Support Spain!

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Support Spain!

England stumble against France but Spain triumph over Italy! You know who to support this summer - ¡ESPAÑA!

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

This summer I shall be supporting the kick racism out of football campaign.

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Yes, we all remember the "rather be a **** than a turk" gem ... stones and glass houses, mate ...

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Yes, we all remember the "rather be a **** than a turk" gem ... stones and glass houses, mate ...

Eh? I never condoned that. I don't think the English FA did either.

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Yeah. But the implication was there. Granted, there is a problem with racism in Spanish football but I don't anyone in England can make too much of a thing of it. Aside from the "**** - turk" thing, you rarely hear the Spanish boo another country's national anthem, for instance ...

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Yeah. But the implication was there. Granted, there is a problem with racism in Spanish football but I don't anyone in England can make too much of a thing of it. Aside from the "**** - turk" thing, you rarely hear the Spanish boo another country's national anthem, for instance ...

That's not a racist thing, they do that for every country. Except maybe Northern Ireland!

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Ok. Xenophobia then!

(which is ironically a French word!)

Always the same, eh Matt?!

;)

 

[londonblue]

Yeah. But the implication was there. Granted, there is a problem with racism in Spanish football but I don't anyone in England can make too much of a thing of it. Aside from the "**** - turk" thing, you rarely hear the Spanish boo another country's national anthem, for instance ...

And Formula 1.

 

[Slipperduke]

I'm considering lending my support to Poland. Plucky chaps one and all, a great help during the Battle of Britain and it shouldn't be too hard to find a few of them to celebrate with.

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

And Formula 1.

A grand total of six people from a population of over 40 million doesn't make Spain a rascist country just as a few thousand at the Stadium of Light chanting a preference to be a **** over a Turk doesn't make every Englander one either. What those idiots did at Montmelo was inexcusable (and the press condemned the behaviour as well) but let's not tar an entire nation on such action.

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

A grand total of six people from a population of over 40 million doesn't make Spain a rascist country just as a few thousand at the Stadium of Light chanting a preference to be a **** over a Turk doesn't make every Englander one either. What those idiots did at Montmelo was inexcusable (and the press condemned the behaviour as well) but let's not tar an entire nation on such action.

It was actually a chant of "I'd rather bomb Turkey than Iraq"

 

[Napster]

Ok. Xenophobia then!

(which is ironically a French word!)

Always the same, eh Matt?!

;)

And there was me thinking it came from Greek- xenos meaning "foreigner," "stranger," and phobos, meaning "fear."

;)

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

And there was me thinking it came from Greek- xenos meaning "foreigner," "stranger," and phobos, meaning "fear."

;)

Yeah, you're probably right. I was almost 2am!

;)

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

It was actually a chant of "I'd rather bomb Turkey than Iraq"

Was it now? My ears and eyes must have been playing tricks on me then ... badly ...

"Nor were the English fans who, when England played Turkey in 2003, chanted: “I’d rather be a **** than a Turk.” This is the contemporary equivalent of the bananas thrown at black players 20 years ago."

"The FA were fined by UEFA when some home fans sang "I'd rather be a **** than a Turk" at an England v Turkey match in 2003."

"In the first half an old racist favourite was given a new twist to become ‘I’d rather be a **** than a Turk’ which could be clearly heard on one occasion during the first half. That the chant came directly after ‘No Surrender to the IRA’ clearly demonstrated it had been inspired by the ‘hard core’ elements which continue to follow their national team."

"Commentators inclined to complacency will have been rudely awakened by events at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland in April, when England beat Turkey amid chants of “Die, Muslim, die” and “I’d rather be a **** than a Turk". Police made more than a hundred arrests - but not one was for a “racially aggravated” offence."

"In Sunderland, the chants of "I'd rather be a **** than a Turk" were clearly audible yet did not prompt any intervention from the stewards."

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

I was there Mike, people who were with me were singing what I alluded ot earlier. Most of the North Stand was in fact.

Never heard any anti "****" chants either.

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Easy to accuse, isn't it?

On the strength of the chanting at the Bernebeu and the incident at Montmelo, the whole of Spain is apparently an overtly racist country to many in the UK.

Yet it works both ways: the despicable BNP, the equally nasty National Front, the anti-Turk chants, the ten green bombers song and the anti-Alonso campaign; all could attribute to the UK being regarded as an overtly racist country as well, surely?

 

[Interpol Shrimper]

I'm not accusing!
Plus, Spain probably play the best flowing football in Euro2008 so on purely footballing terms they will be a team I will follow.

 

[Slipperduke]

The only people I hate more than foreigners are the bloody English.

 

[Xàbia Shrimper]

I'm not accusing!
Plus, Spain probably play the best flowing football in Euro2008 so on purely footballing terms they will be a team I will follow.

I mislead: it wasn't personal, just a general observation ...

 

[McNasty]

If Iwas supporting a foreign team it would be Greece, because they like the English and hate the Germans.