[Football] Football commentators must address racial “bias” article taken from the BBC Sport site

[Uh_huh_him]

There's an element of truth to this, but it's mainly due to football punditry being full of stereotypes, rather than racism, IMO.
A Brazilian player pulling off a piece of skill, will often receive a different comment than a German player, regardless of the race of the player.

The better commentators rely less on cliches.

 

[portlock seagull]

The default position appears to be all white people are racist, especially those that say they’re not. In fact if you say that, you make things worse. The inferred tone at times has parallels with witch-hunting - if you drown you’re innocent, if you flout you get fished out, to dry out and burnt. A proper lose lose. We must continually apologise unreservedly for everything our ancestors did or didn’t, I can hardly keep up. fortunately certain quarters of the media are doing a cracking daily job of finding new things to apologise for such as the countryside being too white, commentator bias...haven’t checked today’s. Is it Dover cliffs again?

 

[amexee]

The thing about stereotypes, is that they exist because often they are true! Check out any world or olympic 100/200m final and find the white guy. Maybe there are fewer asian footballers because they are generally of smaller physique and perhaps the average ex-state school footballer is less articulate than the ex- public school rugby player. Weird eh!!

 

[Jackthelad]

Scouting often in France it worked against young White kids because often the Black lads at a younger age were bigger and faster; so what was happening was the French youth teams were mostly Black. The smaller White kids and Arab kids were not getting the chances, I suspect this still goes on.

It may be down to a size bias as well, as in the UK some of the best-attacking players were the much smaller kids and time and time again I saw taller kids with far less ability get the opportunities, it's utterly bizarre as the likes of Messi and Sterling dominate but I heard "He's just too small" countless times when I worked with scouts.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Won't be able to say 'Got a good touch for a big lad' about the likes of Peter Crouch

Rather a silly comment, if you don't mind my saying so

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

The thing about stereotypes, is that they exist because often they are true! Check out any world or olympic 100/200m final and find the white guy. Maybe there are fewer asian footballers because they are generally of smaller physique and perhaps the average ex-state school footballer is less articulate than the ex- public school rugby player. Weird eh!!

I think someone else made the clearer point. Some stereotypes have an element of truth about them. But they get distorted for nefarious purposes. The examples you give are a mix; there is clearly a genetic basis for sprinting and marathon running. The Asian footballer thing is cultural not racial. Likewise, more than 50% of students in the sciences and medicine where I work are of Asian ethnic background, more than ten fold over-representation base on UK ethnicity. A few years ago the entire entry to medical school in Vancouver was Chinese. Cultural. It does not mean that white people are thick.

What the likes of Das Reich do is take a cultural stereotype and pervert it to suit their racist agenda: 'they may be good at running, but they lose out in the intelligence stakes and you wouldn't want one advising you on stocks and shares would you? Ha ha!'

Complete the following (in your mind):

Tightfisted xxxxxxs, always look after their own
Smelly xxxxxxs, what with their cooking
Thick xxxxx b'stards

Racial stereotypes? No - racism!

 

[GT49er]

The thing about stereotypes, is that they exist because often they are true! Check out any world or olympic 100/200m final and find the white guy.

Allan Wells? 100M Olympic Gold and 200M Silver.

 

[Pavilionaire]

This lot had no football intelligence, but I'm sure they all had big knobs!

Does anyone else see the irony in the BBC commenting on racial stereotyping?

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Is there anywhere where I can access the GNVQ in Leisure and Tourism grades for the entire premier league?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[keaton]

The default position appears to be all white people are racist, especially those that say they’re not. In fact if you say that, you make things worse. The inferred tone at times has parallels with witch-hunting - if you drown you’re innocent, if you flout you get fished out, to dry out and burnt. A proper lose lose. We must continually apologise unreservedly for everything our ancestors did or didn’t, I can hardly keep up. fortunately certain quarters of the media are doing a cracking daily job of finding new things to apologise for such as the countryside being too white, commentator bias...haven’t checked today’s. Is it Dover cliffs again?

White people are definitely the most oppressed. If you're a white, straight male you hardly stand a chance nowadays

 

[Bakero]

White people are definitely the most oppressed. If you're a white, straight male you hardly stand a chance nowadays

I know, right. Every day is a struggle. Can't they see how fragile we are?

 

[Super Steve Earle]

I think someone else made the clearer point. Some stereotypes have an element of truth about them. But they get distorted for nefarious purposes. The examples you give are a mix; there is clearly a genetic basis for sprinting and marathon running. The Asian footballer thing is cultural not racial. Likewise, more than 50% of students in the sciences and medicine where I work are of Asian ethnic background, more than ten fold over-representation base on UK ethnicity. A few years ago the entire entry to medical school in Vancouver was Chinese. Cultural. It does not mean that white people are thick.

