[Albion] Bong being abused all game.

[Kalimantan Gull]

Indeed. I'm really surprised people have somehow misconstrued the Burnley fans booing a player who made a non-malicious accusation of racial abuse.

I clearly heard "boooooooooooooooooooo this isn't because of your legitimate right to make an accusation where you feel you have received racial abuse which is extremely serious and needs to be eradicated from the game and in no way should we do anything to send a signal that any individual should in any way be discouraged from making an accusation where they feel they have been the victim of racism, this is actually because of all the other stuff, I hope this is clear boooooooooooooooooooooooo"

I'm staggered there is any confusion.

I don't know if there is any better reply to the Burnley fans post than this

The Burnley fans have clearly got themselves wound up so much by this that it all exploded out in what we saw and heard on Saturday, and now they're stuck in this intricate web of trying to explain themselves in the cold light of day.

It is just so horribly unedifying in this day and age to hear an entire crowd of white people booing a black guy of having the temerity of reporting an accusation of racism. The message is simple 'if you think you've been racially abused, suck it up and keep it to yourself'. Which is what many more black footballers will no doubt do. I wonder how many Burnley fans actually get this point? I wonder how many care?

 

[8th battalion East Lancs]

I was about four seats from the partition with the Burnley fans, next to [MENTION=27447]Goldstone1976[/MENTION].

Burnley fans booed Bong every time he touched the ball, honestly heard nothing else. To a certain extent I'm with [MENTION=12825]cunning fergus[/MENTION] on this issue. Booing is not the same as being racist, unlike monkey chants and similar repulsive noises. The danger is that the racists within the Burnley fanbase will seize upon this as an opportunity to get their bigoted kicks from giving grief to a person due to the colour of his skin, hiding behind the veil of supporting 'one of their own'. The issue is muddied because the initial accusation was race based.

As for the chants, Brighton fans did not sing 'Town full of pakis', equally Burnley fans did not sing 'We are racists, we don't care'. Sometimes people hear what they want to hear, and are very rapid to spead such accusations on social media.

When it comes to the Bong issue, it's Suarez v Evra, Terry v Ferdinand all over again. Something was said, something was heard, and in the case of Gaeten Bong he is adamant what was said by Rodriquez. Could he have misheard? Possibly, depends on a number of factors, background noise, accent, and so on. Was he entitled to report what he believed he heard to the referee? Certainly.

The FA concluded on the matter, the best thing to have happened would have been for both players to have said nothing after the day of the ruling. That didn't happen when Rodriquez gave his 'truth will come out' comment, as the one thing the investigation was unable to determine was the truth in terms of what was said.

On the separate issue of homophobia, some Burnley fans were pathetic, that doesn't make every person in the fanbase a bellend, every town his bigoted ********s. Sadly we also have some pond life at the Albion, as the bloke sitting in the row behind me last week when we played Spurs thought it 'hilarious' to make hissing/gas noises when Spurs had the ball.

Thankfully we got there in the end El Presidente.

30 odd pages late like, but we can't have everything.

 

[dsr-burnley]

I know for a fact that some players really struggle with abuse from the crowd. It puts them off and can affect the outcome of the game. Bong wouldn’t pick up the ball from pitch side for fear of the crowd at turf moor for example.

Now, there’s some players who royally piss me off. Zaha, Hammond (the “wankers” moment when he scored against us) and I feel obligated to let them know my views.

But Bong was prepared to stand up to, what he believed, was an example of racism and then lying, to go to a tribunal and risk being called a fantasist only to find supporters of the perps old club giving him dogs abuse for daring to expose the racist.

He’s not even their player, he just was born there. I wonder if Peter Sutcliffe gets defended up there as he’s a local boy.?

This is the reason for the total failure of understanding. Brighton fans (many of you, anyway) take it for granted that Rodriguez said exactly what was reported by Bong, and that he fully deserves to be investigated, that he would have fully deserved his suspension if it had been proved, and that Bong is fully justified in spouting off to the press and Twitter that Rodriguez is a racist even though there is no corroborating evidence.

Burnley fans don't believe that Rodriguez said that. Most of us believe that Bong misheard. Some may believe that Bong is being malicious. But either way, the reason for the booing was that an opposition player has repeatedly and publicly, through the proper channels and through twitter and the press, that Jay Rodriguez (who whether you accept it or not, is regarded as "one of our own") of being racist. Bong has said that many times. He doesn't say "if I heard correctly ...", and he doesn't say "I may be mistaken ...", he says that Rodriguez is racist. That's a big accusation, especially when made through Twitter. Burnley fans by and large don't accept the accusation and treat Bong as they would any other footballer, of whatever skin colour, who made pretty foul and unsubstantiated accusations against one of our players, even a former (but still popular) one.

If this was racist abuse, why aren't there complaints about abuse of other black players in Brighton's team? Because they weren't abused. This was not racist, this was personal. Unreasonable and unkind, as unfair as Rodriguez' initial comment about Bong's breath, but not racist.

