The following clip is about racism in European soccer. While bigots certainly do still exist in the US, it got me thinking how US sports seem to have put that kind of crap behind us. If anything like what is shown in the clip were to occurr in a US stadium today, it would not be tolerated. http://youtube.com/watch?v=jwpO-nnFY9g&mode=related&search= So based on the fact that a black MLS player doesn't have to worry about being taunted and heckled because of the color of his skin, maybe MLS should target as DP some of the black players in Europe who are currently having a hard time dealing with what goes on there and use the fact that it doesn't occur here as a selling point for the league. If you were an MLS manager, what players might you go after?
i think "quality of life" issues do place MLS above a majority of the worlds leagues, so yes, it plays a factor (how big of a factor is to be debated)
It's a small factor because money increases the quality of people's lives much more than location.* So seeing as how MLS pays players on par with England's 4th division, I'd say MLS players are not experiencing a very high quality of life compared to equally talented players in other leagues. * And actually, the U.N. ranks the USA 8th in quality of life (and Canada #6). No better than countries with football leagues people might consider roughly similar to MLS (ie J-league, Scandanavian leagues, Aussie A-league, Eredivisie, etc.).
That NBC piece is hilariously inept. I mean, there's a good reason who Europe never had a civil rights movement; I'm sure that NBC could work it out if they tried... plus tarring all of Europe with a racist brush is lazy journalism, at best.
It also ranked 20th out of 21 countries in a recent UN survey of child welfare - only Britain was lower.
America hasn't put that behind, we just don't mix sports with politics and gang violence quite as much.
Yep, and the Dutch kids were on top of that list as being the happiest bunch. (Spoiled brats ) So send us your kids to learn to play soccer the proper way and make them happy as can be in the proces
Lazy journalism - in fact, I'd go so far as to say its racist itself, in that it tarrs an entire continent as racist without considering the positive steps that have been taken. There are racists out there, and there are issues in some areas, obviously, but in England, there isn't a problem like this - in the 70s maybe, but not now - in fact, the only thing I can actually think of is Leeds' "You're just a town full of Pakis" chants a couple of years back. In fact, here racist behaviour in a stadium will get you banned from all matches and a criminal record - its not like everyone is incredibly racist, although undoutably there are a couple of people who would be if they could and I'm sure there is in America too.
I think the lack of minority managers in sports is an interesting problem and its definitely not restricted to America. I think there's something like half a dozen black Football League managers at the minute - there does seem to be a fair few less proportionally than black (or other minority) players. We've got to the point where guys from the 90s have begun to retire so we should be seeing a rise in the amount of minority managers, but there hasn't really been a huge boost I don't think. Possibly the success of Ince would help, I dunno.
that's a very different kind of racism though. I don't think it's as if chairman are sitting around saying they don't want some black guy running their team. I think people have the own idea of the kind of personality that makes a good manager. There is, for example, the stereotype of the "canny Scot" manager which probably makes it easier for Scots to get managerial jobs in England. The fact is chairman really don't have a clue what to look for in a manager in terms of managerial skills - particularly with unproven managers. They are most likely to either go with someone who is "low risk" because he's been around the block a few times (even if never getting very far) or pick someone who most closely resembles the image in their head of what a successful manager's personality is.
What black coach was a shoe in for as position, then obviously passed over for someone less qualified? I don't remember any such cases since I have been watching.
BBBulldog or anyone else want to translate what those signs mean? I can pick out the word racism, but what does the rest mean?
As shocking as it seems, as far as I'm aware, there's only 2: Keith Curle and Paul Ince. However, I'm not sure if that's more to do with the former player pool changing (ie. there's only a certain number of black former players, there will be a lot more black managers in the future) Anyway, this racism thing in Europe is exagerrated. Americans love this kind of stuff coz it makes you feel better about your own country. Like, "oh look, our murder rate's spiraling out of control, we've got people roaming around indiscriminately shooting people, poverty, discrimination and organized crime are endemic but hey, everything's fine, coz in Europe they throw bananas at soccer players". LMFAO at the quality of life comments. Some of you guys really do believe we're stuck in the middle ages over here don't you? Money is what attracts Europeans to MLS. Clapped out former stars looking for one last pay day or also rans who can get paid better in MLS than in the lower leagues in their own country. Players aren't gonna suddenly start flocking over there coz of a couple of incidents in Spain. I'm sure the several thousand Euros Kamel receives per month to play for Espanyol and the fact that he gets to spend them living in Barcelona, one of the nicest cities in the world, more than make up for the odd banana getting thrown at him.
1. Against Racism and Repression For a colourful stand (lit. curve) and Ultras Against Racism 2. No to Racism in the Park! ('Park', of course, being the name of the stadium) 3. Being racist isn't original... Le Pen, Sarcozi, get lost! Another Bayern one: "Diversity instead of discrimination - South Stand - No place for racism!"
It's absolutely absurd to compare american and european immigration and minorities. US minorites, especially blacks, have been established for many generations, whereas the vast majority of minorities in european countries are first or second generation.
1-north africans have been in Spain & France for more than 2 generations 2-blacks & indians (asians) have been in england for more than 2 generations 3-in Italy you may be right...which says something about Italy
I have a real problem with this quote, "Anyway, this racism thing in Europe is exagerrated. Americans love this kind of stuff coz it makes you feel better about your own country. Like, "oh look, our murder rate's spiraling out of control, we've got people roaming around indiscriminately shooting people, poverty, discrimination and organized crime are endemic but hey, everything's fine, coz in Europe they throw bananas at soccer players". First, I don't believe racism in sports, especially in Europe, is over exagerrated. People hanging nazi banners, throwing bananas, and making monkey noises is not a small problem. Next, organized crime is a problem in every country and so is poverty and discrimination. Finally, our murder rate has been drastically decreasing since the early 90's.
Not strictly true, the majority of immigrants from Africa and the Carribean and from the Indian Subcontinent came over after World War Two. Many of those families are now 3/4 generations deep at the most. Anyway, why bring that up here? England doesn't really have a problem with racism in football stadia and hasn't done for some time. The problems are mainly limited to countries such as Spain and Italy and the Eastern European states which, until relatively recently, did not have very ethnically diverse populations.
My point was that we've been seeing an increase in the number of former players, but not really an increase in the number of managers yet. That might change, but I think we'd need to see someone do a really noteworthy job before things will truly start to change. I think that the difference in numbers is large enough for it to be a genuine issue. OK, I've not poured over the statistics, but in terms of names, I can think of those two and the likes of Leroy Rosenior and Keith Alexander, although I think they both got sacked / resigned earlier in the season, didn't they? There's been a few more over the years but those guys have managed to get a place in the revolving door of positions - it seems like its an issue with some chairmen having some stereotypes about which ex-players can do the job, because there's very few around but once they do okay, they tend to stay in the picture. Its not an insignificant problem, but it is a small one. Sounds contradictory, but its a small number of racist scum, often at a few particular clubs, ruining things for everyone else. Its an issue that needs solving, nobody argues that, but its not like everyone who goes to a football match on an entire continent is a far-right extremist.