FC Porto 1, AC Milan 1 (EC1 Group D, 20/11/96): in a post-match scuffle in
the players's tunnel, Milan's Liberian striker George Weah broke the nose of
Porto's defender Jorge Costa. Weah cited continuous racial abuse as the
reason for his violent outburst. Jorge Costa maintained his innocence
throughout and received no punishment. Weah received an immediate one-match
ban (Milan v RBK), which was extended to six games at a later UEFA hearing.
1. Comments On The Weah-Costa Incident (Steve Jones, Doug Green)
2. Reuters Article On Racism In European Football (Gideon Long)
3. Further RSS Debate On The Weah-Costa Incident ("Snaps", "Riffster", Tejinder Sidhu)
======================================
1. Comments On The Weah-Costa Incident
======================================
From: Steve Jones - JON
Subject: Re: Weah broke Jorge Costa nose
Date: Nov 25, 1996
gaborzinho writes:
> Carlos Miguel wrote:
> > [ban Weah for a year]
> I certainly hope so, too. This kind of garbage does not belong in
> soccer. I think Milan (or any other club for that matter) should make
> sure they are obtaining a quality person, not just a quality player. A
> player like this would have been kicked off the team in the "old days".
Ummm considering some of the "football" that was played in the "old days"
I have to say this is bull, Pele was kicked out of a couple of WCs as
was Pushkas (sp?). A certain Liverpool/Rangers player (now managing
at Southhampton) commited several tackles that would be considered
assualt or GBH if done on a street. European football of the
late 70s early 80s involved punch ups and physical violence on
a much larger scale than today. Argentina in the 74 world cup (?)
attempted mob mentality on a ref, and the famed Italy v (ARRGHHH forgotten
either Peru or Chile) game of the 50s had more high kicks than a Bruce
Lee movie.
Add into this a certain German keeper with his "lets kill the bloke
whose trying to score" approach to preventing players scoring, Ray Wilkins
for hurling the football at the Ref in Mexico etc etc etc.
We notice it these days more because the game is cleaner, if you don't think
so there was a documentary done on George Best and after a match they showed
the colour of his legs, they were black with bruises.
What Weah did was awful it deserves a ban, if Costa however had been
taunting him racially all the game then he deserves an equal ban. And sort
of mindless behaviour whether violence or racisim should not be tolerated
but if Weah was provoked to exsess then Costa deserves equally harsh
punish ment.
> Is winning so important nowadays, I doubt that it should be, for the
> good of the game. If I were a Baresi or a Maldini (for I think they are
> class individuals as well as class players), I would go to the coach and
> request that Mr. Weah be sent back to where he came from. It seems like
> Brazilians no longer have the monopoly on cuddling (i.e. Edmundo)
> rif-raf.
Ummm of course this is a huge generalisation, Baresi has been known in
his time to put players into orbit (although he learnt the new booking
rules quicker than most). And as for Brazil being the worst ? What
is your ranking system. What about
1) Cantona repeated stampings and then nailing a bloke in the crowd
(who was put in jail for contempt of court and banned from the
ground for his racist remarks... both were given just punishments).
2) Boli for head-butting Stuart Pearce during an England-France international.
3) Rijkaard for spitting on Voller and Voller for spitting back.
4) Asprillia butting Keith Curle, in which Tino got bugger all but then
Curle had been kicking his legs away all game.
5) all of the ones mentioned above.
Football is cleaner these days, what Weah allegedly did was bad but was
it worse than deliberatly cheating to get a goal in the WC which surely
is more unprofessional.
So far the allegations are these
1) Weah was subject to continued racial abuse including "monkey" impressions
by Costa.
2) Weah headbutted Costa.
=========================================
Subject: Re: Weah broke Jorge Costa nose
From: DWGreen
Date: Dec 1, 1996
Riffster wrote:
>I am not excusing Weah's actions -- indeed, he has himself apologized
>and declared that he is not proud of his actions. That in itself does not
>mean Weah should not be punished, but it does mean that Weah is normally a
>very well-behaved player.
>
>DeSailly, Weah and Ince (amongst others) are commonly victims of racial
>abuse on and off the pitch. Why did George react so violently? I don't
>know -- maybe he was frustrated and angry about result and rough play.
>Maybe he had fought with his wife ... I don't know. But his reaction was
>a human one and like the equally (unfortunately) human action of
>prejuidice alledgedly exhibited by Costa, should be punished.
