This week TSF wrote a spot on article talking about racism in football in reaction to the abuse received by Ashley Young, Ashley Cole and Theo Walcott in Bulgaria last Friday evening.
It is true that England has gone a long way to eradicating racism on the terraces in the past few decades, though just a look at some sports forums shows that it is still incredibly rife here and that we still have a long way to go to beating it out of our society.
In other cultures, as TSF points out, it is still at large within football. I hope, as TSF does, that good will come of the World Cup going to Russia and that it will breed a nation of fans who appreciate the players they are watching for who they are and how they play rather than the colour of their skin.
So what of the article this week in terms of clues? Well there are a few points to note:
“Growing up on a multicultural council estate, we were blessed with a healthy dose of colour blindness” – We already knew he grew up on a council estate from the Feb 5th article.
“Ian Holloway accused Stoke fans of racially abusing Jason Euell two seasons ago.” – Euell is currently one of our leading candidates. Could he be referencing himself here? Is it odd that TSF described it as ‘Holloway accusing Stoke fans’ when it was clear to see what happened from Euell’s reaction at the time?
“An African player who is a good friend once played his football in Russia.” – Given the few African players that have played in Russia can we work out who this might be?
8 responses to “TSF on racism in football”
I’m white so I can’t say for sure – would a black man refer to himself as being ‘colour blinded’? I thought that kind of term would be more used by the ethnic majority.
And he says: “Indeed, the first time any of us were confronted by racism came as a big shock because, very often, it would be directed at the friend you had grown up with.” This all implies very strongly to me that TSF is white.
Nicky Shorey plays at west brom, has he been mentioned as a candidate?
Africans players who have played in both Russia and Premier League:
Bikey played for Reading for two seasons in the premier league and 1 year for Burnley.
Odemwingie (is that the right spelling?)
Have to agree with Tom – when I read the article I came away with the distinct impression that TSF is white given the way he references other ethnicities.
Shorey is a very good shout, I’m going to add him today…
The Brazilian striker Jo (who played for Man City and Everton) spent a few years at CSKA Moscow.
Apologies – just noticed ‘African’. Scrap that!
It doesn’t say that the player has played in the PL – just that he’s a good friend.