Yorke And The Fans

[Glenn]

OH DEAR! here we go..your fans are more racist than ours!

It was a ROMA scarf he was wearing.

Nothing to do with Burnley, and the issue at hand here is how do we deal with OUR racist fans.

EDIT - Kick Racism out of football have issued a statement on last nights incidents, which seems to be a far more measured response than from Jims colleagues in the gutter press.

Blackburn Rovers have a very good record of tackling abuse of this kind and in reaching out to local ethnic minority communities in the area. We are confident the right action will be taken to deal with the perpetrators of last nights abuse.

It was possibly a Roma scarf, after watching the footage yet again (coupled with my own memories of last night). I'm not 100% sure it is now.

It sure as hell wasn't Claret And Blue though (which was the point Ste was trying to get across).

[Nayef]

ban him for life and send him 2 burnley

But before you put him in Burnley, force him to undergo plastic surgery to change his skin colour to black.

Maybe then he'll realise what he's doing.

[Neil Weaver]

It takes quite a lot for me to get annoyed on here (Jan, congratulations) but I heard about this on the radio as I drove home yesterday evening and couldn't believe my ears. Now had time to sleep on it and read the comments on here, vast majority very sensible.

As with the past threads on fans' behaviour, the individuals getting the flak are in the tiny minority.

I haven't seen any pictures, apart from about 10 secs of goals, so I can't comment on Sky's pictures or whatever. Posts from the last hour or so seem to confirm that this one (yes one, and that's one too many) plonker was indeed being racist though. So that's one idiot in a crowd of 20000. Just like Madrid eh?

Mr Bruce, I have little time for you. Could it be that if your team hadn't conceeded those two 2nd half goals, this wouldn't have made headline news all over the place? As I walked back to town after the game, could have sworn I saw a bandwagon being hijacked by some clown in a BCFC tracksuit . Forgive me for being cynical, but it does seem to take attention from the result of the game doesn't it? Just think if Mr Dickov had taken that last minute chance, this might be in the European Courts by now.

Can't really see what more the club can do - from what I understand, we've said we'll throw the book at the idiot once there's been a proper inquiry. Just hope investigations only take a couple of days.

[philipl]

Hang on, now isn't the time to be having a go at the neighbours.

[Glenn]

NO MORE MENTIONS OF BURNLEY !

There is a serious discusion here, and we're turning it into point scoring with the Dingles.

[stuwilky]

OH DEAR! here we go..your fans are more racist than ours!

It was a ROMA scarf he was wearing.

Nothing to do with Burnley, and the issue at hand here is how do we deal with OUR racist fans.

EDIT - Kick Racism out of football have issued a statement on last nights incidents, which seems to be a far more measured response than from Jims colleagues in the gutter press.

Blackburn Rovers have a very good record of tackling abuse of this kind and in reaching out to local ethnic minority communities in the area. We are confident the right action will be taken to deal with the perpetrators of last nights abuse.

It was possibly a Roma scarf, after watching the footage yet again (coupled with my own memories of last night). I'm not 100% sure it is now.

It sure as hell wasn't Claret And Blue though (which was the point Ste was trying to get across).

It was definitely a ROMA scarf. The comments above are correct in that he was a young male (possibly 17/18?) lashed out of his mind.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Ste B, read my comment(PAGE 9) concerning Mrsjansens scurrilous post about bringing the name of other clubs into it.

Low and behold look what happens... a stupid slanging match.

[Biddy]

It doesn't really matter what scarf this prat was wearing or indeed where he came from.

He was being racist in the home end and I think 19,999 other rovers fans will commend the fact he was thrown out and how well the club are dealing with this issue.

Hopefully he'll get everything that he deserves and I am glad criminal proceedings are looking likely.

[SAS]

there may be more racists at the turf, there may not. What is the case though is that this incident was down to one set of fans only - yours.

set of fans, i`m sorry, i only thought 1 person was involved in this.

[mac]

It really doesn't matter who’s scarf/shirt/ etc this clown was wearing,

As a rovers fan in the same stand I feel deeply embarrassed,

In my opinion he should not be allowed anywhere near football full-stop. Idiots like this bring the club's name and eventually us the fan's name into sh1t .I won’t stand for it and I’m pretty sure the club won’t either.

[longsiders1882]

there may be more racists at the turf, there may not. What is the case though is that this incident was down to one set of fans only - yours.

set of fans, i`m sorry, i only thought 1 person was involved in this.

agreed - one fan amongst other BLACKBURN fans - so why bring us into it?

We have our own problems to deal with and it does not help that each time anything remotely racist comes up in the media they seek to link it to Burnley - whether its the new Tory leader choosing it as a venue to launch some policies (no doubt his first and last visit) or the BNP choosing to unveil Msr LePen.

I came on here really to say that whatever the differences between our 2 sets of fans I think we all know that these events are usually carried out by a tiny minority and that you were just unfortunate that it happened this week. When I get here I find people actually trying to blame another club, my club.

[Biddy]

I don't think anyone is trying to blame any other club as such. Really I think people are trying to distance ourselves from this one individual who obviously does not hold the same values as the 99.9% of other Rovers fans.

This is not a Rovers fan, or certainly not one that we want a Ewood anyway.

[Shaddy]

Amongst all this hate for Dwight Yorke, he could be the one person that could bail us out, so to speak. If in his time with Rovers, he could easily distinguish the fans genuine criticism, as opposed to veiled racist abuse... which we are all sure the latter is not the case, he could well comment on it being contrary to the nature of the support.

It would be the ideal scenario now, but realistically, it is unlikely. Here's hoping.

Edited November 22, 2004 by Shaddy

[philipl]

Good statement Paul. I am sure the board members fully support it.