>
>While DeSailly has not been involved in such incident, I would be willing
>to bet that he would have like to done what Weah supposedly did many
>times.
>
>I have myself heard fans in the stands of Milano and Torino scream racial
>epithets at opposing players (funny how they overlook their own "minority"
>players). I am not a minority but such chants infuriated me. I don't like
>Milan, but I will never taunt a Milan player racially. I don't like Juve
>but I will never do the same to a Juve minority (although at present I do
>not believe they have such a player.)
I think I recall some of this discussion overlapping with a thread from
September(?) entitled "Juve is racist"... That thread brought up an ugly
incident in Napoli, where the Brazilian defender Julio Cesar broke his
leg quite badly. As he was laying on the field in a hell of a lot of
pain, a number of class acts amongst the crowd were showering him with
bottles (plastic and glass). Juve do in fact currently have "minority"
players - Zinedine Zidane is of Maghrebian origins, Didier Deschamps is
Basque. And there may be others, but those two are off the top of my
head. Amongst Italian fans, I've been told by a few people that Verona
(who are quite keen on abusing players from southern Italy, amongst
others) and Napoli fans have the worst reputation.
A few other related points:
For a bit of context, I recall Jo Antoine Bell, former Cameroon
international keeper, saying that he was taunted racially in every French
city he played in (he spent most of his career there), save for 2 or 3
nothern cities (Caen and Lens are the 2 I remember in the quote), so as
disgusting as it is, it is a legitimate point to note that it is pretty
much endemic.
I too recall the Desailly-Stoichkov incident from Euro96, and recall
shaking my head in amazement at Desailly's ability to play concentrated
and hard - and _very_ well vs. Stoichkov, but not react to such pathetic
behaviour.
I also believe I recall that there were complaints from Milan after a
Serie A game last year about racist abuse of Desailly, Vieira and
Weah from fans and players at Vicenza ... can anyone confirm that?
My understanding of Weah in the past has been that of a conscientious,
classy person. He essentially bankrolls the Liberian national team (and
doesn't hesitate to twist arms at his teams to chip in with equipment -
redistribution of wealth was always a concept I was cool with, n'est ce
pas Silvio? :-)) and has been often involved in humanitarian efforts
(inside football and out). I do however recall one incident from 2
seasons ago at Paris when Nantes won a French championship game 3-0. Luis
Fernandez had his charges go out and try to physically intimidate Nantes.
Daniel Bravo of PSG got sent off early and Nantes just took PSG apart (in
the positive, football, sense). Late in the game, on a through ball that
Weah tried to run on to, but that got to Nantes goalie Dominique
Casagrande first, Weah kept running and stepped on Casagrande's hand
while Casagrande was on his knees with the ball. It broke his hand (and
that was partly the reason for Nantes' early exit that year from the UEFA
Cup, as Nantes ended up playing Bayer Leverkusen with a 3rd string
goalie; you can figure the result). Casagrande accused Weah of doing it
intentionally. Weah denied this, and replays were really inconclusive -
you really would have to have been inside his head.
As far as the incidents at Oporto, it must be said that the referee
_really_ let the game get out of hand. This week's France Football
comments that Desailly (who at least two of us are holding up as a good
example) should have been expelled, as should have Jorge Costa, for a
foul near the end, where the ball was not being played by Weah, but Costa
ran on to him from approx. 10 yards, lept into the air, and came down
spikes on top of Weah's knee. The replays clearly show a shocked, scared
and hurt Weah (I believe that this would have been at about 87'). The
foul truly was horrid, and very much merited a sending off. This was one
of many incidents during the game; so I wish to point out that the
incidents in the tunnel took place in this context.
There appears to be no doubt that Weah head butted Costa's nose and broke
it. That he should be punished by UEFA cannot be denied, my sympathies
for Weah notwithstanding. But on a personal level, Costa's proclamation
that "It is true, I am a hard man, but that I stay within limits" or
something like that rings quite hollow when one considers his foul
(fouls?) on Weah, his proclamation "There is an assassin on the
loose...", and Weah's quite positive history. On a legal level, does
Costa really think he can go into court and withstand questioning about
his behaviour on the field during the game in Oporto (and be asked not
just about the foul, but the racial taunting - and Milan has also
mentioned liberal doses of spitting) and come out of it with Weah being
convicted for unprovoked, not-in-self-defense assault? I have to think
that this is intended to enhance the chances of getting Milan out of the
competition now.
