5/9/05: Spot On

[GPK]

Late penalty kicks doom Colorado-Denver Post(AP) (http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci_2722881)

Cotton to the core-Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci_2721581)

Colorado cries foul over penalty kicks-Rocky Mountain News (http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/rapids/article/0,1299,DRMN_51_3763072,00.html)

Having a ball-Kansas City Star (http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/soccer/mls/kansas_city_wizards/11598254.htm)

Galaxy Is Helped by Whistle Blower-LA Times (http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-galaxy9may09,1,5144184.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-soccer)

Donovan's late surge boosts the Galaxy-Carson Daily Breeze (http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/articles/1557397.html)

Galaxy notebook: Donovan gives a few Mother's Day gifts-Carson Daily Breeze (http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/articles/1557402.html)

Penalty kicks prove difference for Galaxy-Orange County Register (http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/05/09/sections/sports/soccer/article_512655.php)

Galaxy beats Rapids by PKO-Pasadena Star News (http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206~29580~2859436,00.html)

Cold, rain can't slow torrid Revs-Boston Herald (http://sports.bostonherald.com/soccer/view.bg?articleid=82301)

Revolution find a formula-Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/articles/2005/05/09/revolution_find_a_formula/)

RSL may be without key players vs. Galaxy-Salt Lake Tribune (http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_2723003)

Real-ity bites for Salt Lake-Deseret News (http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600132436,00.html)

[cpwilson80]

The following is a must read -- a detailed look at racism in soccer (particularly Europe.)

The Shame In Spain (http://football.guardian.co.uk/continentalfootball/story/0,15758,1476283,00.html)

(Originally posted in the Eddie Johnson/Marca thread on Yanks Abroad)

[Blackjack Shellac]

The following is a must read -- a detailed look at racism in soccer (particularly Europe.)

The Shame In Spain (http://football.guardian.co.uk/continentalfootball/story/0,15758,1476283,00.html)

(Originally posted in the Eddie Johnson/Marca thread on Yanks Abroad)

Another Mandatory Read......!!!!!

[Evil Genius]

Another Mandatory Read......!!!!!

Yeah I'm going to third this. Fantastic article.

It just blows my mind that monkey chants and racist incidents like that still happen often enough to warrant such articles.

Maybe we really are more sensitive to that here in the United States. I remember going to a Minnesota Vikings game once and after Daunte Culpepper threw an interception I heard a fan yell

"TAKE THAT GODDAMN (rhymes with bigger) OUT AND PUT FREROTTE IN!"

I think he ended up being showered with about 20 cups of beer and he needed a police escort out of the stands so the other fans didn't try to kill him.

[uclacarlos]

The following is a must read -- a detailed look at racism in soccer (particularly Europe.)
The Shame In Spain (http://football.guardian.co.uk/continentalfootball/story/0,15758,1476283,00.html)
In general, a great article and a must read.

But I must take vehement exception to one thing promoted in the Anglophone press.

SPANISH HAS NO EQUIVALENT TO THE 'N' WORD IN THE ENTIRE LANGUAGE.

In fact, many of the ways in which we describe pigment revolve around sweets: chocolate, piel canela (cinnamon skin), azucar negra, azucar morena (black and brown sugar).

Now, there are ways in which derrogatory expressions can be used to refer to ppl of African ascent, but the word "negro" is VOID of any pejorative connotations meaning. Usually, you place a four letter word b4 "negro" to convey that sentiment. Different regions have LOCAL ways of conveying pejorative meaning, like "************" in Mexico. But even still, it's not even the same. The "n" word grew out of a specific economic, social, cultural and historical milieu in which the English made great strides to anihilate African cultures in the Anglophone diaspora.

This was simply not the case in Iberian America (Spanish and Portuguese colonies). Yes, slaves were repressed in Luso and Spanish America and have taken centuries to overcome systemic injustices that still exist today. But it was kinda hard for 2-3 whites on a plantation of 200-300 slaves to demonize to the same degree that whites in the US did, notably b/c less than 1% (yes, one percent) of plantations had more than 10 slaves.

[uclacarlos]

Uh, just a quick amendment to my previous post...