(The bit about Peter Sutcliffe is stupid on two counts. One, the comparison is half-witted; two, he wasn't local anyway. Doesn't the term "Yorkshire Ripper" give you a clue?)

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Thankfully we got there in the end El Presidente.

30 odd pages late like, but we can't have everything.

If you are happy with El Pres referring to racists within the Burnley fanbase, using this as an opportunity to get their bigoted kicks from giving grief to a person due to the colour of his skin, then we have indeed "got there in the end"...

 

[Stato]

Stato. You’ve grown into a very reasonable man. When you were in H block at withdean you would have felt differently.

Was I in H Block at Withdean? If so, how come you know and I don't?

 

[Captain Sensible]

Jeez, there can’t be any Claret clouding of the issue here. Bong got booed because he made a complaint about racism. The bizarre fact that JR doesn’t play for Burnley anymore makes it even more baffling. Burnley fans can wrestle with why they did it. We can just look at those that booed and wonder about their motives. Its that’s it in a nutshell.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

This is the reason for the total failure of understanding. Brighton fans (many of you, anyway) take it for granted that Rodriguez said exactly what was reported by Bong, and that he fully deserves to be investigated, that he would have fully deserved his suspension if it had been proved, and that Bong is fully justified in spouting off to the press and Twitter that Rodriguez is a racist even though there is no corroborating evidence.

Burnley fans don't believe that Rodriguez said that. Most of us believe that Bong misheard. Some may believe that Bong is being malicious. But either way, the reason for the booing was that an opposition player has repeatedly and publicly, through the proper channels and through twitter and the press, that Jay Rodriguez (who whether you accept it or not, is regarded as "one of our own") of being racist. Bong has said that many times. He doesn't say "if I heard correctly ...", and he doesn't say "I may be mistaken ...", he says that Rodriguez is racist. That's a big accusation, especially when made through Twitter. Burnley fans by and large don't accept the accusation and treat Bong as they would any other footballer, of whatever skin colour, who made pretty foul and unsubstantiated accusations against one of our players, even a former (but still popular) one.

If this was racist abuse, why aren't there complaints about abuse of other black players in Brighton's team? Because they weren't abused. This was not racist, this was personal. Unreasonable and unkind, as unfair as Rodriguez' initial comment about Bong's breath, but not racist.

Bong made the report to the referee, and spoke about it on French TV. He then made a statement after the hearing, when Rodriguez said he had been 'cleared' and the truth will come out.
That is implying that Bong lied. So with Brighton, Bong issued a statement saying he knows what he heard.

That is not many times.

 

[ClaretMatt]

Indeed. I'm really surprised people have somehow misconstrued the Burnley fans booing a player who made a non-malicious accusation of racial abuse.

I clearly heard "boooooooooooooooooooo this isn't because of your legitimate right to make an accusation where you feel you have received racial abuse which is extremely serious and needs to be eradicated from the game and in no way should we do anything to send a signal that any individual should in any way be discouraged from making an accusation where they feel they have been the victim of racism, this is actually because of all the other stuff, I hope this is clear boooooooooooooooooooooooo"

I'm staggered there is any confusion.

As opposed to "Boooooooooooo we're all northern so this is certainly racial abuse despite us also booing Murray for his antics earlier this season and Duffy for being an ex-Rovers player also we're not doing anything but boo yet why not make up that this booing is also some kind of monkey imitation so that your club can make another statement about this issue without any corroborating evidence booooooooooo"?

Gaetan did not tweet that JR had apologised to him for being racist. His tweet said JR had apologised to him.

Totally different.

Well I used the word "suggesting". In the context of the message it insinuates that Rodriguez apologised for being racist, otherwise what's the whole "this his[sic] is already a step in the right direction !!".

But yes, if we're happy to ignore context then it's totally different. And either way it doesn't change the fact he went on (inter)national TV whilst the investigation was ongoing or that, along with BHA, he released a statement continuing to insist that JR had been racist nearly a week after the tribunal had made it's decision.

 

[Captain Sensible]

Why, are you planning to sue?

I’m just saying I believe that our black player was abused by your ex white player...why? Because he has some honour. Rodriguez attempted to apologise to Gaetan for his racist comment, but it was too late as the ref had made a report and had hardly covered himself with glory since.

Your fans, not all...but a lot...then elected to abuse our black player because he’d dared to call Rodriguez out.

As an aside I was sitting right next to your hardcore on Sat. And, whilst most joined in, only about 10% knew why. “Ey daaave, why’re we booing that black blurk fookin’ bongo or summat”
“It’s a fookin wind up? Ee thinks ees fookin bob fookin Marlee”

“Ey, dya think ees a bender?”

I actually don’t doubt you heard that.....
I wonder what Lennon made of the whole thing?

 

[ClaretMatt]

Bong made the report to the referee, and spoke about it on French TV. He then made a statement after the hearing, when Rodriguez said he had been 'cleared' and the truth will come out.
That is implying that Bong lied. So with Brighton, Bong issued a statement saying he knows what he heard.

That is not many times.

