism, where he bangs a table and puts on an angry face and says he is drawing a line in the sand against the bigots and will bring down the Sword of Dam

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ocles on the animals who abuse players. And everybody stands and applauds. All those UEFA officials congratulate Platini and say pity those racists of European football when Michel gets his hands on them. Oh yes. In their world, Platini becomes a hardliner on racism simply because he says he is, even though he is not, even though there are countless examples of UEFA being woefully weak on the haranguing of black players in its competitions.

 

But that's our interpretation, not UEFA's. Parallel universe, folks. Before Platini assumed office in Switzerland, these were the type of things that went on. Real Madrid were fined ?9,700 (Ã?£8,700) for their fans' constant racist chants and Nazi salutes in a game against Bayer Leverkusen. Brugge were fined a little under Ã?£8,000 for abusing black players against Utrecht. The Slovakians were fined Ã?£27,000 ââ?¬â?? basically, a pound a racist -for constant monkey chants directed at England's Emile Heskey and Ashley Cole. "It wasn't just one section of the stadium, it was the whole stadium," said Heskey.

 

Those were the bad old days, of course. Since then, Platini was voted into the top job at UEFA on the back of a campaign of getting tough on the people who drag football into the gutter. The zero-tolerance policy has been introduced and here are the results.

 

In March last year, the fans of Zenit St Petersburg gorged themselves on a feast of bigotry when Marseille travelled to Russia for a UEFA Cup tie. Bananas were thrown onto the pitch at Marseille's black players and there was wholesale monkey chanting and all manner of foul behaviour. Zenit fans revelled in their policy of refusing to accept black players at their club. For their actions, they were fined ?36,000 (�£32,200). They went on to win a competition they should have been thrown out of had Platini been true to his hardline rhetoric.

 

That's one example of many of UEFA's supposed hardline attitude. There are many, many others. That's its zero tolerance in action. This is what Platini said: "Football must teach values to Europe ââ?¬â?? honesty, courage, fraternity, tolerance and peace. Football includes, integrates, and welcomes. It excludes no one, it discriminates against no one, it persecutes no one."

 

There are many black players around Europe who could challenge Platini on that assertion, but what's the point? He's convinced he is right. Everybody around him is convinced he is right. They all think that a ?36,000 fine is a proper punishment, a message to the bigots, a deterrent.

 

On Thursday, UEFA's control and disciplinary committee handed down an ?20,000 (Ã?£17,900) fine to Rangers for the behaviour of some of their fans in Bucharest. To many ââ?¬â?? including a lot of fretful Rangers fans ââ?¬â?? this was a major let-off for the club, a gentle slap on the wrist when some were half-expecting something more severe. This was Rangers' third time in the dock after all. And that's not counting the riots of Manchester in May 2008, a full-scale horror show that UEFA washed its hands of.

 

In UEFA's book, 18 grand is about right for what happened in Bucharest. No fans invaded the pitch, no players or officials were attacked, the match wasn't halted or abandoned. These are the things it looks out for more than anything else. It has been genuinely tough on teams who've messed with the "sanctity of the playing area". The pitch, says one UEFA official, is a "holy place". Clearly, the same attitude does not extend to the terraces, where you can chant what you like and throw what you like without having to face the full rigour of UEFA justice.

 

Celtic, for instance, got fined Ã?£25,000 when one of their fans ran on to the "holy place" and brushed his hand off the head of Dida in the AC Milan goal. Fair enough, they deserved a real sanction. But it's a strange kind of justice that sees that offence as more serious than what happened in Bucharest ââ?¬â?? even allowing for the mitigation of aggressive stewarding at the stadium in Romania.

 

UEFA's vows on racism ââ?¬â?? "we will abandon games and dock points and throw teams out of major championships," says Platini ââ?¬â?? are about as hollow as its threats to Rangers to come down heavy on them if they repeat offend. In Platini's world, UEFA believes that its words pack a punch, it believes that Rangers' fans will be cowed by the fine. It says that a ?20,000 fine for Rangers is a serious punishment. Zenit, after all, didn't get a whole lot more despite their hateful behaviour against Marseille. The point here, though, is that UEFA routinely sets the punishment bar so low for these offences that any comparison is rendered ridiculous.

 

The lack of morality within UEFA can be told through many different stories. Here's one. In 2006, a group of Middlesbrough fans, women and children included, were set upon in Rome ahead of a UEFA Cup match against Roma that same evening. Three were stabbed. The visiting fans were also attacked inside the stadium as the match was going on. A couple of years ago, Manchester United fans were targeted by Roma thugs. Earlier this year an Arsenal supporter was stabbed outside Roma's Stadio Olimpico.

 

Roma fans are notorious in Italy. They have a charge sheet in Serie A as long as your arm and they show little sign of learning their lesson. And yet when UEFA sits down to decide which club should host the 2009 Champions League final they gave the showpiece match to Roma. Some Sword of Damocles, eh?

 

Some say that Rangers got lucky last week. UEFA disagrees and in its delusion we know everything we need to know about its zero tolerance.

 

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Tom-English-39UEFA39s-vows-on.5825513.jp

[maineflyer 0]

Impossibly corrupt journalism.