It seems that I looked at the post prior to mine and attributed the "n" word to the article. My bad...

[C-Rob]

Indeed a wonderfully articlulate article on the subject. I cannot help but see analogs within American sports culture. Overt racial taunting is pretty much gone from professional and college sporting events in the U.S., although they are still all too common at the high school level, particularly in rural areas. There is still racism, of course, but obvious examples from the fans are rare and, as mentioned above, not tolerated by fans, much less those who run the show.

There is, however, a great divide between the numbers of black players and those in management positions in some sports. Basketball, and to a lesser extent baseball (at the pro level anyway), are doing a decent job in this area, whereas football is lagging appreciably. Hockey can probably be given the benefit of the doubt considering the paucity of blacks in the sport. I'm not sure what to think about soccer. Certainly in the U.S. it has traditionally not been a sport dominated by blacks, so I'm not sure to what extent cries of racism in managerial hiring would be valid. Clive Charles (granted, not American) did head the Olympic squad several years ago, so there is certainly precedent by the USSF to hire a black coach.

Xenophobia, and racism in general, in the U.S. ebbs and flows with political and economic changes. I hope it never reverts back to how it was in the sporting world back in the 1950s and 1960s. Europe and the U.S. are cetainly different in how their current populations came to exist, so I suspect things will only get better in American sports from a racial standpoint. Perhaps the same can be said of Europe, but I suspect it will take a long time, a lot of effort, and an enormous amount of political pressure. Of course, the first step in working through a problem is acknowledging that it exists, and it appears that those in charge have not even taken that step.

As an aside, I can't help but wonder whether MLS will ultimately benefit from this. I imagine there are more than a few Africans and those of African descent who don't want to deal with overt racism and might choose a more comfortable experience in MLS instead. If things continue to worsen, there may be more interest from those athletes.

BTW, uclacarlos, "************" chants were mentioned at least twice in that article (once in reference to Spanish fans, another in reference to Italians). The word is widely used around the world and often no attempt is made to translate it into another language. It conveys its meaning quite well as it is, unfortunately.

[irishapple21]

It's interesting because I read an article a couple of weeks ago where DeMarcus Beasley was talking about the racism he has encountered from other teams' fans while playing for PSV Eindhoven. I really thought we were past that kind of ignorance in this day and age. Well, Celtic and Rangers are still embroiled in the catholic/protestant idiocy, so I guess people still have a long way to go in the world of football.

[Bill Schmidt]

The Shame In Spain (http://football.guardian.co.uk/continentalfootball/story/0,15758,1476283,00.html)


Racial strife has been flaring up around Europe for the last few years, across society, and this goes deeper than football. The Economist had a cover story, "France's Shame," about two years ago, which put the finger on the trend. The news peg for the story was that the National Front, a very right-wing party that was openly anti-immigration and at least covertly racist won 20 or 25% of the preliminary presidential vote. This eliminated the left candidate and had voters choosing between Chirac (right) and Le Pen (far right) in the final election. Other articles included "Rise of the Right," showing racism and nationalism were growing in Europe, from Russia to Spain. One basis for this is the European Union's growth to become the truly dominant governing body of the continent. It has lax rules on immigration, and migration within the continent. The nations of Southern Europe have absorbed waves of African immigration for more than a generation, but it's grown rapidly in the last five years. Throw in the global economic decline, painful growth of free trade, the weakening of workers unions, and it creates a hostile environment for newcomers.

[JRstriker12]

The following is a must read -- a detailed look at racism in soccer (particularly Europe.)

The Shame In Spain (http://football.guardian.co.uk/continentalfootball/story/0,15758,1476283,00.html)

(Originally posted in the Eddie Johnson/Marca thread on Yanks Abroad)

Wow! What an eye opener. :eek:

The article deserves it own thread.

[gnatfan]

Wow--what a read. And good for the Guardian to print something like this--behavior like this needs to have a bright light turned on it.

I was thinking about the America soccer experience while reading this--and how we have an opportunity to continue to create something refreshingly unique. Much like the idea of Jazz in this country, founded on the initial premise that all were welcome to play, American soccer can also be our vanguard of multi-cultural play.

