Racism is deep in football's working-class roots

12 April 2012

Whatever the outcome of the escalating furore over the alleged racist incident between John Terry and Anton Ferdinand, there are those who, at least in the far reaches of their minds, might be asking whether it is indeed racist to call someone a "black c***".

Many people who have been the recipients of such slurs would, without hesitation, declare it to be so. But just as many who have uttered such statements will deny it to be much more than a slip of the tongue. Go to many a pub on a Friday night and you will find such parlance habitually used in normal "banter", not just by white people but by Asians, Turks and Chinese too. Objectors to such language get labelled as Politically Correct or "over-sensitive".

So at what point does language as allegedly used by Terry become so offensive it becomes a police matter?

Back in the day, as a young footballer plying my trade for Kingstonian FC in the then Berger Isthmian League, being called such names and worse was commonplace. In fact it was a rare match when it didn't happen.

I'll never forget an FA Cup encounter against Leytonstone FC where their centre-forward, who happened to be black, received tremendous racist abuse throughout the game, not only from members of our team and fans but from his own fans too.

Eventually he cracked after being called a "lazy black c***". He leapt the dividing barrier and planted a large black fist hard against the stiff white jaw of his detractor, before promptly walking off the pitch.

"He must've flipped," was the on-pitch banter. At halftime our manager talked of the "big coon up front," to which I objected. He replied: "I'm not talking about you, you're one of us."

Football is a sport primarily rooted in the working class: certainly many of the habits learned in the home as well as in working-class society at large are very close to the surface. The blame for social indiscretions cannot just be laid at football's door.

Racism isn't just about calling someone a black so-and-so. It is a much more complex condition, steeped in an historical context to which we are all, black and white, subject on a daily basis.

Today the press relishes catching celebrities off-guard and condemning them for crimes such as the misogyny incident involving Andy Gray and Richard Keys on Sky Sports earlier this year. And as big business, football finds itself thrust into the limelight and forced to protect its image in a way it didn't have to 30 years ago.

It has undeniably been successful in doing so: in the studio, at least, racist language is unacceptable. By and large, football crowd behaviour has improved immeasurably too, mostly due to important education work
by the Football Association and groups dedicated to rooting racism out of football.

Yet it may not count for enough if the gap between what happens on the live platform and what happens in locker rooms and in streets up and down the nation isn't addressed too.

In the case of John Terry, what he may or may not have said is best left to the lip-readers. But the sentiments stirred by this incident cut far deeper than a simple angry outburst.

Mark Norfolk is a playwright

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