The Lego Stand
New member
- Jul 5, 2020
- 89
I think you'll find it's patronising TRUTH.
I'll beg to differ and not lose any sleep over it.
I think you'll find it's patronising TRUTH.
The salaries (and I accept that I used a loaded, emotive term to qualify them) are relevant to this extent.
The whole theoretical underpinning of the BLM narrative is that black people are subject to an imbalance of power in the UK and US, are confronted with racism on a daily basis, are more likely to be shot dead by the police, suffer income disparities, lower employment opportunities and are prejudiced on the basis of skin colour.
Yet black men are over represented in the highest reaches of professional football compared to the population as a whole, their lived experience refutes the theory, in their chosen field. (And this is even more the case in the NFL where black players FAR outnumber white ones, despite forming a fraction of the white general demographic). Football is Darwinian, if you are good enough, you play, whatever the colour of your skin. And this is a job which is amongst the most glamorous, most richly rewarded in the entire society. (American football is an even bigger example of this phenomenon, which is why the players' decision not to take a knee to the National Anthem is so resented by so many of the (largely) white, blue collar fan base. Multi millionaires, dripping with WAGS, telling guys who earn less in a year than they do in a few days to check their white privilege is probably somewhat galling).
Football isn't very racist. It used to be, sure, but now it really isn't.
That is a good thing, of course. But why are we pretending something is what it isn't?
I'd argue it is, but I don't think black people are particularly prejudiced in football, if anything they are celebrated for being black now more than ever. If anyone is prejudiced in football be it in the professional game, in the stands, in grass roots it is the asian community. Totally under represented at every level of the game, if football reallty wants to solve its own problems first before shining a light on the rest of societies ills it would do well to tackle this first, which is why I find the black lives matter/taking a knee completely OTT from the PL/sky.
I'd argue it is, but I don't think black people are particularly prejudiced in football, if anything they are celebrated for being black now more than ever. If anyone is prejudiced in football be it in the professional game, in the stands, in grass roots it is the asian community. Totally under represented at every level of the game, if football reallty wants to solve its own problems first before shining a light on the rest of societies ills it would do well to tackle this first, which is why I find the black lives matter/taking a knee completely OTT from the PL/sky.
I'd argue it is, but I don't think black people are particularly prejudiced in football, if anything they are celebrated for being black now more than ever. If anyone is prejudiced in football be it in the professional game, in the stands, in grass roots it is the asian community. Totally under represented at every level of the game, if football reallty wants to solve its own problems first before shining a light on the rest of societies ills it would do well to tackle this first, which is why I find the black lives matter/taking a knee completely OTT from the PL/sky.
I don't know whether black footballers are celebrated for being black, but it certainly doesn't hold them back.
We are constantly (on a theoretical level) told that there are no differences between the races. That skin colour is just a matter of pigmentation, it makes no other difference. And indeed that to assert the contrary is to be "racist." In other words, the opinion doesn't count, it is just by its very nature, racist and therefore wrong.
But we all know that this is contradicted by the evidence in front of our very eyes. Black men are superior, on average, to white men as footballers. Their bodies are stronger, more attuned to the demands of the sport. That doesn't mean that lots of white players aren't better than black ones individually, but as a matter of physique it is surely incontrovertible. There is a reason that all the best sprinters on the planet are black. It is a question of physiology, although I can't give you the exact reasons, fast twitch muscles, ya de ya.
Black guys dominate heavyweight boxing too. And have done ever since the racism that used to be prevalent in the sport was mitigated.
More controversially it is true for races in other human endeavours as well. Check out the number of Jewish Chess Grandmasters as a proportion of the world's population. The over representation is quite staggering.
But we aren't supposed to notice this. Or if we do we mustn't state the bleedin obvious, that there are innate differences in capacity and ability linked to racial disparities (as well as cultural ones of course).
Truly, the discussion of the whole subject of race in our culture has become taboo in any meaningful sense.
I'm not sure I've ever heard about a player being celebrated for being black (except when speaking about history - first black player to do x etc) so I'm not with you on that.
I agree though that professional sports in general is doing quite fine when it comes to not being racist. Some fans are, but clubs and managers seemingly dont give a shit about skin colour, which is how it should be. I dont think racism is the issue when it comes to Asian players either. If they are good enough, they are good enough. Its not i.e. the PL managers fault that China and other large Asian countries are incapable of producing good footballers.
Didn’t take the knee prior to kick off in the Sky Championship game last night.
Sky tried to make a big thing of it at 90 minutes, but Mark Warburton’s response was admirable and hopefully will strike a chord with other clubs. When pressed why they didn’t do it he pointed out perhaps they’d like to talk about all the work Rangers do in the community in West London and have done for many years rather than one specific gesture.
On your last line: yea true, too bad because it used to be such a good and fruitful discussion.
Why does it bother you so much?
One or two posters seem to have lost the point of blm here. The support of it in football is not to make any point about football its about the treatment of black people in the wider community. If you like taking the knee is akin to wearing a poppy.
One or two posters seem to have lost the point of blm here. The support of it in football is not to make any point about football its about the treatment of black people in the wider community. If you like taking the knee is akin to wearing a poppy.
Kick It Out strongly believe that systemic discrimination favouring white over black people in the game is prevalent, once it comes to the all important senior jobs.
"... less attention has been accorded to the management and administrative culture of the game, leaving it exposed to claims of institutional discrimination and exclusion".
" ... it is clear that there are policies and practices in place that contribute to excluding employment opportunities to people from different backgrounds. This is particularly so in coaching and team management but even more so in administrative and senior management positions in clubs and authorities including the leagues".
Kick It Out strongly believe that systemic discrimination favouring white over black people in the game is prevalent, once it comes to the all important senior jobs.
"... less attention has been accorded to the management and administrative culture of the game, leaving it exposed to claims of institutional discrimination and exclusion".
" ... it is clear that there are policies and practices in place that contribute to excluding employment opportunities to people from different backgrounds. This is particularly so in coaching and team management but even more so in administrative and senior management positions in clubs and authorities including the leagues".
So want tangible benefits will we see by the 'powerful' taking of the knee yesterday?
One or two posters seem to have lost the point of blm here. The support of it in football is not to make any point about football its about the treatment of black people in the wider community. If you like taking the knee is akin to wearing a poppy.
This.
As someone posted, when we let in 2,000 supporters to watch the Chelsea friendly a couple felt empowered to boo the taking of the knee.
I don't think I need to add anything to that.
Is there a law that says you can't boo H
Regards
DF
I bet the treacherous old **** would like one.
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