Racism's redoubt
MICHAEL HENDERSON
KICK racism out of football,' proclaimed a banner at the football match I attended last weekend. Before the game, and during half-time, young people carried the banner round all four sides of the ground so that spectators could not miss the message. And yes, by all means kick racism out of football, and netball too, and crown green bowls, should it come to that. But why stop there? Why not crack down with equal vigour on all other forms of intolerance?
At the end of a week in which some dim young policemen had been caught saying horrible things by a secret camera, the issue of 'racism' was likely to crop up in some form, though the most committed anti-racist zealots have been known to confuse racism with colour prejudice, which is not always the same thing. For instance, why has nobody been prosecuted for abusing Roy Keane, the Manchester United captain, who played against Glasgow Rangers at Ibrox last week and was con
demned in the most disgusting language for being an unrepentant follower of Celtic?
It's worth bearing in mind what Alex McLeish, the Rangers manager, said before the game about the likely response of his club's supporters to Keane. Jeering at the player, he thought, showed 'how much respect' they had for him, In football (and McLeish is not the most stupid man in the game; far from it) they actually believe that sort of guff! `Eff off, you effing Fenian effer.' Yes, that kind of 'respect', the kind which, repeated outside a football ground, would see the miscreant up before the beak next morning, no questions asked.
Football doesn't do too badly with racism, to be fair, because there are now so many black players, native and imported, on the field, There are bigots and birdbrains in the stands, but they spray poison at everybody who doesn't play for their team. Professional football, as this column has said before, doesn't just tolerate tribal enmity. It actually fosters it, not least in the stomach-turning sentimentality shown by players, managers and (hands up, the media) to that cretinous herd, 'the fans'.
Surely the most impressive hand against racism in the past year was played by Nasser Hussain, the former captain of the England cricket team. As an Englishman born in India, and both happy and proud of his background, he declared that young Asians brought up in this country should get behind England at cricket. Not surprisingly, he was pilloried for taking this brave stand, some people complaining that he didn't 'understand' his fellow Asians. For his sake, and ours, let's hope that he never does.
The anti-racist zealots would do well to consider that. Certainly, they should look very closely at the behaviour of Pakistan supporters when that country's team comes to England. Far and away the most racist behaviour I have ever encountered at a sports event came at a cricket match between Pakistan and India at Old Trafford four years ago. Pakistan won, and the foul-mouthed, sexually threatening conduct of some of their supporters inside and outside the ground passed without comment. Had the offenders been white, it would have been very different.
Kick racists out of football? As my friend Mike Ellison, who accompanied me to QPR last week, said. 'Why not just kick out all the yobs?' Then, as one, we said, 'Because there'd be nobody left!' Except it's not funny.
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