And as a last, personal note, let me ask how many of us would not have
responded to what was done with something of that sort? I'm pretty
certain I would have. George Weah may have some apologizing to do at the
UEFA level, but personally, to me as a fan, he owes me no apology. If
we're talking negative actions, who's done the worst? I vote Costa, and
not by a little.
=================================================
2. Reuters Article On Racism In European Football
=================================================
Subject: Racism in Football
From: jwilk5@aol.com (JWilk5)
Date: Dec 13, 1996
By Gideon Long
LONDON, Dec 13, 1996 (Reuter) - Racist insults have long sullied the many
languages spoken on Europe's football terraces. Now, it appears, soccer
players and officials are joining in.
The 1996-97 season has spawned a number of high-profile incidents -- some of
them ugly, some of them just plain ignorant -- in which race has played the
lead role.
In October, Aston Villa goalkeeper Mark Bosnich caused outrage at Tottenham
when he gave a Nazi salute in front of their supporters, many of whom are
from North London's Jewish community.
A month later UEFA president Lennart Johansson upset a continent when he
referred to Africans as ``blackies'' and described how he had felt
threatened by a room full of locals on a visit to South Africa.
``When I came into the assembly hall it was full of blackies and it was
getting dark when they were all sitting together,'' Johansson said in a
Swedish newspaper interview. ``I thought, if this lot get in a bad mood it
won't be so funny.''
Both Bosnich and Johansson apologised for their errors and insisted they
were not racist. True, no doubt, but their apologies served only as damage
limitation exercises. The insults had already been made.
Days after Johansson's astonishing slip, the most widely respected black
footballer in the world at present, AC Milan's George Weah, head-butted
Jorge Costa in retaliation for the Porto captain's alleged repeated racist
taunts during and after a Champions' League match. Costa strenuously denied
the allegations.
In England, Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel was accused of
hurling racist insults at Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright during an
eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation at Old Trafford.
The depressing list goes on, and hardly bodes well for 1997, the European
Community's ``European Year against Racism.''
Up until now, the 1990s had been seen as the decade in which European soccer
started to clean up its act on the race issue.
Gone were the old days of the 1970s and early 1980s when black faces were a
rarity on Europe's playing fields and some stadium terraces were virtual
no-go areas for non-whites.
But this season's incidents suggest that racism in football is not going
down without a fight.
A recent survey carried out by British football magazine Four-Four-Two
showed nearly two-thirds of black professional players were subjected to
regular abuse from crowds. Perhaps more worryingly, 27 percent of those
polled said blacks regularly suffer racist taunts from other players.
And while black footballers, either from Africa or from Europe's ethnic
minorities, have broken into the game at the highest level, soccer has been
less successful in attracting black supporters.
Almost one-quarter of players in the English league are now black but only
one percent of supporters are.
In Italy, where Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Faustino Asprilla and Weah have,
over the years, helped make Serie A the best league in the world, pockets of
animosity towards black players remain despite the best intentions of clubs
and officials.
When Verona expressed an interest in signing black Dutch midfielder Michel
Ferrier in April this year, a group of home supporters hoisted a black dummy
with a noose around its neck from the stands. Ferrier eventually went elsewhere.
Black players have long put up with that kind of abuse from the terraces,
often turning it to their own advantage, but taunts from fellow
professionals are harder to take.
``I can stand the public (abuse),'' Weah said after his clash with Costa.
``But I cannot justify the insult of a colleague, who also tries to hurt you.''
``I have made a mistake and will pay for it,'' he said, urging Costa to do
the same and admit his provocation. ``But national and continental
federations would do well to tackle racist abuse among players.''
Internazionale's Paul Ince knows all about abuse from opponents.
He was sent off in a match in October between Inter and Piacenza after
Piacenza's Giampietro Piovani collapsed theatrically in the penalty area
while waiting for a corner to be taken, clutching his head as if Ince had
struck him.
TV replays showed the England midfielder had merely tweaked the Italian's
ear and when Inter later claimed Ince had been provoked by a racist taunt,
Piovani acknowledged it to be true.
Typically, it was Ince and not Piovani who was suspended for the incident.
Weah was banned for one match for his part in the Porto flare-up. Costa, so
far, has escaped with his injuries.
This apparent reluctance among soccer officials to punish the provokers
rather than the provoked may be due in part to the simple fact that evidence
against the former is hard to come by -- a head-butt to the nose leaves
blood and a broken bone, a bigoted comment or an offensive gesture makes no
external marks.