What the likes of Das Reich do is take a cultural stereotype and pervert it to suit their racist agenda: 'they may be good at running, but they lose out in the intelligence stakes and you wouldn't want one advising you on stocks and shares would you? Ha ha!'

Complete the following (in your mind):

Tightfisted xxxxxxs, always look after their own
Smelly xxxxxxs, what with their cooking
Thick xxxxx b'stards

Racial stereotypes? No - racism!

0/3 for me, but I'm only 65... I thought about French for the second, but it doesn't fit!

 

[allystrat]

Allan Wells? 100M Olympic Gold and 200M Silver.

Way back in 1980 when the games were boycotted by 60 or more countries, including the USA.

 

[Swansman]

In some parts of Africa people are on average stronger, bigger and quicker due to genetics and perhaps more so epigenetics, and this advantage only gets bigger if they at a reasonably early age move somewhere with higher living standards. Bodies that for generations have developed to use every nutrient at the maximum will obviously thrive if there's suddenly food available three times a day 365 days a year, which is rare in huge parts of Africa.

Then you got a lot of these really strong, physical black players - just watch the French league and you'll find about four or five Patrick Vieira in every team - and of course this creates a type of "natural bias".

In countries with a very mixed population this also means that non-black players need to develop different attributes in order to compete, so its also a "natural bias" for "clever" white players. And its not weird that this is indirectly reflected among the commentators.

Adding to this is that players who grew up in Africa are often poorly tactically schooled. In Sweden, where we dont have the whole "work permit" thing the way you do, we import a lot of African players directly from African clubs when they turn 18. They are most often both technically and physically superior to "native" Swedes but it usually takes six months to a year before they understand the tactical aspects, and even then its difficult to adapt their playstyles to "western" tactics and their playstyles remain "African" - a bit unpredictable by our measures.

For black players trained and schooled in Europe... I dont know if there is a "racial thing" where black players are rarely called clever etc., but its possible. If thats the case, it shouldnt be that way because its simply not true. For players schooled in Europe the difference should be really small. Yes, you have a few black players who are succesfull mainly because of their heritage and a few white players who had to niche themselves as intelligent players since they couldnt compete physically, but in general the difference is so small that it should go unnoticed by the tv viewers.

 

[GT49er]

Way back in 1980 when the games were boycotted by 60 or more countries, including the USA.

So? The OP just said 'find the white guy' - and I did.


He didn't just win the Olympics either - Commonwealth games, European Cups, IAAF World Cup.......................

 

[Bold Seagull]

The default position appears to be all white people are racist, especially those that say they’re not. In fact if you say that, you make things worse. The inferred tone at times has parallels with witch-hunting - if you drown you’re innocent, if you flout you get fished out, to dry out and burnt. A proper lose lose. We must continually apologise unreservedly for everything our ancestors did or didn’t, I can hardly keep up. fortunately certain quarters of the media are doing a cracking daily job of finding new things to apologise for such as the countryside being too white, commentator bias...haven’t checked today’s. Is it Dover cliffs again?

White people are definitely the most oppressed. If you're a white, straight male you hardly stand a chance nowadays

Honestly, this is cringe-worthy. Let's get it in the bear pit quick before anyone else comes out with some absolute corkers.

Sorry [MENTION=3166]keaton[/MENTION], there is no room for satire!

 

[Bakero]

Honestly, this is cringe-worthy. Let's get it in the bear pit quick before anyone else comes out with some absolute corkers.

I'm fairly sure [MENTION=3166]keaton[/MENTION] was taking the piss.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'm fairly sure [MENTION=3166]keaton[/MENTION] was taking the piss.

I was just in the BP, so it's difficult to realise a bit of satire from what is just typical posting for others.

 

[Yes Chef]

They'll throw you in jail these days if you say you're English

 

[dazzer6666]

I think someone else made the clearer point. Some stereotypes have an element of truth about them. But they get distorted for nefarious purposes. The examples you give are a mix; there is clearly a genetic basis for sprinting and marathon running. The Asian footballer thing is cultural not racial. Likewise, more than 50% of students in the sciences and medicine where I work are of Asian ethnic background, more than ten fold over-representation base on UK ethnicity. A few years ago the entire entry to medical school in Vancouver was Chinese. Cultural. It does not mean that white people are thick.

What the likes of Das Reich do is take a cultural stereotype and pervert it to suit their racist agenda: 'they may be good at running, but they lose out in the intelligence stakes and you wouldn't want one advising you on stocks and shares would you? Ha ha!'

Complete the following (in your mind):

Tightfisted xxxxxxs, always look after their own
Smelly xxxxxxs, what with their cooking
Thick xxxxx b'stards

Racial stereotypes? No - racism!

Vancouver has an enormous (and still growing) Asian population anyway - our team there is 90% Asian origin (first generation). I can't get any of the above, you've got the number of xxs wrong (relatives, neighbours and financial crime compliance team would have been my guesses)