"If it's a boy, they're naming him Rodney after Dave"Was reading
Miles' blog (25.2.07) this weekend. He spotted an interesting article in the Observer, about bringing back football terraces. This prompted miles to
'turn back his own clock of time' and reminisce about his experiences on the terraces during those 'halcyon' days of yesteryear:
My main memory of terraces is the old Barclay at Norwich. The injuries were more likely to be to the sensibilities with the racist chant they used to have in the 80s; "Trigger trigger trigger, shoot that nigger" was the whole of the Norfolk boys' repertoire, perhaps because it only took the recall of four words and had a simple rhyming structure.
Nice. I have to say that while I was possibly too young to be aware of the specific chants that were directed at black players, I have one very clear memory of the guy standing next to me in the Barclay stand who, rather sheepishly after one such chant, turned to me and said, "But you're alright boy, you're one of us"! A point of view, Miles, which probably explains just how - in the same breath as their ugly, insipid racism - they were able to love Justin Fashanu
. I have to say with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight (and in a world where much more heinous atrocities are taking place) that I find that attitude today, in its naive ignorance, almost endearing.
Watching the clip of '
that goal' is interesting in the light of the above discussion though. He has just scored what turned out to be the goal of the season (and by some people's assessment, a goal of the decade) ... Now that was not much of a celebration, was it? If I were in his shoes and within ear-shot of "trigger, trigger, trigger, shoot that nigger (no, not you Justin, you're alright bor, you're on of us .. that
other one)", I am not sure I'd feel too much like sharing their joy either. It's incredible how public sensitivities have changed in our short lifetime. I read stories about alleged racism now in football, but it's mostly overseas (Italy) and apparently between the players themselves (taking that search for competitive edge to another - lower - level .. didn't Materazzi demonstrate the power of the personal slur quite powerfully during the World Cup Final?).
I don't really see much externalised racism from the Norwich or opposition crowds in recent times. I would, however, do anything to be the fly on the interior wall of people's minds today, to actually know how many people think it, but just aren't saying it. Which is not of course to say that 'old school' pride in bigotry does not still exist. During Norwich's Premiership season, Tom and I went to Chelsea. I was shocked to see in the (Norwich supporter packed) pub, a bunch of 'ncfc skins' dressed in the classic uniform of the BNP/ fascists - the Camouflaged military trousers tucked into knee level 'bovver' boots .. bedecked in NCFC customised St George's flags. It was a bit of shock to the system, especially moments before entering the archetypal example of the antithesis that is modern day football - a corporate box at chelsea (courtesy of a mate's boss at a big German bank). I felt very intimidated, and that's in a pub full of my own supporters! I probably needn't have worried though ..
I'm alright, I'm one of them, right?!
God forbid I am ever considered to be a part of that filth. Or that it should continue for too long, to be a part of my club. There is no room for racism in modern society. And I am not talking about the 'fear of the unknown' aspect that modern news stories twist into tales of prejudice against asylum seekers. I mean the underlying belief that one race (white european) is better than anything else, anywhere. But I would say this, I am "Mixed - White/ Black Caribbean" according to the census disclosure that accompanies each of my NHS job applications. So I have the (un)enviable position of being able to straddle the fence and see the best of both sides of the coin (Stop the Clock - surprise, surprise ... both sides are exactly the same, for better or for worse). Although I do sometimes wonder whether I have 'access all areas' to the full inner thinkings of the white person's mind. After all, are any of my (almost exclusively white) friends and acquaintances really going to express anything that could be perceived as racist around me?
There was something bogus for me about the huge media uproar/ condemnation over the
Jade Goody and Co racist slurs of Shilpa. I remember thinking to myself, if everyone in the UK who used the word 'Poppadum' to refer to something/ someone indian, was villified and their livelihoods wrecked, there probably wouldn't be much of an economy left. I have a classic example of this complex tale of 'latent' (or "institutional") racism from a few years ago. I was more than a little disturbed by a night out in Cambridge with a (white) ex-colleague. His language towards his lifelong friend (a British indian, cambridge born and bred) was laced with stereotypes and his behaviour 'colonial' (sic. patronising) all night. And these guys were lifelong best buddies! It was water off the (asian) guy's back and yet I found it completely offensive. For me, racist prejudice is the big elephant in the room that we'd all rather not think, notice and talk about. If it arises, deal with (or in the asian guy's case ignore it); only deal it with quickly and move on, whether your inwardly horrified or just alert to the 'offender's' naive ignorance. Just don't labour the point, because I'll bet you don't have the answer .. and why ruin a perfectly enjoyable evening making anyone feel uncomfortable (about themselves)? Wouldn't it just be better to let fascism continue to make gains in the East, and for the odd poor sod (white, black or otherwise) get stabbed every now and then, to maintain the status quo.
Being an 'open' sort of chap, I would much rather the whole issue was laid bare and confronted. But how an earth does this happen at the country level (for isn't
Great Britain grappling as we speak, with it's own sense of identity)? For now though, I guess I will just have to accept that:
- If I am wearing a suit in a swanky hotel lobby, I may be mistaken as one of the waiting staff (yes, this happened on a business trip).
- I will have to grin and get used to those uncomfortable looks, If I ever find myself dating a white woman again (how many less of those looks do I get since being with a woman whose skin colour more closely matches mine).
- I have to ignore it when a friend/ close acquaintance/ extended family member inadvertently spouts some prejudice based on race. They are ok really, you know ...
they're one of me!
- I may always continue to get some quizzical looks from supporters, every time I watch Norwich at Carrow Rd (how on earth has he become a yellas fan?)
- I may again be subject to a 'stop and search' by the police, if I am found on my bike on a pavement ("because there have been lots of reports of snatch and grab robberies around here by
people on bikes" .. not presumably committed then by the people (white, incidentally) in office clothes on their bikes in front of me).
- On a late night home one day, I may run into the 'wrong crowd' in the wrong part of town and become the next in a long line of past and future Stephen Lawrence or Kriss Donalds' (
racial murders).
Phew! I didn't expect to get all that off my chest. On a re-read I should point out that I do not feel (at a conscious level anyway) hugely bitter about all this. Like my Cambridge born 'brother' above, I guess that over the passage of time, you just get used to it ...
