I've never sung the Ronnie Moore song. I was at the game when it was first sung but was too young to be uttering such words. I've never joined in any racist chant in my life. The Ronnie Moore song remains one of my favourite songs of all time. It's absurd and funny (what exactly is a wn*kers hat? ) and reminds me of my childhood and of two fantastic football teams and The 70s/80s but I would never sing it about anyone now. Racist chanting upset me deeply even back in the 70s and I've been proactive my whole life in trying to rid it from Oakwell. Racism is unacceptable. The OP doesn't in any way defend it. I see this thread as an examination of taunting football players. I may be wrong, I don't know the motivation of the OP, but I do know there's nothing in the original post you can point me to that displays I'm wrong.
Not explicitly, but you implied it quite heavily by talking about how you can't move a millimetre to the right without being branded a racist thug.
He didn't say that though, he was asking if ignoring the racists would take the wind out of their sails and make them go away. It's a valid question in my opinion, even if we disagree. As I said I don't agree, they should be condemned every time they spew their vile nonsense but that's just my opinion.
The main struggle i have with thie original posters question is do we in reality have a ranking order of abuse.......racist chanting is rightly condemed but surely calling a player a fat B is as unacceptable as a Black B...the recipients have a right to be equally offended ...no doubt the 1st openly gay footballler will be a bent B...lets drive ALL abuse from the game that targets any individall for any reason...maybe a pipe dream but shud be the ultimate aim...
The thing is if it was just about the player/manager and affected them and it's something they brought on themselves its different than something to do with a persons skin colour that other players/fans share. I really dont get why people cant understand that constantly having to be aware of the colour of your skin must be draining/frustrating. Yes it may act as a motivator (I'll show em ) but if you get it all the time it will be demotivating.
There's nothing funnier than the response "Are you on glue" though. My 12 year old self is pi55ing myself at that still
Oh and another thing about this thread, Ronnie Moore was not a good footballer. Of course he scored on a regular basis and, especially in those days, that was by far and away the centre forward’s role. Describing him as a ‘good footballer’ is stretching it a bit in my opinion. Yes I would’ve liked him to play for us.
Except a few weeks ago when you were adamant singing about Bambo Diaby’s penis wasn’t in any way racist.
Thank you everyone for your replies. Even the ones from people who clearly haven't read the post correctly. It wasn't a statement, it was a question, to which my own answer would have been "No" I find that if you ignore people who are trying to wind you up or put off your stride, the message sent to the perpetrator is "This isn't working". React and the message is "This is working very nicely". I just wondered if people thought the same reaction would work with racism. But thanks again.
But in reality you are suggesting that they should just stay silent and allow people to be racist towards them with no resistance. No doubt people would then say they don’t care so it’s ok. We already have the argument that you can’t be offended on anyone’s behalf and now people can’t be offended on their own behalf otherwise they are justifying it. If you take away both of those, that just leaves the option of letting people be racist unchallenged.