Support: Carlos' team-mates rally round him during the league match after a banana was thrown on to the pitch, Suarez and Liverpool did the opposite of supporting a guilty person, call a spade a spade racism black, white or any other so-called "colours" is absolutely wrong.
I had some strong words recently to a national newspaper in my country who regarded the racism issue between Suarez and Evra as "small matter" it was a column by a reporter or columnist who had no idea what he was talking about in any case I wrote a letter to the editors and I think it did have an effect,here I would also like to emphasize my point on this issue, here is an edited version of what I wrote :
I found the article
"racism cuts both ways, so what about Evra?" (dated 22nd December
2011)Immature and amateurish, I am surprised that the article even went
by the editing room. He states that he does not know what the England FA
Commission or England FA has, but yet comes up with a verdict that Evra
should be charged too, on what grounds? He also goes way out to
emphasize that even though he is Liverpool fan he is not being bias and
stamps this further by saying it at the end of the article, why the
guilty feeling? He states that he does not know what the independent
commission found out, so what right has he to pass judgement on this
issue and coming up with a verdict on Evra or anything for that matter?
The whole article was "null and void". He says that Suarez said that
this was normal in South America(to call people
with racist taunts), unless the whole of Uruguay lived in a dark cave
or Suarez for that matter, I think the civilized world knows better.
Further more Suarez spent a few seasons in Holland, so you mean to say
he did not know it? The reason he called Evra by this name was because
he
knew it would hurt him, otherwise why call him with the N word in the
first place? Why not call him angel?
As a former Journalist and Community Coach dedicating myself on some weekdays and full weekends for 6 years at the Brasil Football Centre (And having friends from South America, not just Brasil) and dealing with many coaches from Brasil, we always strive to teach morality and ethics to the youths. Racism is something which is very rarely found in Brasil now and is something that is taken seriously there.
A couple of seasons back an Argentine footballer was arrested in Brasil at the end of the match because of a racist slur towards a player. The player's name was Leandro Desabato, who played for Buenos Aires club Quilmes, was arrested on the pitch at the end of their 3-1 defeat by Sao Paulo in a Libertadores Cup match in Sao Paulo, Brasil . and he spent a day in jail, there was more to this and he was facing a three year jail sentence, but I do not know what became of the case.
It is actually a touchy subject in South America and please do not take statements by Suarez out of context (as he did), please try to know the culture and do not be swayed by your Liverpool lens. If you read the book "Pele, my life and the beautiful game" by Robert L. Fish, he touches on racism in Chapter 7 (old edition) and brings into context what Suarez was trying to do, mislead the general public. Here is the important paragraphs in that chapter :
...In Brazil very few people can tell how much black, or Indian or white or any other kind of blood they have themselves. The early settlers came to Brasil without their women, and as long as they were native Indians to service them, they did not lead celibate lives. The same was true when slaves were first brought to Brasil, although the shame and guilt the American felt at coupling with a woman of another colour never seemed to disconcert the early Brasilian. Words like Caboclo- a mixture of white and indian-or preto-simply meaning black- or moleque- which means a street urchin but which today is universally considered black-are not considered insults in Brazil, either by the giver or the receiver, Where an American might call a friend Shorty or Skinny, a Brasilain, might equally well call a friend Crioulo or Moleque and nobody think anything about it. As a matter of fact Morena-dark complexioned- is considered a high compliment to pay a girl. (Assuming, of course, that she isn't a blonde; calling a blonde morena might sound as if you thought her dye-job was bad.
Ok..In that same chapter Pele says how he fell in love with a Caucasian (or white girl in his own words) and how they fell in love at the age 12 or 13 it was all nice until the girl's father found out and he appeared in the school, in Pele's own words about the time he was in school with this girl (he is not sure of her name but he thought it was Elena, Pele says he blanked her out of her mind after that incident) :
...One day her father showed up at school. He waited until we came out of class and took his daughter roughly by the arm. We had all come trooping through the doors as on any other day, school bags dangling, ready for adventure of any kind. My own thoughts were to walk down to the railway station with Elena and watch the trains come in. But before the class could disperse, Elena's father swung her around with a jerk so that she was facing me. Everyone stopped. She was pallid, frightened. I felt myself begin to get cold.
"You have been walking around with this black vegabond? This negrinho? This moleque? This nothing? I didn't raise a daughter of mine to be seen with a trash like this! Now, let this be a lesson to you never to be seen with this Crioulo or any other!"
And in front of the entire school he swung her bodily over his knee and began to spank her. I stood there, my ears burning and did nothing. I knew that the class expected something more from me, the big football hero-that I rush in and tear his filthy hands from my darling, that I beat him to within an inch of his life as they did in the radio plays we listened to, or....
You can now see that Moleque and Crioulo is taken out of context and this obviously angers Pele, If your brother threw a banana to you when there is a watermelon, or apple on the table and asked you to eat it, would you be insulted? If you played for Anzi Machakala and you played in Russia and you were the only black player with the name Roberto Carlos and a banana was thrown at you, would you be insulted?
You mentioned that Evara should be punished, did you watch the match between Man Utd V Liverpool? Didn't you notice that Evra got a yellow card while Suarez did not get one? Conveniently you mentioned that Evra told the FA that Suarez was not a racist, but what else did Evra say to the FA and what else does the FA know?
Another thing that disturbs me is what I call the "patronizing effect" when John Terry was charged the same with Anton Ferdinanad, Tony Fernandez CEO of Air Asia and Chairman of QPR came out on ESPN and said that he was sure "John" was not a racist and did not mean it. Shouldn't the chairman just support his player -Ferdinand in this case and keep quiet until the investigation can take place?YES! However this did not happen, the very next day after that interview Capello was warned by the police to be mum on the Terry case and stop with foolish statements. I also saw on Fanzone on Astro, a fan from Malaysia supporting Suarez on this issue, wake up Malaysia! Why do you patronize the offender? What if the pundits on TV was not Caucasian would you still stick to these views?
First and foremost Malaysians are not from Liverpool or Manchester, I found the video where a United supporter having his shirt pulled out when the Liverpool game was going on childish, I can understand if a Selangor supporter did that in a Kelantan stand and the Kelantan fans going wild, but going all out for foreign teams, when you are a local??? When I was watching United V Malaysia here I saw many Liverpool fans wearing their jerseys and none of the local United fans made any trouble. But when i watched Liverpool train and I was not wearing any jersey at all, i had fans abusing me when I was walking on the road.
I do find it interesting from a sociological point of view how the fans of Liverpool and Manchester United are mimicking the fans from England, though at a smaller scale. It is also interesting to note that during the U.S Civil War, Liverpool was the most pro-Confederate city in Britain and Manchester mill workers held rallies for the Union during the U.S Civil War (Confederates supported Slavery and Union were against it), this fact can be found in an article written by a scouser and Liverpool fan in Time magazine, May 30th, 2011.
The issue here is bigger than football. Why do UEFA or FIFA spend so much on racism campaigns only to have uneducated players like Suarez and Terry spoiling it? I have been a victim of racial abuse in Australia and trust me it was not good, do not be a blind fan, this is bigger than football and did he write anything before the verdict on this subject and why racism should not be encouraged? It is up to clubs to educate players and with the internet and FIFA coming down strongly on racism Suarez should know better, going by the article, Uruguay is an uneducated nation.
As a former Journalist and Community Coach dedicating myself on some weekdays and full weekends for 6 years at the Brasil Football Centre (And having friends from South America, not just Brasil) and dealing with many coaches from Brasil, we always strive to teach morality and ethics to the youths. Racism is something which is very rarely found in Brasil now and is something that is taken seriously there.
A couple of seasons back an Argentine footballer was arrested in Brasil at the end of the match because of a racist slur towards a player. The player's name was Leandro Desabato, who played for Buenos Aires club Quilmes, was arrested on the pitch at the end of their 3-1 defeat by Sao Paulo in a Libertadores Cup match in Sao Paulo, Brasil . and he spent a day in jail, there was more to this and he was facing a three year jail sentence, but I do not know what became of the case.
It is actually a touchy subject in South America and please do not take statements by Suarez out of context (as he did), please try to know the culture and do not be swayed by your Liverpool lens. If you read the book "Pele, my life and the beautiful game" by Robert L. Fish, he touches on racism in Chapter 7 (old edition) and brings into context what Suarez was trying to do, mislead the general public. Here is the important paragraphs in that chapter :
...In Brazil very few people can tell how much black, or Indian or white or any other kind of blood they have themselves. The early settlers came to Brasil without their women, and as long as they were native Indians to service them, they did not lead celibate lives. The same was true when slaves were first brought to Brasil, although the shame and guilt the American felt at coupling with a woman of another colour never seemed to disconcert the early Brasilian. Words like Caboclo- a mixture of white and indian-or preto-simply meaning black- or moleque- which means a street urchin but which today is universally considered black-are not considered insults in Brazil, either by the giver or the receiver, Where an American might call a friend Shorty or Skinny, a Brasilain, might equally well call a friend Crioulo or Moleque and nobody think anything about it. As a matter of fact Morena-dark complexioned- is considered a high compliment to pay a girl. (Assuming, of course, that she isn't a blonde; calling a blonde morena might sound as if you thought her dye-job was bad.