But with ever-greater TV coverage of European football, more racist actions
and insults are being caught on camera, providing soccer's governing bodies
with the hard evidence they need to crack down on provocation by players.
Whether they act on that evidence is another matter.
There have been successes. The ``Let's Kick Racism Out of Football''
campaign, launched in England in 1993 under the slogan ``it's the colour of
your shirt that counts,'' has been lauded by the English Football
Association and is being considered by UEFA as a possible model for anti-
racist policy across the continent.
The German Bundesliga, too, has made progress in combating abuse which led
some black players to dub it the most racist league in Europe a few years
ago.
In the Netherlands, the phenomenal success of black players at clubs like
Ajax Amsterdam has helped ease racial tensions in soccer.
Two Dutch players involved in a slanging match similar to that involving
Schmeichel and Wright subsequently starred in an anti-racist poster campaign
under the slogan ``If racism wins, sport will lose.''
And in France, far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen was widely condemned when
he claimed, during the European championship in June, that the country's
black players did not know the words of the national anthem and were
therefore not fully committed to their side's cause.
But attitudes need to change further, as Weah points out.
``It's very hard for an African to make it in Europe,'' the Liberian
reflected in an interview before the incident in Porto.
``People see a white man driving a Mercedes and assume he's a successful
businessman. When they see a black man in a car like that they think he's a
drug dealer.'
================================================
3. Further RSS Debate On The Weah-Costa Incident
================================================
From: Riffster
Subject: Re: Racism in Football
Date: Dec 14, 1996
Schmeichel wrote:
>Racism in American professional sports exists behind the scenes at the
>executive and organizational level.
Wrong.
Racism still exists even amongst players. It is less pronounced than years
ago, but it still exists. Racism is far more than yelling epithets at
another player -- it clusters around team meals and cliques on the team. I
challenge you to say that there isn't a strong point in the fact that blacks
and whites on teams tend to gather amongst themselves. Everyone is free to
associate as they please, but I see no real freedom in the fact that team
after team travels in packs of blacks together and packs of whites together.
There are exceptions, and there has been improvement. Has the battle for
equality been won? NO.
The fact that blacks and whites still are more comfortable amongst their own
race is in itself a tacit admission that a gulf still lies between black and
white players. Not admitting that final cultural gulf exists, is a problem
that all Americans -- black and white -- had better confront soon.
======================================
From: cmorris@ccnet.com (Colin Morris)
Subject: Re: Racism in Football
Date Dec 16, 1996
[% of black players and supporters]
Indeed. I guess one could reasonably expect that the perecentage of black
supporters reflects the percentage of black people in the population as a
whole. Off hand, I don't know what that figure is although it's probably
somewhat higher than 1%. As to the original assertion that there's a huge
discrepancy between black players and black supporters, that's largely silly.
Whilst it's true that the absolute numbers of blacks in England makes it
possible for them to physically comprise 25% of supporters, to do so would
require the black population as a whole to be abnormally interested in soccer.
===============================
From: Snaps@hotmail.com (Snaps)
Subject: Re: Racism in Football
Date: Dec 15, 1996
Riffster wrote:
>I don't think this is going to change your reverse discrimination ranting,
>but try reading this and then appreciate not just the Weah-Costa incident
>but all racial problems in sport.
If Weah wants to preach to people about racism, then neither he - or you -
can complain if the logic he uses to reach these conclusions is questioned.
His comments were on the shakiest ground imaginable and couldn`t be allowed
to pass without a counter. Weah`s statement that white people automatically
think that black people in fast cars are drug-dealers is racist by
definition. He is blanketing an entire race with having opinions many/most
of them do *not* have. He is no better than the people he criticizes, many
would say he was worse because when Weah doesn`t get his own way the fists
fly. Just as a mental excercise, try and create a photo-negative of the
entire Weah/Costa episode: a white player breaks a black players nose,
citing racial abuse as his motive. Then the white player compounds his crime
by going public with his opinions that "All those black guys are racist and
just don`t trust whites". The simpering, you-The-Man attitude that many
celebrated Weah`s attack on Costa with isn`t too easy to imagine when the
roles are reversed, is it? Is Costa not innocent until proven guilty? Or in
this case, do we ignore what actually happened and portray Weah as the
victim because it`s more important to highlight racism across society than
deal in truth? Saying racism is a Bad Thing is all very well, but don`t use
this non-sequitur as a means to scrub-away the vile thing that Weah did.