[kpaulson]

BTW, uclacarlos, "************" chants were mentioned at least twice in that article (once in reference to Spanish fans, another in reference to Italians). The word is widely used around the world and often no attempt is made to translate it into another language. It conveys its meaning quite well as it is, unfortunately.

The n word is not widely used in Spain, but people are aware of it-- I find it odd that they appropriate an American word in order to be racist (much the same way we appropriated the word "negro" to describe African slaves, although we obviously had a word for "black"). In my years there, I saw a great deal of xenophobia and nationalist/fascist (for they are very similar in Spain) posturing, but no monkey chants. A great deal of racial insensitivity and some racially motivated police brutality, but little racism in the stadium as a whole.

Perhaps this has changed in response to the March 11 bombings (an intriguing thought brought up by the article, but odd considering the perpetrators of the attacks and the victims of this racism are different). All I can say is that it does very little good to cluck your tongue in disapproval unless you understand the country you are criticizing. Something needs to be done, but at the moment, the only calls from abroad should be focused on closing stadiums to the public for international matches.

[uclacarlos]

BTW, uclacarlos, "************" chants were mentioned at least twice in that article (once in reference to Spanish fans, another in reference to Italians). The word is widely used around the world and often no attempt is made to translate it into another language. It conveys its meaning quite well as it is, unfortunately.
I quickly re-skimmed the article and found only "negro de miel'da" (switch the 'l' for an 'r' and you have the Spanish version of the sh word). But notice that the curse word is mie rda, not 'negro', b/c in Spanish "negro" is solely a color. What makes the expression an insult is "de miel'da". But you can say "gitano (gypsy) de X", "gringo de X", "catalan (a person from the Catalan province) de X" or any other innocuous noun followed by the preposition "de" followed by the sh word. At that point, the innocuous noun becomes an insult w/in the context of the expression.

And even if a Spaniard, or Italian, or English, or German or Chinese were to use the "n" word in their language, it still would not carry the same cultural and linguistic weight that it does in English.

But the bottom line is that futbol is the arena in which racial tensions btw "white" Europe and "immigrant/ppl of color" Europe collide. I guess I'm just a lil' sensitive b/c the English have a history of capping on Spain while ignoring its own pecadillos. (Re. the Inquisition, when DUH, England had its own brand of religious persecution that caused ppl to leave by the boatload and establish... the grand ole' US of A; or bull-fighting, all while ignoring their fox hunts).

[C-Rob]

I quickly re-skimmed the article and found only "negro de miel'da" (switch the 'l' for an 'r' and you have the Spanish version of the sh word). But notice that the curse word is mie rda, not 'negro', b/c in Spanish "negro" is solely a color. What makes the expression an insult is "de miel'da". But you can say "gitano (gypsy) de X", "gringo de X", "catalan (a person from the Catalan province) de X" or any other innocuous noun followed by the preposition "de" followed by the sh word. At that point, the innocuous noun becomes an insult w/in the context of the expression.

And even if a Spaniard, or Italian, or English, or German or Chinese were to use the "n" word in their language, it still would not carry the same cultural and linguistic weight that it does in English.

I'm not sure we're on the same page here. My point is that the article cites incidents where Spanish (4th paragraph) and Italian (1st paragraph under "Italy" towards the bottom) fans used the "n-word" chants. Nowhere does it say that they used a Spanish or Italian equivalent. I've heard the word used overseas in non English-speaking countries and the meaning of the word is certainly known and understood.

Otherwise, we're on the same page wth the rest of your arguement.

[uclacarlos]

If they did shout the 'n' word (pardon my incredulity, as I have found that most ppl haven't a clue as to how to report about and/or react w/ regards to language usage in a culture or language not their own), it still cannot carry the same weight as an Anglophone native speaker or someone who has spent signficant time living in the US (especially), the UK or SoAfrica as their primary residence.

It's still an insult and inappropriate, but they simply cannot understand the historical complexities of the term and how the proliferation of its usage in hip-hop and rap are used in a very private, cultural insular way (i.e. for blacks only, not to be used by whites). And to say it to a Camaroon player? Still an insult, but not nearly as bad as saying it to an African-American.