Gillingham FC Forum

Football continues to attract the lowest forms of life, as evidenced by the despicable behaviour of some Chelsea fans on the Paris metro. It would be bad enough to encounter it in the UK, seeing it in someone else's country somehow makes it even worse.
These 'fans' are a disgrace to their club, their country and their families; there is nothing to explain or excuse their behaviour other than a collective IQ in single figures and probably a level of personal achievement somewhere around zero.

We would raise hell if another country's fans came over here and acted like that. We can hold our heads high as some of the best behaved fans around after over-coming years of being tarred as hooligans.......until now.

Chelsea fans look like Saints compared to the Feyenoord fans, lol. Go to the South side of Chicago and see what the African Americans call you.
I find it so hard to believe that people buy into this lets love everyone bit ,lets all hold children' s hands and walk out onto the pitch , half the familys in the World can not get on, and that's just Mom, Dad and a couple of kids and yet all the "do goodrs" want every race and nation , creed and religion to all sit around and sing Kumbaya together.
Guy should have given up trying to be Nelson Mandela and moved to another carriage , why the hell would you even want to get in that one when people are being jerks to you and thats when your still on the platform.
Lets see one of me, on the platform, 20 black/Indian/Chinese/French or what ever guys inside shouting we hate the English or whitey or people with blue eyes, yeah I am going to make sure I get in that carriage, probably tell one of them to move his fat ass so I can sit down as well.

Whilst this behaviour will never be eradicated, it has become almost unheard of. Simply accepting it takes us back several decades. Should we go back to dragging women to places to dominate them? Should we replace democracy in civilised nations for extreme oppression? Things are for the better because this type of behaviour has ceased and our football can be admired around the world again, I don't these people representing me on the world stage. It seems to me in America "the land of the free" is about the rights of individuals to do what they like and damn anyone else. As for Chelsea, its a bit rich strongly condemning these actions when in the past they condoned similar from one of their players. Lead by example and all that....

Yeah everything been left behind, like the 2 points we left behind today at Yeovil. We all love each other ,and Scally was in court because Mark McCammon wouldn't come to his house for lunch every Tuesday after practice ,or was that decades ago like way way back in what 2012 ??
Turn your TV on tomorrow and listen to the West Ham fans HISSING at the Spurs fans ,I wonder what that means,snakes on the field or something else ??
I would love to see the world all get on, no crime, er no I wouldn't I would be unemployed, but no one getting hurt when crimes take place, no one dying of cancer, or other nasty things and no one being mean to each other, just can not see it happening,especially as, God made us English people such a superior group, if we wern't we would have all been made like fuzzy wuzzy's,what ever they were wouldn't we Corporal Jones ??

I was determined to not make a comment because I knew some would slaughter me, but now the subject has been brought up I will have my say. Not condoning the Chelsea fans at all, but in some ways at least they were being honest rather than a lot of others who pretend to be open minded, but will still shy away from certain areas, shops or people in queues. That doesn't make it right at all.
What gets me though is that this incident involving 20 fans has been in the news for days, at The Africa Cup of Nations there was rioting, violence, tribal aggression, but hardly a murmur from the press?
Racism as defined now days happens all the time. Russians here in Spain treat other races with overt disdain and you here people making comments about "ignorant arrogant Russians, but that is white on white, still racist, but not visible. In Seville they were going to build a Mosque, the Spanish locals didn't want it so they buried a pig in the ground on the site meaning the ground was tainted, no Mosque. No big hoo ha over here, more a certain amount of admiration.
Try walking through parts of Thamesmead on your own and hear and feel the anti white sentiments.
What the Chelsea fans did was terrible, but the same things go on all over the world in all directions every day. For some reason though things like this are the only stories ever reported!

I had the same in Erith (I visited my old Assistant Manager) and I have never felt so out of place! You and Gillsfan are right, it goes on all the time BUT this wasn't in a place where there is constant prejudice or hatred nor was it at a football match where it could be classified as banter as long as it stops the second it is outside the ground. This was fans who should know tolerance from a multi-cultural city behaving immorally in another multi-cultural city. It could almost be excused if it occurred in a place where it was rife but it didn't and all the time we make excuses for their behaviour it will never disappear.

It isn't about making the whole world love each other, it is about people from civilised nations treating each other with respect and if we can't manage that then we are no better than any nation that treats their compatriots like flies.

