How racist were albion fans in the 70's

[Return of the Rev]

I know people were not aware around this time and views have matured over the years but i can't recall the north stand as a N F breeding ground,have i blotted out all those racist chants of yesterday? Or are we having the past portrayed as worse than it was.I accept society was pretty racist but can't think the footie crowd were any more extreme than the general public.
I know the N F gatherings contained the brighton firm of the time but pretty sure they just turned up for a ruck.How bad or not so bad was it at the goldstone?

 

[Bruntburger]

Can't comment on the 70's, but even in the early nineties the odd racist chant was still heard.

I remember a friendly against Palace and Ian Wright was subjected to an awful lot of racist abuse.

 

[somerset]

Well it was there, but not on the scale of the traditional skinhead led teams from London, Chelsea, West Ham and Millwall for example,.... but when black players were a rarity in the late 70's, visiting players often got that old favourite "zigger zagger zigger, ... kill that fu***ng ni**er" .... our ignorance of the time led most of us to think it was just cheeky banter.

 

[algie]

Didn't Codner suffer abuse from Millwall fans in the play offs ? I'm sure a banana or two was thrown at him.

 

[Rodney Thomas]

Even at the last game at the Goldstone a banana was thrown on the pitch..

 

[piersa]

Even at the last game at the Goldstone a banana was thrown on the pitch..

That was the 4-4 with Orient.

 

[Del Fenner]

Well it was there, but not on the scale of the traditional skinhead led teams from London, Chelsea, West Ham and Millwall for example,.... but when black players were a rarity in the late 70's, visiting players often got that old favourite "zigger zagger zigger, ... kill that fu***ng ni**er" .... our ignorance of the time led most of us to think it was just cheeky banter.

That is my recollection. Vince Hilaire got this sort of attention without any more venom than the rest of our players. The Goldstone was no-where near as bad as Stamford Bridge or The Den, but this was not a good time to be a black footballer anywhere.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Well,I remember being in the North Stand in the 80's when Chris Ramsey was monkey hooted by our "fans".The lady I was with at the time told -not asked-them to stop.They wouldn't,so she said she'd go and tell the police.

"Tell 'em.You'll see whose side they're on."

She told them.Nothing happened.

If you want to know the time ask a policeman.

There were in excess of forty of them,a small but very ignorant minority.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Some Nazi salutes in the North Stand after we got dumped out of the cup by Oxford in the early 80's. Monkey chants at various games. I also remember an anti-fascist organisation leafleting outside the ground around that time too.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

That was the 4-4 with Orient.

No, he's right. The last game v Donny.

 

[Monkey Man]

I remember there was a crude NF painted on one of the brick walls, inside the ground but behind the north stand. It was there for years and nobody at the club apparently felt the need to get rid of it. Strange times.

 

[Del Fenner]

I remember there was a crude NF painted on one of the brick walls, inside the ground but behind the north stand. It was there for years and nobody at the club apparently felt the need to get rid of it. Strange times.

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

The NF were in the North Stand as I went out with the secretary of the Brighton Branch after meeting her in the North Stand and I ended up playing footie on a Sunday morning with them on goldstone park.
I still see a couple of them at Albion games to this day

 

[Flex Your Head]

I remember being 15 and going to Norwich to watch the Albion (lose 3 – 1) in Feb 1981 and feeling a mixture of loathing and resentment at a group of about 20 ‘fans’ as they Nazi saluted and chanted ‘Sieg Heil’ rather than ‘Sea-gulls’ directly to the nearest Norwich fans. They also burned a couple of Norwich scarves they’d managed to get their hands on.

I was gutted that, as this was the time of the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism, there wasn’t a rival crew to shout them down. I felt so depressed on the journey home and not just because of the result.

 

[Rodney Thomas]

No, he's right. The last game v Donny.

Could have been both. Seem to recall it happening more than once that season and thinking it wasn't doing our 'campaign' any good..

 

[Twizzle]

Racism was always an ugly presence.
I remember thinking when i saw a black player against us; "Clarke will probably crock him", and he usually did.
I think Fashanu was one of them (oo-er!)

 

[El Presidente]

I vaguely recall Chris Ramsey being subject to monkey noises from our own fans when he made his debut for the Albion at Selhurst, which was wrong on an awful lot of levels.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

The National Front regularly tried to peddle their filth in the late seventies outside the North Stand but I'm not sure how successful it was in recruiting fans.

At The Doncaster match the bananas were thrown from the old West stand at the Goldstone and was aimed at Darren Moore, the Doncaster centre-half, who had started fighting with Ian Baird. Both were rightly sent off.
The banana throwing was shocking and shameful.

 

[Barrow Boy]

Remember in the late 70's the North Stand singing to opposing teams black players "There's some black shit on the pitch la la la la la" (sung to the tune of Brown girl in the ring, by Boney M).

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

The NF were in the North Stand as I went out with the secretary of the Brighton Branch after meeting her in the North Stand and I ended up playing footie on a Sunday morning with them on goldstone park.
I still see a couple of them at Albion games to this day

Is this some kind of sick joke? You went out with someone who was a racist then tell everyone about it on here, saying you used to play football with them. And then if that was not bad enough you then say they still go to the Albion?

Says a lot about you.