[Nelsta]

I have'nt had the time to say anything about the racist chants aimed at yorke up untill now and although there is one person getting blamed i have to say where i was sat there seemed to be more than 1 person shouting racist chants toward yorkie for instance two lads sat next to me found it funny to shout f**k off you b*ack monkey b*stard followed by monkey chants and a few other people scaterd around.I just hope that rovers can quickly do something about this.

[speeeeeeedie]

Unfortunately some idiot has landed the club right in it. Regardless as to whether or not the lad got kicked out for gesticulation or racist chants will get lost the the backwards northern racists witch hunt tirade in the red topped press.

I wasn't there but reading the comments from the media and this board it seems like the Roma (is that the latest?) scarf wearing fool got his comuppence for being a complete moron before it happened. No doubt the clown will wake up this morning with a bad head wondering what he did. I'm sure that if drink wasn't involved and the Madrid incident wasn't fresh in his mind it would not have happened. It's no surprise to me that both incidents happened a few days apart. One again the press have won. They raked the Spanish over the coals late last week and now they can carry on doing it to us, nothing like stretching out a story to sell more papers. I'm now waiting for the "undercover" reporter going around the streets of Blackburn on a fact finding mission to show the country how racist the town is.

[Paul]

Good statement Paul. I am sure the board members fully support it.

Thank you Philip

[Kennys Magic Hat]

Question is: will Andy Cole be subject to abuse next week if he warms up in front of the Rovers fans at Craven Cottage?

The answer is no because he gave a lot of hard work and effort to the club and was instrumental in us staying up after we signed him and virtually won us the Worthington Cup.

If there was any racist abuse yesterday if was as much Yorke's fault as that of the Rovers fans it would have only come off the back of the abuse connected with him being a lazy t**t for us and because he confronted his aggressors in a very arrogant manner. As it was, I was sat close to the incident and didnt hear any racist abuse and have seen the Sky pictures and there is no evidence of people making monkey gestures towards him - especially not the two main instigators who were making V signs at him. This was the case with most of the Blackburn End and in my opinion it is about a 1000 people against 1 idiot footballer and Yorke wouldn't have a leg to stand on if it weren't for the sensationalist view of the media.

Yorke just needs to get over the fact he is now a washed up nobody whose career as a footballer has gone distinctly sour after his earlier successes.

[roversactive]

Statistics wouldn't prove that Andy Cole played any better for us then Dwight Yorke...

[John]

Kennys Magic Hat- The Sky pictures clearly show the tw*t in the (Roma?) scarf doing monkey impressions at Yorke. They highlight it now when they show it.

[Blue blood]

Sky news [as opposed to Sky sports news] is being very naughty about this incident.

The camera's point to the Blackburn end and the commentator says "however, there's no need for racist abuse like this". The commentary is suspended and the crowd noise amplified to enhance the "one lazy @#/?" chant.

Now that's completely out of order.

David O'Sullivan is saying that it's been blown up out of all proportion. He reckons yorke could have warmed up at the other end of the ground.

What's racist about the "one lazy @#/?" chant? It's nothing to do with his colour and all to do with his poor attitude when at Rovers. Loads of players get stick for one thing or another - 99% of the time it's because of something they did on the pitch (or didn't in Yorke's case) like a dirty foul, played for a clubs rivals, left in unplesant circumstances, couldn't be bothered etc. It's NOTHING to do with their colour.

The one fan who did abuse Yorke racially should be banned for life, end of story. But to try tarnishing all Rovers fans with the same label is equally disgusting and injust. I had friends at the game in two different stands (Jack Walker and Blackburn End) and neither commented on this. Similarly there was no mention of racist abuse during the match commentary. Rovers both the club and fans are very much victims of circustance.

[krislu]

Kennys Magic Hat- The Sky pictures clearly show the tw*t in the (Roma?) scarf doing monkey impressions at Yorke. They highlight it now when they show it.

Just saw it on SkyNews

[Darth Paul]

Having read Steve Bruces comments on the matter I find his approach very disappointing. He is clearly putting forward his opinion without having any idea of what actually happened. From a man in his position I find this highly irresponsible, and, as others have pointed out, I feel this is a very sad way of distracting from the fact his side were lucky to get out of jail after being 3-1 up.

Also a though occured to me during the England midweek game about the racist chanting...why can the Spanish Police/FIFA/the relevant body take action against the many fans seen on tv in the crowd making monkey gestures. Is this behaviour acceptable if done in a large group I wonder? Or really is it only our country that really cares about the race issue in football, as racism seems to be institutionalised is some countries such as Greece or Spain?

I recall Rovers banning a fan in the Riverside about ten years ago after blatantly being caught on tv making monkey gestures to the QPR player Devon White. The fan from the latest incident, if he is a fan, will undoubtedly face repercussions for his part, so why cant action be taken aganst individuals for the outrageous behaviour in Spain?

Overall a very disappointing incident, as much as anything because we should all be focusing on the second half turnaround by the team and not the idiotic behaviour of an individual.

Onwards and upwards Rovers!

[Eddie]

Well at least this seems positive

Sullivan Comments

Some common sense.

(Hope that already hasn't been posted, I think it was mentioned however I don't think there was a link)

[trawdenblue]

Kennys Magic Hat- The Sky pictures clearly show the tw*t in the (Roma?) scarf doing monkey impressions at Yorke. They highlight it now when they show it.

Just saw it on SkyNews

I'll say it again ----

The "racist" in question looks like he was giving Yorke a double w*nker gesture.

Then Yorke's interpretation of it looks more like a chicken!

Then other fans joined in by telling Yorke to f**k off as he was being led away by the steward.

Did anybody HEAR any racist comments?