JamesTheYiddo
Well-Known Member
- Oct 25, 2006
- 6,339
- 124
Source: The Times
This week, on the back of the 11 Tottenham fans being charged with "indecent chanting" that was reported to be both racist and homophobic against Sol Campbell, Merseyside Police have deemed it fit to release a statement that they will be looking to clamp down on abusive chanting at Monday's derby, with Merseyside police's Chief Supt Dave Lewis stating:
"We will speak to the CPS to see if what is sung is viewed as abusive. We could arrest people and charge them. We won't be arresting hundreds as we haven't got the resources to do so and could prompt a mêlée. Some of the singing can be abhorrent and we have to draw a line under it".
Since when have the police been judge and jury on what can and cannot be sung by football fans? We're on the brink of a very dangerous precedent being set here, and they can arrest and successfully convict fans for the content of their songs, we're on a slippery slope to the complete sanitisation of our game. It can't be allowed.
And stating they will not be arresting hundreds due to limited resources and the chance of instigating a disturbance, yet state they could arrest a few people. Is this merely a tactic to hang a few individuals out to dry and make an example of them? A tactic the police seem to think acceptable. "You'll do" seems to be the way to tackle "crime" now, and I really didn't want to use that phrase in the context of this article. There is nothing illegal about the chants made during Merseyside derbies. Some may not be very politically correct, but there are not of a racist or homophobic nature, so why do they require police involvement?
Throughout the 70's and 80's, football was rife with racist behaviour. It has taken 20 years of work to rid the terraces of racism, and nobody could argue is wasn't required. Excusing the pun, it is black and white with that subject; there is no grey area. There are laws in place that can punish racist behaviour, and the police are well within their rights to arrest and charge anyone for racist behaviour. But I've spent the past two days thinking through all the contentious songs and chants that can be heard at a Merseyside Derby, and not one of them falls under the category of racist or homophobic. There is nothing illegal about them; no laws are being broken.
Man United sing about Ji Sung Park eating dogs. Is that racist? Liverpool fans are taunted about having no jobs amongst other things. Is that racist in targetting scousers? I think we all know where the racism line is drawn, and they are not racist, otherwise, where do you stop?
Without opening a can of worms going into the rights and wrongs of each song, some people will be offended by them, others sickened; but since when have the police been required to arrest people over such actions?
The Everton fans on Monday night will no doubt give their usual renditions of "Murderers", "The baby's not yours", more abuse for Steven Gerrard (non of which is racist or homophobic) and some stoop as low to mock Hillsborough. As low as they may be, non of them are illegal.
Liverpool fans will let Evertonians know we'd like them to go to Kirkby, compare Joleon Lescott to the Elephant Man, and if he was playing, highlight the resemblance between Yakubu and an almost cult figure on Merseyside known as Purple Aki. Yakubu and Purple Aki are both black; maybe that's the racist chant the police are about to clamp down upon? How comparing the looks of one black man to another black man is racist is beyond me, but there you go.
There has been over a decade of clamp downs on hooligans, with the police being successful in pretty much wiping it out from in and around our football grounds. So much so, that unless they are following small groups to see where they plan to meet up and fight miles from the ground, the football policing units don't really have a lot to do. The new focus now seems to be targetting what is sung in our grounds. It's pathetic.
So while you hear the boys at the top of the policing tree barking out that they haven't got enough resource to tackle street crime, or no budget to tackle knife and gun crime in troubled cities throughout the country, be assured by the fact that policing units have this week spent time compiling a dossier of chants they deem unacceptable, and will be deploying additional resource at both White Hart Lane and Anfield this weekend to tackle these hideous crimes. Tax payers money well spent I think we'd all
agree!
I've wrote articles on similar subjects before, and while I do fear I'm repeating myself with some of the issues I bring up regarding the policing of football fans, I feel it really does need to be brought to the fore just how far things are now being taken with regards to the sanitisation of our game.
We don't need the police to tell us what is acceptable and unacceptable to sing. If somebody in the stands made a racist remark or tried to start a chant of a racist nature, I'm pretty sure they'd be shot down in flames by their fellow fans. We can self police with issues such as football songs.
These songs become attached to our clubs, and if they do cross the line, then others around will soon put a stop to them. Or are we no longer
capable of policing ourselves when it comes to such trivial matters?
This is not the 70's anymore. There are not thousands of racist hooligans inhabiting our terraces every week. Please stop treating us like there is.
