Cameroon's Benoit Assou-Ekotto explains France stance

[DreadySpur]

I was talking about the post referring to Ginola being blamed....

 

[kelloggs]

Does he give examples? If in certain game a black muslim player was slated and blamed and that same player was indeed shite during the game then there is no issue. We have to be careful with this type of thing as people of all colours, creeds and religions are walking on eggshells at times. Also - what proportion of the team is black and or muslim? No idea if he is right or wrong, just trying to rationalise.

 

[Mustard]

So glad he will never play for us again.

 

[Geyzer Soze]

Does he give examples? If in certain game a black muslim player was slated and blamed and that same player was indeed shite during the game then there is no issue. We have to be careful with this type of thing as people of all colours, creeds and religions are walking on eggshells at times. Also - what proportion of the team is black and or muslim? No idea if he is right or wrong, just trying to rationalise.

Whatever, he's not writing a thesis here he's just saying what he feels in a 5 second sound byte.

 

[Locotoro]

Does he give examples? If in certain game a black muslim player was slated and blamed and that same player was indeed shite during the game then there is no issue. We have to be careful with this type of thing as people of all colours, creeds and religions are walking on eggshells at times. Also - what proportion of the team is black and or muslim? No idea if he is right or wrong, just trying to rationalise.

Just to give you some numbers, of the world cup squad 23 there are 10 players who are either black or muslim.

 

[kelloggs]

Whatever, he's not writing a thesis here he's just saying what he feels in a 5 second sound byte.

I wasn't sugggesting he was, merely trying to ascertain the full context. I was just making a point that such statements can be misleading. If indeed nearly half the squad is black or muslim their is a reasonable chance one of these players has a mare, hence asked if he gave any examples that clarified and gave substance to the headline. Your response highlights my point - a 5 second soundbyte can be a very powerful and impactful headline in todays world - see how the BBC have spun a 5 second part of probably a 15 minute interview.

 

[Geyzer Soze]

I wasn't sugggesting he was, merely trying to ascertain the full context. I was just making a point that such statements can be misleading. If indeed nearly half the squad is black or muslim their is a reasonable chance one of these players has a mare, hence asked if he gave any examples that clarified and gave substance to the headline. Your response highlights my point - a 5 second soundbyte can be a very powerful and impactful headline in todays world - see how the BBC have spun a 5 second part of probably a 15 minute interview.

I don't think my response highlights your point at all. Like I said earlier in the thread, I'm a foreigner living in France for twelve years & it's clear to me that he's bang on. Again ... Look to the Algerian side for further 'proof' of how (even French born) minorities feel about 'their' country

 

[Locotoro]

I happen to know that the preference of Moroccan french born players is to play for Morocco but the Moroccan national team is in such a mess at the moment that it really puts the top players off.

From a social perspective, many Moroccan that I know living in France don't feel part of the country at all.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

Ginola was directly and explicitly blamed by the national coach, live on television, for failure to qualify for the world cup. That's very different to the country collectively blaming a certain type of person by force of habit.

It was also about 20 years ago. Not really relevant to Ekotto's era.

 

[kelloggs]

I don't think my response highlights your point at all. Like I said earlier in the thread, I'm a foreigner living in France for twelve years & it's clear to me that he's bang on. Again ... Look to the Algerian side for further 'proof' of how (even French born) minorities feel about 'their' country

Sorry - not sure you are quite catching on, but no worries.

 

[nferno]

Tbf we do the same. Dawson is black isn't he?

This deserves SO much more funnies ahahaha

 

[Durbs]

Cameroon, who have won only one game in their last five World Cups, finished in disarray with defender Benoit Assou Ekotto appearing to head-butt team mate Benjamin Moukandjo and a more serious scuffle was only prevented by a rival Croatian player.

This is Ekotto at his best - a player I really liked and was disappointed to see him loaned out in place of Rose, but there are reasons!

 

[parklane1]

He does have a point.

 

[wosH]

Cameroon, who have won only one game in their last five World Cups, finished in disarray with defender Benoit Assou Ekotto appearing to head-butt team mate Benjamin Moukandjo and a more serious scuffle was only prevented by a rival Croatian player.

This is Ekotto at his best - a player I really liked and was disappointed to see him loaned out in place of Rose, but there are reasons!