Equality should be a birth-right of everyone, Weah included, but it is a
double-edged sword. If Weah wants to "play the race card" so heavily, as I
feel he is doing in this situation, then I regard it as completely
creditable to criticize him for it. I don`t criticize him because he`s black
or white or green, but because he`s a person who is using *his* skin colour
as a launching-pad to make prejudiced observations on *other* people of a
different skin colour.
Just as a personal aside to all of this, Riff, do you honestly feel that you
would still be addressing this issue to me had I been attacking a white
player instead of a black one for exactly the same crimes?
I dislike all idiots, of any nationality or race, with equal prejudice.
-----------------------------
From: jwilk5@aol.com (JWilk5)
Subject: Re: Racism in Football
Date: Dec 16, 1996
>Weah`s statement that white people automatically think that black people
>in fast cars are drug-dealers is racist by definition.
Weah made the comments to which you are referring long before the Costa
incident. Its not accurate to say that he made those comments in an attempt
to justify his current situation. The comments were actually made last year
during an interview with an Italian newspaper, and were based on his
personal experiences of being stopped on more than one occasion by police in
Milan and in Paris when he was with PSG. In the context in which he
originally made his comments, he was mainly referring to the police, not to
people in general. And he's certainly not the only black athlete to have
expressed these same sentiments.
----------------------------------------------
From: Riffster
Subject: Re: Racism in Football
Date: Dec 16, 1996
Snaps wrote:
>Weah`s statement that white people automatically think that black people
>in fast cars are drug-dealers is racist by definition.
I don't know about England. But here blacks are often pulled over if they
are driving nice cars in certain suburbs. Do you think they are being pulled
over for no reason because the police are concerned their tires may be a bit
flat?
Do you get racial insults thrown at you every time you go to work? I hope
not. I don't believe that Weah has a history of resorting to fisticuffs.
Quite the opposite -- he was supposed to accept a FIFA Sportsmanship Award
later this year. Unfortunately that run of noblesse oblige has apparently
come to an end.
>Just as a mental excercise, try and create a photo-negative of the entire
>Weah/Costa episode:
You are assuming that both black and white start at an equal point in this
hypothetical argument of yours. Such a case doesn't exist. If a black calls
me honky, my general reaction is mirth because I don't get denied credit,
apartments, jobs, etc. because of my skin color. Every time someone says the
"n" word or whatever, it is a reminder to most blacks (not all) of every
moment that they have been told they are not equal. Your failure to
understand that point is the reason why you cannot understand black anger.
I am not saying that such anger, if displayed inappropriately (as Weah
apparently did), should not be punished. What I am saying is that racial
insults are by definition inflammatory statements that demand some sort of
reprimand in order to preserve not only the peace, but some semblance of
equality. We are not inheritors of recent slavery, lynchings and victims of
current prejuidice. George Weah is a member of a race that has suffered
these acts and continues to suffer lesser, but still despicable, acts.
>The simpering, you-The-Man attitude that many celebrated Weah`s attack on
>Costa with isn`t too easy to imagine when the roles are reversed, is it?
Again you are injecting your feelings as assumptions into the argument. Do
you know Weah's state of emotions at the time? How do you know that he was
simpering? Or that he even knows about "YOU THE MAN" attitudes? Maybe he
just plain lost his temper! Like you and I as rational (and sometimes not
too rational) white people do. But then, there is no concept of *that* is
there -- just that we lost our temper. Hmmmmm.
> Is Costa not innocent until proven guilty?
Didn't say he was (guilty). Always said IF he said the things that are
alledged. That is why an investigation should be made. Although my hopefully
cynical interpretation of any investigation centering in a tunnel in Oporto
means that no "objective" witnesses will be found. Jardel is hardly a good
source, nor is Weah's wife. The only hope may be that some fan or journalist
from neither Italy nor Portugal and who isn't black or white (!) was there.
This tells you what I think will come from any investigation into the matter
-- bloody nothing. Any decision made will probably be made on the wrong
criteria. But that wouldn't be a first for FIFA.
>Saying racism is a Bad Thing is all very well, but don`t use this
>non-sequitur as a means to scrub-away the vile thing that Weah did.