Paul Jones
TimesOnline.com
This week, on the back of the 11 Tottenham fans being charged with "indecent chanting" that was reported to be both racist and homophobic against Sol Campbell, Merseyside Police have deemed it fit to release a statement that they will be looking to clamp down on abusive chanting at Monday's derby, with Merseyside police's Chief Supt Dave Lewis stating:
"We will speak to the CPS to see if what is sung is viewed as abusive. We could arrest people and charge them. We won't be arresting hundreds as we haven't got the resources to do so and could prompt a mêlée. Some of the singing can be abhorrent and we have to draw a line under it".
Since when have the police been judge and jury on what can and cannot be sung by football fans? We're on the brink of a very dangerous precedent being set here, and they can arrest and successfully convict fans for the content of their songs, we're on a slippery slope to the complete sanitisation of our game. It can't be allowed.
And stating they will not be arresting hundreds due to limited resources and the chance of instigating a disturbance, yet state they could arrest a few people. Is this merely a tactic to hang a few individuals out to dry and make an example of them? A tactic the police seem to think acceptable. "You'll do" seems to be the way to tackle "crime" now, and I really didn't want to use that phrase in the context of this article. There is nothing illegal about the chants made during Merseyside derbies. Some may not be very politically correct, but there are not of a racist or homophobic nature, so why do they require police involvement?
Throughout the 70's and 80's, football was rife with racist behaviour. It has taken 20 years of work to rid the terraces of racism, and nobody could argue is wasn't required. Excusing the pun, it is black and white with that subject; there is no grey area. There are laws in place that can punish racist behaviour, and the police are well within their rights to arrest and charge anyone for racist behaviour. But I've spent the past two days thinking through all the contentious songs and chants that can be heard at a Merseyside Derby, and not one of them falls under the category of racist or homophobic. There is nothing illegal about them; no laws are being broken.
Man United sing about Ji Sung Park eating dogs. Is that racist? Liverpool fans are taunted about having no jobs amongst other things. Is that racist in targetting scousers? I think we all know where the racism line is drawn, and they are not racist, otherwise, where do you stop?
Without opening a can of worms going into the rights and wrongs of each song, some people will be offended by them, others sickened; but since when have the police been required to arrest people over such actions?
The Everton fans on Monday night will no doubt give their usual renditions of "Murderers", "The baby's not yours", more abuse for Steven Gerrard (non of which is racist or homophobic) and some stoop as low to mock Hillsborough. As low as they may be, non of them are illegal.
Liverpool fans will let Evertonians know we'd like them to go to Kirkby, compare Joleon Lescott to the Elephant Man, and if he was playing, highlight the resemblance between Yakubu and an almost cult figure on Merseyside known as Purple Aki. Yakubu and Purple Aki are both black; maybe that's the racist chant the police are about to clamp down upon? How comparing the looks of one black man to another black man is racist is beyond me, but there you go.
There has been over a decade of clamp downs on hooligans, with the police being successful in pretty much wiping it out from in and around our football grounds. So much so, that unless they are following small groups to see where they plan to meet up and fight miles from the ground, the football policing units don't really have a lot to do. The new focus now seems to be targetting what is sung in our grounds. It's pathetic.
So while you hear the boys at the top of the policing tree barking out that they haven't got enough resource to tackle street crime, or no budget to tackle knife and gun crime in troubled cities throughout the country, be assured by the fact that policing units have this week spent time compiling a dossier of chants they deem unacceptable, and will be deploying additional resource at both White Hart Lane and Anfield this weekend to tackle these hideous crimes. Tax payers money well spent I think we'd all
agree!
I've wrote articles on similar subjects before, and while I do fear I'm repeating myself with some of the issues I bring up regarding the policing of football fans, I feel it really does need to be brought to the fore just how far things are now being taken with regards to the sanitisation of our game.
We don't need the police to tell us what is acceptable and unacceptable to sing. If somebody in the stands made a racist remark or tried to start a chant of a racist nature, I'm pretty sure they'd be shot down in flames by their fellow fans. We can self police with issues such as football songs.
These songs become attached to our clubs, and if they do cross the line, then others around will soon put a stop to them. Or are we no longer
capable of policing ourselves when it comes to such trivial matters?
This is not the 70's anymore. There are not thousands of racist hooligans inhabiting our terraces every week. Please stop treating us like there is.
Paul Jones
TimesOnline.com