Can be seen here: https://vine.co/v/MTWUwYOgeYi

Disgraceful.

 

[Riandor]

Sorry but this is NOT correct.
I have lived in France for many a year, I have a lot of French friends & colleagues of various races and beliefs and whilst there is ALWAYS a vocal minority who are racist in any country (and yes in our current climate it does seem a little more vocal than we would like), the vast majority of French poeple I know and have been around dislike any player who is simply deemed crap, no matter what colour.

If Black or Muslim player has a bad game they are given as much stick as anyone else.

That's not to say that BAE has not witnessed racism, but its rather a large sweeping statement.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Can be seen here: https://vine.co/v/MTWUwYOgeYi

Disgraceful.

Comment on it being disgraceful when you know the context. Ekotto has his quirks but he's never been anything but calm and collected, often overly so. For him to snap like that I imagine the was some form of provocation.

 

[Mustard]

Comment on it being disgraceful when you know the context. Ekotto has his quirks but he's never been anything but calm and collected, often overly so. For him to snap like that I imagine the was some form of provocation.

you have absolutely no idea either so for you to be so patronising when you are doing exactly the same thing is a bit hypocritical n'est pas?

And are you seriously saying that he was justified whatever the reason?

The love for such a bang average, shit attitude player never ceases to amaze.

 

[wosH]

Comment on it being disgraceful when you know the context. Ekotto has his quirks but he's never been anything but calm and collected, often overly so. For him to snap like that I imagine the was some form of provocation.

Obviously there must have been some form of provocation. That will never apologise for such an action however.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

you have absolutely no idea either so for you to be so patronising when you are doing exactly the same thing is a bit hypocritical n'est pas?

And are you seriously saying that he was justified whatever the reason?

The love for such a bang average, shit attitude player never ceases to amaze.

Obviously there must have been some form of provocation. That will never apologise for such an action however.

I never said it was justified, I suggested that there's probably a context which would mitigate his action, and that condemning it as disgraceful is over the top. People make mistakes. It was a heated and emotional situation, players are pumped up during games anyway and when they're losing 4-0 on the biggest stage, and probably Ekotto's last chance to play on that stage given his age, that emotional situation is magnified. Is Zidane also a disgrace for ending his career with a far worse headbutt on an even larger stage? Or did he make a mistake, but it's understandable because Materazzi had just called his sister a whore (or whatever it was)?

As for Ekotto being an average player with a shit attitude, I bet you were delighted with the upgrade that was Danny Rose last season eh? Ekotto's last season with us, before the loan, was injury hit and he underperformed (though he had fuck all protection in front of him from Dempsey/ Sigurdsson once Bale had moved away from the left), but the previous four seasons under Harry he was a huge (and consistent) part of the reason why we went from 2 points from 8 games to finishing 4th twice in three years. He may never have been a world beater (though he did have some absolutely wonderful games) but he all in all was very good for us and those who ignore that need to have a look at every player in that position since and for roughly 20 years before an rething things.

 

[vigospur]

I never said it was justified, I suggested that there's probably a context which would mitigate his action, and that condemning it as disgraceful is over the top. People make mistakes. It was a heated and emotional situation, players are pumped up during games anyway and when they're losing 4-0 on the biggest stage, and probably Ekotto's last chance to play on that stage given his age, that emotional situation is magnified. Is Zidane also a disgrace for ending his career with a far worse headbutt on an even larger stage? Or did he make a mistake, but it's understandable because Materazzi had just called his sister a whore (or whatever it was)?

As for Ekotto being an average player with a shit attitude, I bet you were delighted with the upgrade that was Danny Rose last season eh? Ekotto's last season with us, before the loan, was injury hit and he underperformed (though he had fuck all protection in front of him from Dempsey/ Sigurdsson once Bale had moved away from the left), but the previous four seasons under Harry he was a huge (and consistent) part of the reason why we went from 2 points from 8 games to finishing 4th twice in three years. He may never have been a world beater (though he did have some absolutely wonderful games) but he all in all was very good for us and those who ignore that need to have a look at every player in that position since and for roughly 20 years before an rething things.

I wouldn't argue with any of this, apart from your first sentence.
You didn't say his action last night was "justified", but there might be a "context" to "mitigate" it.
Total cobblers really. It was a shocking lack of respect to a teammate and deserves to be treated as such. Probably his last act as an international player.