"Well, since we have been wonderfully succesful in kicking out Racism from our national game, lets all petition to ban Spain from competitions"

But, as someone said upthread, just because there's no racism against black players now, doesn't mean there's no racism. Four or five years ago when Bradford were in the Premier League I remember reading that visiting fans would sing 'you're just a town full of Pakis'. And last year when England played Turkey up in Sunderland there was sustained abuse of the Turkish fans/team including chants of 'I'd rather be a Paki than a Turk'.

I thought what happened in Madrid the other night was sickening, and it's true that it wouldn't happen here, but I think there's still a long way to go before we should be slapping ourselves on the backs.

i'm ashamed to say that i still call referees wankers, sometimes, when they're being wankers (not in the literal sense).

referees normally get called wankers when they make poor decisions - this isn't wankerish behaviour, it's an honest mistake. refereeing must be quite a frightening job.

Arrogantes could've been sacked at the time he made the Henry comment - too late now as he hasn't really said anything incendiary since (other than winding up/responding to British press winding-up tactics, which many managers tend to fall into)

the only thing that can realistically be done is to fine the Spanish FA and put more pressure on them to instigate a proper 'no racism' campaign - probably too unrealistic to suggest that be increased to include 'wiping out ALL abuse based on attributes a person has no control over (their race, their sexuality)', esp. in a country like Spain

if racist abuse occurs on this scale against other countries with black players, then it would be time to consider sterner punishment. for some reason i can't help but think that won't happen, and it was just because it was England.

Remember, Spain play their games all round the country, they make the effort to play in obscure places and the players always got to a local sports centre and spend time signing stuff for the local schoolkids. The Spain national team is actually quite a force for good, I think. Just because the Real Madrid wankers are wankers doesn't mean everybody is a wanker (although they probably are).

It would also be appropriate for Mr Aragonés to retire once and for all. He did threaten to die on the bench though. It's unfortunate that it was such a good performance.

He has a friend who pronounces 'allergy', 'Algeria' (only in Spanish). At the time I thought this was funny, now it seems indicative of a wider malaise. Well, not really.

xpost

what do you think it actually is? 65/35 white? more? less?

proportion of Black faces in the crowd to White faces in the crowd

85/15 white?

It would appear that they have apologised now they've realised it's not going to go away.

the WWE is pretty racist

I remember someone saying the Rangers fans did this as well, can anyone confirm? Given the proliferation of N@tional Fr0nt crap that's available outside Ibrox it wouldn't surprise me.
Their "Pride before prejudice" thing doesn't seem to be working if the "Bobo Balde peels bananas with his feet" (to the tune of Yellow Submarine) chants earlier in the year were anything to go by.

I strikes me as odd the number of people condemning Spain for the attacks rather than the individual Spaniards who abused the players. There have been many occasions in the past (every football tournament for years) when the media has taken the stance that England as a team and a nation shouldn't be punished for the actions of groups of supporters. Maybe they should apply the same standards to Spain. Or is "all Spaniards are racist" a reasonable stance to take?

I'm of to watch the Old Firm game now and will no doubt shout all sorts of abuse at the television. Hopefully I'll be civilised again by 2:30.

Yes, things have changed a lot since the bad old days of mass booing of black players, but there are still chants at opposing supporters such as those referred to by Jamie upthread. By a minority, certainly, and I'm pleased to say that it is now more common for their behaviour to be challenged - but it is a depressingly large minority.

http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/european/story.jsp?story=588801

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7225523.stm

ireland would have to be banned as well, fo sho.
i was in landsdowne when one of the danish players was heckled because he played for a protestant club, glasgow rangers. like the game in madrid, it was amazingly widespread in the crowd, not just a small minority.

See also Neil Lennon getting death threats in Northern Ireland when playing for what is perceived to be a Catholic club (Celtic).

That Lewis Hamilton thing is totally WTF.

Following racist abuse suffered by English footballers in Spain in recent years, Sutcliffe believes strong action is required now.

"Racism should not be tolerated and this is not the first time British sportsmen have been racially abused in Spain," he said.

Didn't Samuel Eto'o suffer abuse as well? It's not just confined to Spain v black English/British people.