Didn't do that. And a non-sequitur is a little more trivial a matter than
the matter of race relations. Saying "Sugar is nice" is a non- sequitur,
saying "Racism is bad" is a truism, maybe often said, but unfortunately not
really believed often enough. I have never said that Weah should be excused
for what he did, only that investigations be made into whether Costa
directed verbal and physical insults. If Costa did make such statements, he
should be liable to face punitive action like you or me would for directing
racial insults to a co-worker.
>[...] he`s a person who is using *his* skin colour as a launching-pad to
>make prejudiced observations on *other* people of a different skin colour.
Only because he has suffered racial insults from people of other colors.
Often. Ask Paul Ince. Ask Marcel DeSailly. They have all talked of racial
epithets from the stands around Europe. You and I don't get routinely
insulted at work because we are white.
Weah isn't to be excused for his physical aggression. But I won't say he is
playing a race card, unless it is proven that no racial antics took place.
I think it would be more accurate to say that rather than being a launching-
pad, George has been a artillery target for constant humiliation and
degradation. Your inability to understand how demeaning those actions can be
is understandable, but your carping about how "UNFAIR" racial charges are to
whites is not only illogical but sad in their lack of compassion. I think
history supports a view that says, in balance, whites have victimized blacks
quite a bit more than the reverse. Ergo, racial taunts and their impact are
more serious when practiced by whites against blacks than the reverse.
Whites have the power. Whites call the shots. Whites routinely villify black
players on the pitch. I don't remember any black slave ships coming to
Manchester or Chicago in the past several centuries, unless they were loaded
with black (not white) slaves.
>Just as a personal aside to all of this, Riff, do you honestly feel that
>you would still be addressing this issue to me had I been attacking a white
>player instead of a black one for exactly the same crimes?
I don't know. That case hasn't come up. But the point is moot. Racism is
ultimately about power -- blacks don't have it, whites do. Weah may be well
off financially, but spiritually he is not allowed some of the dignity of
life that you and me as whites assume is our birthright. That is a big loss
of power. Every game Weah is constantly reminded that a number of people
(cretins tho they may be) around him hate him for no reason better than
because he has more melanin in his tissues than you or me. Would the
opposite case have happened? Probably not -- and that's because we as whites
do not bear a racial cross (we may have our own personal ones) and would
probably not lose our tempers over someone yelling "redneck" or "white trash."
At least I wouldn't. I know, I have been a few situations where I have been
taunted by blacks. Reverse racism does exist -- I don't deny that, but I
don't agree with you that it is a factor in this case UNLESS and only unless
Weah is lying. If he lies, then shame on him and the consequences will
hopefully be his alone.
Anyway, I would hope that an honest investigation into the circumstances
would take place regardless of which race insulted whom and which race
assaulted whom.
> I dislike all idiots, of any nationality or race, with equal prejudice.
Snaps, I agree with that. And I believe Weah agrees that his actions were
idiotic. I just would like to find out if Costa's actions were also stupid
and prejuidicial as well. If they were, then they too are inflammatory and
liable to reprimand as well.
----------------------------------------------
From: tajsid@mail.idt.net (tejinder sidhu)
Subject: Re: Racism in Football
Date: Dec 18, 1996
Snaps, if I am to assume you are not a racist then you really need to think
through your ideas a little better. George Weah spoke based on his
experience (a very common one for blacks in USA and Europe) and if he
inadvertently slurred some white people who do not think this way it is
obviously not a reason for great moral indignation and cries of "reverse-
racism" and hypocrisy. You obviously don't have a clue as to what the
EXPERIENCE of racism is for black people and I guess I can't expect you to.
What's disappointing is that you and many other "non-racist" white people do
not have the imagination to reach out and understand that EXPERIENCE.
Perhaps you've never experienced genuine hardship in your life,I don't know.
Furthermore you made a serious error in generalizing about George Weah's
response to adverse situations based on a single incident, conveniently
ignoring his exemplary professional and personal record over the years. Dear
oh dear. Your comments do not seem very objective.
>Just as a mental excercise, try and create a photo-negative of the entire
>Weah/Costa episode:
Interesting hypothetical situation in some far off land in some other time.
>The simpering, you-The-Man attitude that many celebrated Weah`s attack on
>Costa with isn`t too easy to imagine when the roles are reversed, is it?
That's because it's not too easy to imagine the roles being reversed.
> Is Costa not innocent until proven guilty?
