Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

I think that the FA have not thought of this Respect campaign very well, IF, racism on the pitch is heard by the ref, he should apply the letter of the law, but some refs are scared to do this.

The FA are too soft, far to soft to apply this, as there is too much money in football, Liverpool and Chelsea should be totally ashamed of themself, BOTH clubs need to act on this too, BUT they are claiming that they will stand by the players.

JT has been charged by the CPS, and will face court, the FA have fined Suarez for the racism remark, what have both clubs done BOTH have come out with the same old crap ' no they would not do that'. Clubs have a duty to the paying fans that they show respect to the fans by acting on the problem.

I gave up reffing as the authorities don't care about it. IF a player commits a racist comment, then they must face a ban of longer than eight games and a prison term. This is the only way you will stamp it out.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

Really? Have you seen how the Terry thing is being handled? It's certainly not ok for one English player to racially abuse another.

I don't see hypocrisy at all. Rooney got a multiple game ban for swearing into a camera, it's foolish to think that making racist remarks wouldn't warrant an even larger punishment. Liverpool have handled this awfully, from the press statement attacking Evra to the t-shirts.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

If Terry gets away with this scot-free then the FA will have no grounds to charge him and had this not been reported to the police by the member of the public there is no reason to believe that this particular incident would ever see the light of day.

Suarez on the other hand was charged on the basis of an accusation by another player and his case was heard by a supposedly independent disciplinary committee, appointed by the FA of course. The problem that the FA now have is that they have accused Suarez of something which will leave him open to potentially libellous actions such as the nonsense printed on the back of some of the red-tops this morning. The FA have opened a huge can of worms for themselves and started a war that will end very badly for them.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

Wrong Uncle Peter, Racism has no place in football, when players show at fellow professionals, and players should be banned.

The FA can charge him on the basis of what is happening, bringing the game into disrepute (Terry that is).

Each game that is played and is on TV, players have to realise that what they say that is caught on camera, people lip read.

I say again, fans pay big money to watch there clubs and therefore should not have to put with foul language.

At Tottenham, the signs clearly tell the fans what they should do, this should apply to the players as well.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

Racism is very wrong on every level and everywhere, not just football but neither player has been found guilty of such behaviour in a court of law. In the case of John Terry it remains to be seen whether or not he is found guilty as part of a criminal prosecution, until such time he is innocent.

Luis Suarez on the other hand has 14 days to appeal against the punishment dished out by the FA, remember that the FA play by their own rules as such are open to be accused of making arbitrary decisions to suit their agenda. This is of course the same FA who sent a brief out to UEFA to appeal against the punishment meted out to an England player after he had assaulted a fellow professional in an international game.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

Commentary on that funniest dive sounds like Channel 9!

Scorchio... :D

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

Premier League scores


Man City 3 Stoke 0
Fulham 0 Man Utd 5
Wigan 0 Liverpool 0
Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2
Newcastle 2 West Brom 3
Everton 1 Swansea 0
QPR 2 Sunderland 3

http://www.sportinglife.com/football...1.html&BID=165


Good wins by Arsenal, and Both Manchester clubs.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

There is a lot of reason to believe it would have seen the light of day. The FA received a complaint on the same day as the police did and announced they would be looking into it before the police launched an official investigation. The FA started their investigation on the 25th October whereas the Police announced theirs on the 1st of November. The FA rightly creased to make a decision while Police investigations are ongoing.

The idea Terry or any other English player would have gotten away for the same incident is utterly unsubstantiated but even if it was, it would be an argument for them to be punished further - not for Suárez to be let off.

There is no supposedly about it. They were independent. This is an FA matter so of course they were appointed by the FA but it's disingenuous to claim they unduly influenced the committee. It's just, along with Terry, another in a series of conspiracy theories coming out of Anfield.

The newspapers are not the FA's problem. They avoided any suggestion of libel by finding Suárez guilty of using a word he admitted to using, although he disputes the context, they didn't call him racist.

Only Liverpool view this as a 'war', it's childish. They are going after Evra, and they are going after the FA over this. They are looking very bad in doing so. I am not sure how it will end badly for the FA since most, if not all, of the mainstream press seems to be scornful of Liverpool's press statement and the t-shirts. The best they can hope for is a legal action that forces the ban to be overturned which let's them keep playing Suárez but will damage Liverpool's image immensely. I am not sure Liverpool or their fans understand how they look from the outside in all of this.

They should have defended the player and quietly went about an appeal. They should not have attacked the accuser. Football has tried very hard to combat racism in the past 10/20 years and the idea that someone should be attacked in an official club statement for making such a complaint to sickening.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

I think this is a very important point. It is not against the law (of the land or FA) to be racist, just as it is not illegal to be say, attracted to children (extreme example I know, but look at it in context).

What is illegal is to act on it, such as making a racially-based insult. I believe it is very simple to make a racial remark without actually being racist - one does not necessarily equate to the other.

Looking at it in this context, it almost makes a mockery of Terry say he's not racist, he has close friends from all backgrounds etc. Those circumstances do not prevent someone from making a particular comment in the heat of the moment. By the way I'm not saying that makes it ok, just making a distinction. When you're angry and want to irritate/annoy/get back at someone, it can be very easy to go for the lowest possible denominator.

As for Liverpool, yes they are being extremely childish and although this doesn't justify anything, I think the fact the complaint came from a Man United player speaks volumes about their response.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

l just thought you and Damien should look at this Youtube video in which Evra seems to have a track record of making claims against people and perhaps you should remember that Evra was outed as the main protagonist in France's World Cup strike as well so he perhaps we should be questioning him as much as people are questioning Liverpool and Suarez.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPHlbqsewew

http://sport.stv.tv/fifa-world-cup/c...ld-cup-strike/

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

Suárez himself admitted using the word. He disputes the context.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

And this is the point.

Certain words cannot be used towards others on the field, regardless of context. Just as an example, if all Evra's mates called him n****** as some sort of term of endearment and the ref (or a tv camera etc) witnessed him doing so too, that would be a breach of the rules.

In this case neither the word(s) or the context make any difference.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

l am all against racism and if players are found guilty then yes the book should be thrown at them but answer this question What word are we going to use when 'black' becomes politically incorrect?

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

Have you paid much attention to the case? He has been found guilty of using such language, language more offensive than 'black'.

Re: Football Season 2011/12
 

l have paid attention totally to the case but l am posing the question of sometime in the future will we be able to call someone black and you have not answered that question so far as if l call someone black will l be accused of being racist sometime in the future by someone.