The Banter Thread

[Alpherah]

Mancini is really getting the best footballing ability out of him as well as getting him set mentally in terms of working in a team and not fighting team mates

Its a lot easier when every things going your and your teams way, so to speak.
If he and or City end up in a bad patch .. that'l be the real test of character.

 

[Cosimo]

Gaffe Blatter has been on the news and said that he does not believe football has a problem with racism. He said any rows between players can be resolved with a handshake. I didn't realise that his part of Switzerland was on another planet.

 

[Shamikebab]

Sepp Blatter in backing racism shocker

 

[DanH84]

Well Suarez got charged, which is interesting because out of all of Evras allegations against players this is the first time anythings been done, yet there's still 0 evidence.

Good on the FA to be consistent as always.

-edit-
Clarification. The charge relates to "offensive and abusive language", which is what he's being charged for.

With

"further allegations of racial abuse"

Considering the language used on the pitch between players is potty at the best of times, and Suarez doesn't speak a sentence of any language Evra actually speaks, its interesting how it could be deemed offensive enough to be the first player in god knows how long to be pulled up over it.

Take a moment and try to list a few of these allegations of racial abuse Evra has made.

The tribalism displayed by some football fans in the face of potential racism is sodding shocking. Mind you the attitudes of some people within positions of authority hasn't been any better.

 

[Alpherah]

Going back a touch, because i don't want to get started on the Evra/Chelsea incident.

The players said they heard nothing, the cameras caught nothing, the officials saw/heard nothing.

The guy in question was born in a South American country with a huge black population. Although having a white father, he was raised in close proximity to his black mother's family, who were also black.

He then moved to play his trade in a country/city which is very multicultural in nature.

There's no evidence, there's no motive, there's no external reasons to suggest why he might do this.


I suspect that the statement from the FA is rather misleading and poorly written (and on such a sensitive topic too). Guessing that Evra has refused to drop his complaint, so due to the nature of the allegations the incident will go to a tribunal.

Which is very different from the way SSN, Talksport et al are portraying it.


And regarding Blatters comments, i think i get what he was trying to say.
I think he meant to say that yes the act is wrong, being racist is obviously wrong.
But in the heat of the moment things get said, things get done, when tempers are up.
That doesn't make it right, and individuals will rightly be punished.
But that doesn't make them fundamentally racist, they probably don't hate black people just for being black, or whatever. Just went too far.

 

[StonedPenguin]

Hmmmmmm.

 

[Alpherah]

Additionally, Suarez has admitted to saying something anyway. He said he called him something once (which is a lot different to Evra's "at least 10 times" claim) which he noticed his own defence were calling him.

Does that mean that The back line should be charged as well?

---

Looking through the rules relevant to this its hilarious some of the punishments and procedures for player vs player cases.

Basically, if player A called player B a "slang female genital region" its a fine and a reprimand.
If player A calls player B a "Stupid french slang female genital region" then the punishment moves up a tier, to the same tier of punishments as racial abuse.

Clearly not in the same league.

 

[Robbo]

Suarez seems a bit of a moron, so it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

What would his own defence be calling him that's racist?! What utter nonsense. I think he's just making excuses about it to be honest.

 

[Alpherah]

With no evidence of being guilty. Yet we do have evidence of Evra crying wolf.
Yet the likely outcome is that Suarez is the guilty one. According to most.

Go figure.

 

[Robbo]

I'm not saying he's guilty, just that it wouldn't surprise me. I really can't see how he can be convicted of this without any evidence though, so I wouldn't worry.

 

[Alpherah]

I'm not saying he's guilty, just that it wouldn't surprise me. I really can't see how he can be convicted of this without any evidence though, so I wouldn't worry.

which is why i think the wording of the FA statement is wrong.

I think he's being charged with verbally abusing Evra (when do players not do this again? some of the things you can pick up with a good speaker system and the volume up in a football match when the play's down the touchlines is shocking) and there's allegations of something more serious which will be heard at a tribunal.

Completely different to the ticker on SSN which basically says "SUAREZ IS GUILTY"

but they would love that.

 

[nicktay2605]

Looking through the rules relevant to this its hilarious some of the punishments and procedures for player vs player cases.

Basically, if player A called player B a "slang female genital region" its a fine and a reprimand.
If player A calls player B a "Stupid french slang female genital region" then the punishment moves up a tier, to the same tier of punishments as racial abuse.

Clearly not in the same league.

