We made a load of money on the Boro versus Newcastle derby on Sunday but the financial gains were soured somewhat by the Islamophobic and other offensive chanting from the visiting Geordie fans.
Now, one shouldn't expect too much from any club that has such a quasi-religious attitude that one of their fanzines is entitled "True Faith" but the racist screaming at Egyptian striker Mido was totally out of order. Mido, a Muslim, had to put up with such nonsenses as "Mido, he's got a bomb you know" and the equally witty "Mido is a paedo" (cutely relating to the Cleveland child abuse scandal of the 80's) throughout the first half from a large contingent of the visiting hordes and, yet, when Mido put his finger to his lips to suggest the 3000 "fans" shut up after he had scored the equalising goal, referee Mike Dean promptly booked him for incitement to violence.
Several points... What on earth was the chanting if not incitement to violence but the police made not one arrest during the game (fighting people, protecting crime)? Mike Dean claimed that he was unable to hear the shouts which is rubbish - they were easily audible. Perhaps he was too busy listening to the betting market information being conveyed over his headset! Also, if a finger to the lips is a bookable offence then fat Frank Lampard should be permanently banned but evidently there is one law for the English and another for the Muslims. This isn't the first time that Mido has been subjected to racist abuse as, true to form, West Ham United fans started the fun and laughter last season.
The FA was forced to take action and is attempting, with police help, to identify the main protagonists so that they might be banned. Islamophobia is rampant in England - it is one of the most obvious (of many) -isms that one notices when one returns to this unpleasant land. One suspects that no action would have been taken in this particular case if the game had not been live on television and if Mido wasn't the highly educated son of a wealthy Cairo businessman who was able to state his abhorrence of what he had been subjected to in a very succinct manner.
The FA, apparently, "are very much in favour of banning orders being imposed on anyone identified as engaging in racist behaviour in football". We would wish that the Premier League and the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOB) might be equally politically correct. They aren't. The Premier League chief executive now shares a bed with Thaksin Shinawatra, a man responsible for ordering the murder of many hundreds of Muslims in the south of Thailand while the PGMOB turns a blind eye to the racist bias in decision making exhibited by certain of their referees (as we posted last season in relation to Howard Webb).
The reactions of the respective clubs is worthy of comment. Although disgusted by the chanting, Middlesbrough have declined to make a formal complaint choosing instead to purchase another Egyptian player, Mohammed Shawky, as a gesture towards Mido. Newcastle, on the other hand, have failed to issue any statement in condemnation of their Islamophobic fans at all and are also refusing to comment. As a further indication of the racist blinkering in Geordieland, Ian Cusack (the editor of True Faith) declares that he "didn't think the chants were racist" and that "the chants should be placed in the context of local rivalries". The only thing missing is the use of the word "crusades" really.
The bare-chested beer-bellied lumps who choose to display their masculinity at all Toon games cannot accept 100% of the blame for their racism. Football, at all levels, pays lip service to the "Kick Racism Out Of Football" campaign while allowing the perpetrators to continue despite their repulsive transgressions - think Aragones about Henry, Blokhin's "monkey" taunts, the racist chanting from that targeting Vince Hillaire at Leeds United to the majority of Spanish and Italian grounds today, the refusal of some clubs to even sign Black players etc etc.
On the very day that the FA decided to do something about this microcosm of British Islamophobia, a revealing story broke in Switzerland. The Swiss Football Association has officially distanced itself from comments made by a prominent right wing politician criticising the number of Black players in the national team. Giuliano Bignasca, the founder and president of Switzerland's far right Lega dei Ticinesi party, wrote an article including the despicable trash "one chocolate-coloured footballer can be accepted. Three seems like going much too far." Bignasca may well be prosecuted under national anti-racism laws and one would like to think the racist Geordies will be treated the same rather than just banned from football grounds.
After all, if Muslim demonstrators can be imprisoned for holding anti-Coalition of the Willing banners and Abu Hamza may be imprisoned for seven years for incitement to violence then judicial parity may only be achieved by giving jail sentences to the white racist bigots of Newcastle and to the likes of Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses which hardly encourages racial harmony.
We expect nothing of the sort. The FA inquiry will fade away and Rushdie was merely provided with the punishment of a knighthood by the British establishment.
And, while we're at it, prosecute those xenophobes at Migrationwatch too...
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