Or that it was a misunderstanding, as was the case made by JR from the start.

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

As opposed to "Boooooooooooo we're all northern so this is certainly racial abuse despite us also booing Murray for his antics earlier this season and Duffy for being an ex-Rovers player also we're not doing anything but boo yet why not make up that this booing is also some kind of monkey imitation so that your club can make another statement about this issue without any corroborating evidence booooooooooo"?
.

You really don't get it, do you.

When you boo Murray and Duffy, that is clearly a football thing. That's pantomime. That's part and parcel of the football experience.

Booing a black player because of his role in a RACISM allegation is truly idiotic and, the fact that you can't see that and STILL relate it back to booing players about football issues is really quite concerning.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

As opposed to "Boooooooooooo we're all northern so this is certainly racial abuse despite us also booing Murray for his antics earlier this season and Duffy for being an ex-Rovers player also we're not doing anything but boo yet why not make up that this booing is also some kind of monkey imitation so that your club can make another statement about this issue without any corroborating evidence booooooooooo"?



Well I used the word "suggesting". In the context of the message it insinuates that Rodriguez apologised for being racist, otherwise what's the whole "this his[sic] is already a step in the right direction !!".

But yes, if we're happy to ignore context then it's totally different. And either way it doesn't change the fact he went on (inter)national TV whilst the investigation was ongoing or that, along with BHA, he released a statement continuing to insist that JR had been racist nearly a week after the tribunal had made it's decision.

There is not a single mention of racist in the statement.


https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/news/2018/april/statement-on-behalf-of-gaetan-bong/

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Or that it was a misunderstanding, as was the case made by JR from the start.

Have you seen and heard the abuse GB has had from your fans? One woman wanted Bong to have the same punishment for daring to make a complaint in the first place.

Why shouldn't GB stand up for himself, especially when the FA specifically said The FA wishes to stress that there has been no suggestion by any party involved in this case that this was a malicious or fabricated complaint. The FA is completely satisfied that this was a complaint made in absolute good faith.

Please explain why Burnley fans (not West Brom) see fit to boo a player who reported something he heard? Is that not making yourselves judge and jury?

 

[ClaretMatt]

There is not a single mention of racist in the statement.


https://www.brightonandhovealbion.com/news/2018/april/statement-on-behalf-of-gaetan-bong/

Again, lets ignore context!

"Mr Rodriguez's actions during our game..."

"I know what I heard and I did not mishear"

"This was my first such experience in more than three years in this country..."

Or is he talking about something else entirely?

 

[BadFish]

So it now appears that he wasn't booed because he reported JR for perceived racism, he was booed because he answered a question on French TV about a high profile incident that happened the week before.

The sooner all this bullshit subsides the better, no one is coming out of the fall out of an unsavoury incident covered in glory.

If only JR had the balls to say what he said without hiding behind his hand, we could have dealt with it and moved on.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Again, lets ignore context!

"Mr Rodriguez's actions during our game..."

"I know what I heard and I did not mishear"

"This was my first such experience in more than three years in this country..."

Or is he talking about something else entirely?

It is in the context of Rodriguez telling everyone he was cleared and the truth will out. Some media are still reporting it as cleared.

 

[dsr-burnley]

Please explain why Burnley fans (not West Brom) see fit to boo a player who reported something he heard? Is that not making yourselves judge and jury?

He was booed because he accused a former Burnley player of racism and the Burnley fans do not believe it is true. The more serious the alleged offence, the stronger the reaction.

 

[Arthur]

Jeez, there can’t be any Claret clouding of the issue here. Bong got booed because he made a complaint about racism. The bizarre fact that JR doesn’t play for Burnley anymore makes it even more baffling. Burnley fans can wrestle with why they did it. We can just look at those that booed and wonder about their motives. Its that’s it in a nutshell.

Surely they only had one motive? Bong was booed because he made a complaint about a player which Burnley fans hold dear to their heart. Said claim wasn't upheld so charges were not brought against JR. Bong was then booed because of this incident and not because of the colour of his skin. Was Izquierdo booed every time he touched the ball?

I'm sure there are precisely zero Burnley fans who are wrestling with what they did. If this thread is anything to go by that cannot be said about BHA fans....for what purpose I'm not quite sure. It was a great point against a decent side and quite frankly I'm more interested in Friday night and staying in this division. Is it because all the shit we've been through over the years, now things are good we are desperate for a cause to fight?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

He was booed because he accused a former Burnley player of racism and the Burnley fans do not believe it is true. The more serious the alleged offence, the stronger the reaction.

I know that, but there is still no justification which is why there have been official complaints made over the weekend.

 

[seagulls4ever]

I'm not sure why the majority of Burnley fans booed, but for those that did so on the basis that Bong lied are absolutely pathetic. Even Rodriquez stated he believed Bong misheard. Yet on Twitter, there's people accusing him of 'playing the race card', 'maliciously trying to ruin a professional's career' and saying he should be banned for 'false accusations'. It's a torrent of abuse, for daring to report that he believed he was racially abused.

Absolutely pathetic.