I don't understand, are you suggesting that adding the 'stupid french' part changes nothing or shouldn't be compared to racism? Calling someone a stupid frenchman etc is xenophobia and should be treated in exactly the same way as racism.

Swearing at another player on the pitch isn't, in my opinion, as bad as saying something racist or xenophobic, so I don't really get your point.

It's hilarious that Blatter thinks these incidents should be settled with a handshake, it shows that not only is he completely out of touch with football, he is also completely out of touch with the world in general. He's a complete and utter racist moron and it boggles the mind that he's head of the biggest organisation in the world's biggest sport!

 

[Alpherah]

I don't understand, are you suggesting that adding the 'stupid french' part changes nothing or shouldn't be compared to racism? Calling someone a stupid frenchman etc is xenophobia and should be treated in exactly the same way as racism.

According to the FA, using someone's nationality in an insult carries the same weight as using someones race in an insult.

I don't see it as being anywhere near as bad. Sorry.

 

[Adrianr]

I don't understand, are you suggesting that adding the 'stupid french' part changes nothing or shouldn't be compared to racism? Calling someone a stupid frenchman etc is xenophobia and should be treated in exactly the same way as racism.

Can we at least still call them cheese eating surrender monkeys?

 

[One More Solo]

With no evidence of being guilty. Yet we do have evidence of Evra crying wolf.
Yet the likely outcome is that Suarez is the guilty one. According to most.

Go figure.

Evra has never made allegations of racist abuse, the accusers in previous incidents were other people. Even the official Liverpool site had to backtrack on that line of argument so I suggest you do too.

 

[BaZ87]

Wasn't the Chelsea/Evra incident when he claimed a groundsman had been racist towards him, but no one else heard it/there was no evidence? Given that past event, and the fact there's no evidence (so far) this time, surely you can understand people defending him? . To call it shocking is... shocking!

To be fair it wasn't Evra that accused the groundsman, it was Mike Phelan. Evra was however found guilty of providing exaggerated and unreliable evidence relating to other aspects of the incident though.

The fact that Evra's claimed that Suarez said something 10 times without 1 of the countless camera's picking up anything, nobody else hearing it and him not reporting it to the officials despite being spoke to at least 3 times during the incident, is what makes it hard to believe.

What is even more surprising though is that a charge has been brought against Suarez yet nothing against Terry where there's very clear evidence against him.

Evra has never made allegations of racist abuse, the accusers in previous incidents were other people. Even the official Liverpool site had to backtrack on that line of argument so I suggest you do too.

What was put on the official site?

 

[Alpherah]

Can we at least still call them cheese eating surrender monkeys?

Don't use monkeys for christ sake, "I heard him mumble some words then call me a monkey! raaaacciissttt!"

 

[Alpherah]

Evra has never made allegations of racist abuse, the accusers in previous incidents were other people. Even the official Liverpool site had to backtrack on that line of argument so I suggest you do too.

Your referring to when Kenny said "Evra's no stranger" to this situation. Right?

What is even more surprising though is that a charge has been brought against Suarez yet nothing against Terry where there's very clear evidence against him.

I believe the FA won't (can't?) comment or get involved whilst the police are investigating the incident.
If its deemed severe enough to jump right over the FA and into the police though, then how they can allow him to remain playing is just shocking.

 

[nicktay2605]

According to the FA, using someone's nationality in an insult carries the same weight as using someones race in an insult.

I don't see it as being anywhere near as bad. Sorry.

I guess yours is probably quite a common opinion, I think xenophobia is one of those things people are often allowed to get away with in day-to-day life (just look at George Bush's comments about the French that Adrianr repeated), whereas most people would be shocked and appalled by someone making racist comments.

edit: presumably for the FA to charge Suarez they must have some sort of pretty clear evidence. Otherwise, how could they charge him in the first place?

 

[Alpherah]

I guess yours is probably quite a common opinion, I think xenophobia is one of those things people are often allowed to get away with in day-to-day life (just look at George Bush's comments about the French that Adrianr repeated), whereas most people would be shocked and appalled by someone making racist comments.

To be fair, i know two french guys at work and i guarantee they would be offended if i called them female parts! But they wouldn't be extra offended for adding french into it.

I guess for something to be bad, enough people has to actually be offended right?

edit: presumably for the FA to charge Suarez they must have some sort of pretty clear evidence. Otherwise, how could they charge him in the first place?

Thats the thing, the statement from the FA not once says "he has done this" its entirely based around "Allegations he has done this" which means one of two things.

1) The FA worded it badly.
or
2) The FA are useless

Pick one.