Martin Tyler urged to retire after 'racist' comment about Son Heung-min

[Nice One Cyril]

Made me think in the commentary did he just say 'martial arts', and why... old guy I used to work with always said, 'if you say something, it must have been in your head'.

 

[slartibartfast]

Meh.

 

[daveduvet]

it was more stereotypical than racist,
when i heard him say it, i thought WTF !

Was of the same ilk. Tyler is 77. He’s been brought up in a world where such terms are deemed normal & acceptable.

 

[parj]

Did he say the same thing when Jota kicked skipp in the head?

Exactly.

 

[C1w8]

Im asian and it didnt even register when i was watching tbh, and if it did id have probably have laughed.

Like others have said "stereotyping" rather than racist, albeit poking fun in a lame way.

Our own fans referring to me as Son/giving me extra hi fives when son does well is more annoying than this and i take that in jest despite not being korean and having been going to games for 30+ years, so lets calm down a bit i think, he can make his public apologies/go on his tolerance course and let's move on.

 

[Misfit]

FGS

 

[0-Tibsy-0]

I wonder what they’d say in Korea if one of their commentators described a Harry Kane foul as a rugby tackle or scrummage.

 

[Houdini]

Eric Cantona....... "Haaaaasaaaaaw".....

 

[spurs9]

I wonder what they’d say in Korea if one of their commentators described a Harry Kane foul as a rugby tackle or scrummage.

or if a commentator said "the Spurs defence has more gaps in it than an Englishman's mouth".

 

[worcestersauce]

I heard it at the time and thought oops! A stereotype undeniably, offensive without doubt and utterly wrong in his position, I don't know where around the world his commentary is taken, it is embarrassing for his employers but I don't believe meant with any malicious intent, does that make it racist? I'm not sure but either way his role as a commentator has to now be questioned.

 

[Tucker]

Martin Tyler is starting to remind me of Jimmy Hill. When I first started watching football in the nineties, everyone thought Jimmy Hill was a waffling doddery old git too. You even had comedies like the Fast Show parodying him “Small boys in the park, jumpers for goal posts, isn’t it? wasn’t it? Ahhhh.”
Like Jimmy, Tyler clearly adores football, that much comes through in his waffling. He’s just a boring out of date commentator. Anyway, Jimmy got poached from the BBC by Sky and he started hosting a late night show where he got to gossip and waffle with other sport journalists. This eventually became Sunday Supplement which sky got rid of during Covid.
If I were Sky, I’d bring it back, move Tyler there and let him gossip about all the transfer ins and outs, all the little dramas he likes to waffle on about during comms. He’d be great at it, just like Jimmy Hill was.

Last night commentary was levels above what him and Neville offered on Sunday, a woman (shock horror) I didn’t catch her name, and Alan Smith. It was concise, direct, and they spoke about what was happening in the game not what has been happening in the board room or who Pickford should play for if Everton go down. That’s what it should be like every game.

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

Im asian and it didnt even register when i was watching tbh, and if it did id have probably have laughed.

Like others have said "stereotyping" rather than racist, albeit poking fun in a lame way.

Our own fans referring to me as Son/giving me extra hi fives when son does well is more annoying than this and i take that in jest despite not being korean and having been going to games for 30+ years, so lets calm down a bit i think, he can make his public apologies/go on his tolerance course and let's move on.

That’s the point isn’t it?

Are we still happy to use stereotypes?

They don’t have to be shocking or refer to demeaning behaviours. But they do ( in my opinion)tend make someone’s appearance or place of origin more important than their individual qualities. It isn’t

 

[hughy]

I heard it when it happened, and I did raise an eyebrow but it was clear that he meant to say "dark arts", a term regularly used for fouls like the one Son committed, and said "martial arts" instead. I doubt Son's ethnicity had any influence on the mistake.

It was a genuine mistake, and for people to be calling for him to be sacked for it is exactly why I fucking hate this country now.

 

[C1w8]

That’s the point isn’t it?

Are we still happy to use stereotypes?

They don’t have to be shocking or refer to demeaning behaviours. But they do ( in my opinion)tend make someone’s appearance or place of origin more important than their individual qualities. It isn’t

Agreed but there's levels to it, for lack of a better turn of phrase. I dont think Tyler should be fired for this, he needs to go on his course etc and make sure he's more aware (if people want him gone because he sucks as a commentator that's different, but i'll leave that for others to debate as i dont pay enough attention to commentators/pundits as a whole to care). Similarly I dont think i need to call the police because some spurs fan called me Son.

 

[Sid Tottenham]

What a time to be alive.
Everyone's racist blah blah phobe this misogynist that.
At some point in history we will look back and laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Assuming these peaceful wise and arbiters of truth don't kill us all in WW3

 

[MR_BEN]

Not racist in the slightest… woke brigade at it again.

 

[wrd]

In most Korean schools Tae Kwon Do is taught, similar to how we have PE in English schools, so there is truth to the Asian stereotype around martial arts.

Its a silly comment but calling it racist and trying to cancel someone is potentially a bigger problem. Calm down and evaluate.

It is an interesting moment we live in where people trying to cost others their livelihood see themselves on the side of good.

 

[brasil_spur]

He was called out as being racist because when another player did the same move he referred to it as a rugby tackle but Son's was martial arts.

So if that other player was from a major rugby playing nation would that be racist as well? Stereotyping all players from nations that play rugby a lot into one bucket of rugby tacklers?

 

[brasil_spur]

Agree. Sadly, the conversation often centres around "was it racist?" I don't think that's really the point.

A commentator's job and skills is all about their use of language. Tyler making this comment shows he's just not good at his job.

This I agree with. The guy is a shoddy commentator and it wasn't the right wording to use, but IMO it also wasn't racist.

 

[Rocksuperstar]

I dunno if it was intended to be racist, I don't presume to know the intent behind anything that's not clearly intended to offend.

Seems thats very popular now though, deciding the intent behind other people's words.

If someone says something offensive out of ignorance then challenge it but don't immediately start at "appalled" and demand they be flogged - point it out, explain how it could be offensive, or that it offended you, they may apologise and thank you for pointing it out but... Yeah, outrage and demands of punishment are en vogue so let's not educate, let's just decide we know the facts and scream about it.

He's either a crazed racist or he said it without much thought or malice... Or... And I dunno, I'm no martial artist, it genuinely looked like a karate kick or something and he drew that comparison.

No idea.