Fine, COSTA IS INNOCENT! OK? However the reason why many people have been
quick to point the finger is based on the overwhelming circumstantial
evidence surrounding the players and the incident on top of the fact that
blacks and racial minorities in general are always at a serious
disadvantage in proving their grievances. Ever heard of Rodney King? Take
away that infamous videotape and what do you get? Just one more instance of
what happens secretly every day in the USA. And what chance for justice for
any of the victims? Hell, even WITH the videotape it took a cataclysmic riot
before Rodney King finally got justice.
Also what "truth" do you speak of? The truth that Costa got his nose broken
for picking on the wrong nigger at the wrong time? Or the truth that George
Weah is in fact a maniacally violent humanoid who attacks anyone whenever he
gets the chance? Or is it both?
>Saying racism is a Bad Thing is all very well, but don`t use this
>non-sequitur as a means to scrub-away the vile thing that Weah did.
The vileness of his action is based on the context in which it happened not
on the act itself. If for example it was done in self-defence it could be
judged to be JUSTIFIED. If it was done under physical threats and
provocation it could be judged to be JUSTIFIED for the same reason. If it
was done under personal taunting and humiliation it could be judged to be
wrong (i.e. punishable) but perhaps understandable. If it was done purely
out of viciousness then it could be judged to be wrong and indeed VILE. All
the facts would have to be known before a MORAL JUDGEMENT could be made. Of
course based on what is known a punishment is appropriate and Weah accepts
this. Obviously in passing a MORAL JUDGEMENT you have already pre-judged
the facts of the case.
>If Weah wants to "play the race card" so heavily, as I feel he is doing in
>this situation, then I regard it as completely creditable to criticize him
>for it.
Once again Mr. Snaps YOU are making a lot of assumptions about Mr. Weah's
motives, and ignoring the reality of endemic racism.
> I dislike all idiots, of any nationality or race, with equal prejudice.
Don't you mean equal passion? Or was that a Freudian slip?
===============================
From: Snaps@hotmail.com (Snaps)
Subject: Re: Racism in Football
Date: Dec 21, 1996
jdavila@email.gc.cuny.edu wrote:
>Don't take Weah's incident out of the social context where it happened, or
>you fail to take into consideration the most important aspect of the whole
>thing; a black reacting to the structure of society, which happens to be
>loaded against him.
Yeah, yeah. Tell it to OJ. However, I must congratulate you. You seem to be
the only person on RSS who is in a position to offer us apparent proof that
Weah *was* racially attacked. How do you know this to be so? As I recall
there has been absolutely no substantiated evidence brought forward to
confirm this. Now try telling me that you aren`t working to an agenda. The
truth is, you already know what you want to say and are merely using some
facts and some fiction to foist your politics on me.
==========================================
From: tajsid@mail.idt.net (tejinder sidhu)
Subject: Re: Racism in Football
Date: Dec 22, 1996
Snaps wrote:
> tejinder sidhu wrote:
> >Your comments are severely lacking in logic. You sem to be defensive as
> >if someone is making a personal attack on you. Weah pointed out that SOME
> >people make negative assumptions about successful black people. If you
> >think this is untrue then you are sadly detached from reality. You miss
> >the point entirely.
>Seeing as you took the trouble to capitalize the word "SOME" then perhaps
>you could explain precisely how you feel justified in speaking for George
>when he clearly *wasn`t* speaking about "some" people, but generalizing
>about *all*.
This is getting tedious.
Firstly, "When people see a black person.." does NOT indicate a reference to
"ALL"- It's just a colloquial catch-all phrase referring to a pervasive
tendency. Compare this with other "when people see" type statements and you
will realize that at worst the intended meaning is "the majority of people"
which is not fundamentally different to "SOME" i.e. it does not absolutize
the subject group. E.G. if I say "Japanese people have higher IQs than
English people" in a live interview you COULD assume that I am saying ALL
Japanese have greater IQs than ALL english but common sense would tell you
that this is not the intended meaning, that I am talking about averages or
pervasive tendencies.
Secondly, claiming that this statement makes Weah a racist is INCORRECT.
Racism is based on how you actually treat people-of-a-race physically or
verbally, not on what you think people-of-a-race are thinking. In this most
extreme case (if I buy your "ALL" argument) Weah might be guilty of
ignorance but not racism. If I incorrectly believe that all eskimos are
suspicious of american indians I may be ignorant but I am not a racist,
because my incorrect belief does not in any way indicate how I will TREAT
eskimos. i.e. Weah's comments do not indicate how he would actually treat
whites. Is this clear?