Hi gang! I reckon these words regarding racism at international football are absolutely spot on*, apposite appropriate and topical, and more so from the mouth of as high profile and, yes, well respected a person as Rio:
"Fifa make comments about what they will do but never back it up with actions. "The football authorities need to take a look at themselves." "Croatia were fined a few thousand quid. What's that going to do? That is not going to stop people shouting racist or homophobic abuse. "(Fifa president) Sepp Blatter likes to speak up about things that are good for Fifa's image but I would love to see them stand up and dish out the right punishments for these incidents." I was interested to listen to Ian Wright talking last month about the difficult position of a black player and protesting about racism and abuse. Basically, he felt it tended to be better for the group or the white individual to stand up, because an indivdual black person would get personalised and the message would get lost. There is also the issue of the whole old boys thing and don't speak out against the establishment. So, Rio Ferdinand, not a personal favourite of mine, but went up a lot in my estimation this week. Well done son. I'll cheer you on at the weekend for that. *I understood our own Stevie G to be agreeing with this, don't let me go unnoticing. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist is Michel Kitabdjian dead yet?