I don't think anyone is making excuses, but you cannot make people like each other. A tolerant society means we tolerate, not embrace or like. The worse thing you can do is tell people they must do something because there will be those who won't just because they have been instructed to. As for a multiracial City. That is true, but don't confuse that with genuine mix of races all getting along together. That might happen in the wealthy areas, but go to Dalston, Brick Lane, Catford, Tottenham etc and you will see enclaves living totally separate lives from each other. Until people realise that the more you try and force integration the more people will oppose it then it will never work. People naturally mix with people who are similar to them whether they are of a different race or not, but if you are told you must mix then quite often people will stand with their own almost in defiance. Brits do it overseas, the French do it in London, the Yanks do it wherever they go. There are French schools in London, British and American schools all over Europe. Muslim schools all over the world. If people genuinely wanted to mix they would not exist!

I absolutely agree with that 100% but that makes the behaviour of the Chelsea fans worse. There was no tolerating and the person could just as easily been an elderly white woman, it was the fact under no provocation they decided there and then to act to with racial prejudice. Had they not stated they were proud to be racist, it might not have been classed a race issue at all. Were these fans of Drogba just out of interest making them hypocrites as well!? Instances whereby years of oppression or poor integration result in issues need to be dealt with but can be understood, this instance doesn't fit into any of those and from the picture Chicago paints of America still in the 1890s it doesn't bode well for them!

The answer is quite simple Elgrande; if you can recognise a prejudice you can deal with it, not indulge it. Feeling like you could belt the idiot who cuts you up on the motorway is no justification for running him off the road and doing it. Just because you have an emotional reaction doesn't make it right to act on it. Most of us learn that at about age 5.

I really don't understand the need for the sly little dig Rimshot. I replied to the post in a measured and honest way. The world is changing because anyone can film anyone at any time on their phones and tablets. The problem is that the media decide which bits are shown time and time again. Racism is not the sole prerogative of the white working class just take a look at Rwanda, the Kurdish enclave, many parts of India, Matabeleland or the joint antagonism between Japan and China.
I would never defend the actions of the Chelsea fans I was just commenting on how one incident is highlighted and others are ignored. Football is a soft target, today we have the West Ham fans fore**in song getting shown repeatedly, there are about 8 of them, but there were a good few thousand not behaving in this way. I remember the West Indies Cricket fans in the 80's being less than "friendly" at the Oval, but it was basically ignored as is the behaviour of the Pakistan Cricket fans.
Of course racism should be dealt with, but in an open, honest and even handed way.

Its only a dig if the shovel fits in the hole. You take all my comments personally -this one was aimed fairly and squarely at the so-called mature men acting like adolescents out on a first visit to the pub.

If the comment is addressed to me surely it is personal? Maybe 12 months in Dalston would open your eyes!

It's a response to your post, that's why it mentions you. I'm sorry you can't see that addressing a comment to you doesn't mean you're the subject of it. However, you have readily identified with people who express racist views and appear to have a high degree of sympathy with them.

You also seem to assume that if i lived in Dalston I would have different views. I think that's unlikely - I lived in the Normanton area of Derby (overwhelmingly Asian in population) in the Sutton road area of Watford ( heavily Asian / Irish) and in Temple Fortune ( Golders Green, North London) where I was the only Gentile living in a block of 16 maisonettes.

Racism is the product of ignorance, fear and resentment. Look elsewhere for the cause of your disaffection.

I will always play devils advocate Rimshot because I so think that we have a problem with "forcing" people to accept other cultures when at the same time we don't expect the reverse. I have had friends / mates from diverse backgrounds and many of them think things have gone far enough. I just think the subjective replaying of certain incidents makes things look worse than they actually are. The UK is over tolerant and don't even expect people arriving in the UK to either learn English or be responsible for providing their own translator. Here is Spain there are signs up in hospitals, doctors and council offices saying that if you do not speak Spanish it is your responsibility to provide a translator. No one has a problem with that. In areas where there is a high percentage of North Europeans there is normally a certain level of English speaking staff, but not leaflets etc in 27 languages. It's the same with the benefits system, everyone Spanish or foreign have to pay into the system before they can take out and you must have a work contract or be a pensioner to qualify for health care if you are non-Spanish. Something like that would eradicate a lot of tension in the UK.