 

He sets about establishing examples of racism in football and the punishments handed down for it. He then mentions punishments received by Rangers and impicitly condemns us as racist, when no accusations of racism were made against us.

 

They have to write an article for Sunday. They hate Rangers. They write an article and flange in Rangers wheher it's relevamt or not.

 

And still the club will not fight back against this. By the time someone at Ibrox grows a set, Rangers will be the pariahs of Europe, established in popular folklore along with Adolph Hitler and the bubonic plague.

[Tannochsidebear 2,405]

The only thing I can take out of that disgusting piece of shit, typical of English's rantings that would be more in place on messageboards than broadsheets, is the cold hard fact that UEFA have determined that the attack on Dida was far worse than the 3 minute scuffle in Bucharest, in financial terms.

 

A cold hard fact I will be reminding Timmy of in future.

[biggordy 0]

This is not sports journalism in any shape or form.

This is just another pathetic example of rewarding "hurtit feelings"

A glorification of the infestation of compensation culture which this clown wheels out occasionally when there's nothing else to write about. He just brings in football so he can call himself a "sports journalist". Is he a part-time lawyer perchance ?

 

It's UEFA's job to look after football in Europe, not to deal with society's problems. What are Clubs to do, frisk fans for evidence of being a troublemaker before to let them in ? Brain scans anyone ? If someone shouts out a "racial remark" at the Odeon, does the picturehouse face closure ? Don't think so !

 

This guy is all wind and pish and he, like queersy, is a poor excuse for a journalist.

He's like the useless guy at work who can't be paid off as he's been there the longest. Give him something to do out the road so he can't get in the way of the important stuff.

He probably had the idea for this piece when he was stuck in the crapper unable to move off due to having a dose of the shits.

This really annoys me but I try to put it into perspective and vent by ridiculing the twat, a la queersy.

BTW do you think they might be the same guy ?

[Whosthedado 1,679]

Looks like some of the journalists are still hurting from us not getting kicked out of Europe for out 2 minutes of madness in Bucharest:flipa: The club really do want to be clamping down on garbage like this

[mainstandbear 0]

Published Date: 15 November 2009

Celtic, for instance, got fined Ã?£25,000 when one of their fans ran on to the "holy place" and brushed his hand off the head of Dida in the AC Milan goal. Fair enough, they deserved a real sanction. But it's a strange kind of justice that sees that offence as more serious than what happened in Bucharest ââ?¬â?? even allowing for the mitigation of aggressive stewarding at the stadium in Romania.

 

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Tom-English-39UEFA39s-vows-on.5825513.jp

 

What's strange about it? It's hardly the first time a celtc supporter has ran on to the pitch....

 

'and brushed his hand off the head of Dida' lol....that's a belter, Tom...what was he doing then? offering an affectionate 'there there'

[chilledbear 16]

In the past the celtc minded called Scottish football, the officials, clubs etc. corrupt. They demanded foreign referees to officiate, because Rangers were [in their warped mind] favoured. Now because Uefa don't do what the celtc minded journalists are demanding, they have started calling Uefa corrupt.

[andy steel 0]

Well, call me a lily-livered, hand-wringing wishy-wshy PC type, but I'm not getting the same level of hatred that everyone else is. If he's having a go at anyone is seems to be Michel Platini, on the (to me) accurate grounds that he's a hypocrite.

 

And I would have to say, in all fairness, that fighting of any kind ought to be punished with a steeper fine that a manky tim running past the AC Milan keeper. I don't think either were particularly serious but could have become so, so I guess there is a need for something to be done.

 

But then, I haven't read SoS since they went all right wing Catholic some years ago: I'm not religious, and the weekly soundbites of whatever cardinal or bishop is in place interested me not a jot. So anyone who is exposed to that sort of agenda is probably a bit more sensitive to it than I am.

[maineflyer 0]

Well, call me a lily-livered, hand-wringing wishy-wshy PC type, but I'm not getting the same level of hatred that everyone else is. If he's having a go at anyone is seems to be Michel Platini, on the (to me) accurate grounds that he's a hypocrite.

 

And I would have to say, in all fairness, that fighting of any kind ought to be punished with a steeper fine that a manky tim running past the AC Milan keeper. I don't think either were particularly serious but could have become so, so I guess there is a need for something to be done.

 

But then, I haven't read SoS since they went all right wing Catholic some years ago: I'm not religious, and the weekly soundbites of whatever cardinal or bishop is in place interested me not a jot. So anyone who is exposed to that sort of agenda is probably a bit more sensitive to it than I am.

 

I'd never call you a lily-livered, hand-wringing wishy-wshy PC type. But you do need to make sure you see a spade when you look at a spade.

[Super_Ally 0]

I actually sigh before even reading Andy's posts. You make out like you are the voice of reason and then take a line that is further from "reality" than the vast majority on here. Your skewed perspectives seem far more in line with a grossly biased press than that of more reasonable individuals.

 

Like the journo's you're down playing the antics of the pitch invader. Why precisely? I'm not asking you to play it up. But he more than "ran past" the keeper. He struck out at him, however softly. And the fine is not just for what the individual did, but for the fact that crowd control was incompetent and could have allowed a much more serious offence to occur. In addition to the fact that the fine was for repeated breaches.