Ok..In that same chapter Pele says how he fell in love with a Caucasian (or white girl in his own words) and how they fell in love at the age 12 or 13 it was all nice until the girl's father found out and he appeared in the school, in Pele's own words about the time he was in school with this girl (he is not sure of her name but he thought it was Elena, Pele says he blanked her out of her mind after that incident) :
...One day her father showed up at school. He waited until we came out of class and took his daughter roughly by the arm. We had all come trooping through the doors as on any other day, school bags dangling, ready for adventure of any kind. My own thoughts were to walk down to the railway station with Elena and watch the trains come in. But before the class could disperse, Elena's father swung her around with a jerk so that she was facing me. Everyone stopped. She was pallid, frightened. I felt myself begin to get cold.
"You have been walking around with this black vegabond? This negrinho? This moleque? This nothing? I didn't raise a daughter of mine to be seen with a trash like this! Now, let this be a lesson to you never to be seen with this Crioulo or any other!"
And in front of the entire school he swung her bodily over his knee and began to spank her. I stood there, my ears burning and did nothing. I knew that the class expected something more from me, the big football hero-that I rush in and tear his filthy hands from my darling, that I beat him to within an inch of his life as they did in the radio plays we listened to, or....
You can now see that Moleque and Crioulo is taken out of context and this obviously angers Pele, If your brother threw a banana to you when there is a watermelon, or apple on the table and asked you to eat it, would you be insulted? If you played for Anzi Machakala and you played in Russia and you were the only black player with the name Roberto Carlos and a banana was thrown at you, would you be insulted?
You mentioned that Evara should be punished, did you watch the match between Man Utd V Liverpool? Didn't you notice that Evra got a yellow card while Suarez did not get one? Conveniently you mentioned that Evra told the FA that Suarez was not a racist, but what else did Evra say to the FA and what else does the FA know?
Another thing that disturbs me is what I call the "patronizing effect" when John Terry was charged the same with Anton Ferdinanad, Tony Fernandez CEO of Air Asia and Chairman of QPR came out on ESPN and said that he was sure "John" was not a racist and did not mean it. Shouldn't the chairman just support his player -Ferdinand in this case and keep quiet until the investigation can take place?YES! However this did not happen, the very next day after that interview Capello was warned by the police to be mum on the Terry case and stop with foolish statements. I also saw on Fanzone on Astro, a fan from Malaysia supporting Suarez on this issue, wake up Malaysia! Why do you patronize the offender? What if the pundits on TV was not Caucasian would you still stick to these views?
First and foremost Malaysians are not from Liverpool or Manchester, I found the video where a United supporter having his shirt pulled out when the Liverpool game was going on childish, I can understand if a Selangor supporter did that in a Kelantan stand and the Kelantan fans going wild, but going all out for foreign teams, when you are a local??? When I was watching United V Malaysia here I saw many Liverpool fans wearing their jerseys and none of the local United fans made any trouble. But when i watched Liverpool train and I was not wearing any jersey at all, i had fans abusing me when I was walking on the road.
I do find it interesting from a sociological point of view how the fans of Liverpool and Manchester United are mimicking the fans from England, though at a smaller scale. It is also interesting to note that during the U.S Civil War, Liverpool was the most pro-Confederate city in Britain and Manchester mill workers held rallies for the Union during the U.S Civil War (Confederates supported Slavery and Union were against it), this fact can be found in an article written by a scouser and Liverpool fan in Time magazine, May 30th, 2011.
The issue here is bigger than football. Why do UEFA or FIFA spend so much on racism campaigns only to have uneducated players like Suarez and Terry spoiling it? I have been a victim of racial abuse in Australia and trust me it was not good, do not be a blind fan, this is bigger than football and did he write anything before the verdict on this subject and why racism should not be encouraged? It is up to clubs to educate players and with the internet and FIFA coming down strongly on racism Suarez should know better, going by the article, Uruguay is an uneducated nation.
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