One might this week be forgiven for thinking that we are living in a parallel universe, one where all notion of common sense has dissipated into thin air, one where the conviction of right and wrong, black and white even, has been blurred.

This was a week during which the country should be united in applause, despite the fact that it required 18 years and the necessity of uncovering institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police, that a family finally has a modicum of justice, non-existent as it may be in consolation, for the loss of their beloved son and brother in a heinous racial crime. And yet, the sporting tabloids seem more focused on uncovering innuendo.

Imagine my surprise, horror and shock, a mere 48 hours after the convictions of Gary Dobson and David Norris, to read the following tweet from the Chief Sportswriter of a National Daily, albeit that it is barely fit to carry the title newspaper:-

Is calling someone a ‘black c….’ racist? Spoke to a black player today who said racism is words like ‘c..n’, n-word, ‘w..’ etc. Don’t know

— Oliver Holt (@OllieHoltMirror) November 14, 2011

In-credible hardly seems sufficient to define that question. My own personal response would echo that of many … “come and call it me to my face Mr Holt, and you’ll soon see what I think of it.”

Quite frankly, I have found the standard of reporting, in particular over the Luis Suarez case, to be utterly shameful. There has been minimal objectivity, and I count those both in support of and objectionable to the Liverpool striker. Additionally, the labels given towards the club and its supporters have been nothing short of libellous and incendiary at best.

As a man of colour who has supported the club for over 30 years, I have quite frankly found them offensive. There is absolutely no doubt that Liverpool Football Club could have handled this very differently from the outset and I personally believe that they should have shown more contrition and humility at various times over the last few months. I also said, at the time, that the T-Shirts worn at Wigan in the aftermath of the FA decision were horribly ill advised, and I stand by those words now. That said, I utterly reject the right of the nation’s hacks – mainly tabloid some not, to label Liverpool Football Club and its supporters as racist.

Had the Suarez case been heard in a Court of Law, it would have been thrown out, such is the opinion of most legal experts based on what we have seen. The weighting of evidence, however, is very different in the Courts than it is with the Independent Commission of the FA. In this respect, it will be very interesting to see how the FA react to any legal verdict in the case of John Terry.

Either way, in the aftermath of the Suarez verdict, we all had the opportunity to sit back and reflect on what it really says about our communities, lives and the sport of football. However, we chose not to, instead deciding to argue amongst each other as to the rights and wrongs of a kangaroo court, as to whether Suarez had called Evra 5 or 7 times a Negro. The latter is quite frankly irrelevant, for if he called it him even once, it merited investigation. Of course, instead of educating, the FA chose to blame, and that is exactly the route that the likes of the aforementioned Holt has taken.

All we have been crying out for is a well reasoned article which lays out all of the evidence and discusses it rationally. In fact, despite the fact that the FA’s report confirmed Patrice Evra as stating that he didn’t think that Suarez was racist, what we have had is a backlash of hatred towards the Uruguayan labelling him as just that. Well that is just great investigative reporting.

If these last few weeks have not been unsavoury enough, we now have a scenario where the 20 year old Oldham defender, Tom Adeyemi, was seen to be visibly upset in the latter stages of tonight’s FA Cup tie at Anfield against Liverpool. As always, there has been accusation and counter-accusation as to whether it was racially motivated, with claims ranging from his being called a ‘black b*****d’ through to a ‘Manc t**t’, or even having coins thrown at him.

I will say one thing first – if it is found to be racist abuse, the perpetrator should be publicly named, shamed and banned from every sporting ground in the country – and not just for 8 games, for life. However, even at a time when the Merseyside Police were saying that no arrests had been made on racial grounds tonight, the Mirror and the Guardian were quick to publish articles accusing the Merseyside club and its supporters of racial abuse. This is, again, the very gutter of print and online journalism, and if it is shown not to be the case, I would hope that club and individuals would take legal action against those involved.

However, there is rarely smoke without fire, and what has been established is that the young man has made a serious allegation to Merseyside Police, one which they and Liverpool Football Club are investigating very seriously.

I genuinely hope that there is no foundation in the accusation of racial abuse, because it would be a disaster for the club’s image in light of recent events. However, it would also give the club the opportunity to show their opposition to such behaviour in how they deal with the offender, especially given the accusations they have faced in light of the Suarez incident.

Hypocrisy lives in all walks of life. People forget that this is the same club and set of fans who vehemently stood up for its players, one of whom had banana skins thrown in his direction in a Local Derby as recently as the late 1980s. This is a club that has had players from all races and walks of life during its illustrious history. Has it suddenly become racist? Absolutely not. Does it retain a duty to the sport to fight racism? Absolutely yes. And should it defend a player who it feels has been vilified unfairly? Absolutely yes, because were the roles reversed, those throwing scorn at them would do likewise.

Liverpool Football Club and its fans are far from perfect. Few are. However, some of the rubbish written in recent weeks beggars belief. In my opinion, whomever was abusing young Tom Adeyemi this evening, racially or otherwise, deserves a piece of his own medicine. What gives him the right to shout any type of abuse at a young 20 year old man who is just doing his job. And maybe we have gone too soft on football fans – so happy that the darker element of hooliganism is no longer as lucidly apparent, that we fail to see the abusive behaviour towards players week in and week out across the country. Yes, they may earn a lot of money, but I was not aware that you could shout out to a rich business man that he was an ‘effing this and that’ while he was on the way to his office. Not without being arrested anyway.

Maybe the time has come for football supporters to get a dose of reality. Abuse anyone in anyway, and you will be ejected and / or arrested. This is, of course, a pipe dream, and unlikely to happen. However, the overriding feeling within me is that football continues to be tribal, and as such will continue to be a means by which supporters release their verbal frustrations on those who are unable even to glance a look back at them without being charged by the FA.

To read the papers in recent weeks, you would think that we were back in the dark ages of race relations, a time when my ancestors and forefathers regularly bore the labels of wog, coon, Paki, sambo and of course the N-Word. Please do not be goaded by the insane ramblings of a tabloid hack who has not the intelligence to compute that which goes on around him.

Sadly, it is because of the likes of Stephen Lawrence and Damilola Taylor that we have moved forward in this country. Are we perfect? Of course not, and there are elements of racism wherever you go, whether we like to admit it or not. But if you are going to try and educate me, Mr Holt and colleagues, tell me about the racial tensions between different groups of Blacks in the UK, that between various groups of Asians, and that between Blacks and Asians. This is not a case of black and white, but that is all you seem to know.

Rohan Kallicharan

I am the editor of hetoreahamstring.co.uk and also have a personal site at rohankallicharan.co.uk. I am passionate about all sports and would probably pay over the odds from a tout to watch the world tiddlywinks final. I was fortunate to grow up inside the dressing room of the legendary West Indian cricket team of the 1970/80s - this has, I hope, given me a real insight into sport as a whole and the mindset of successful sportsmen. I played cricket and rugby at representative level as a youth, and also have a UK College Bowl winning medal in American Football! My real passions are West Indian cricket and Liverpool Football Club but I will write about much more! I hope you enjoy the site.

More Posts

Follow Me: