John Barnes

[trueblue84]

Stevie Me got a fair load of abuse for the parentage of his children, this gets no media coverage because?

We all hear individuals hurling abuse at players generally if in own team because he made a mistake if the opposition because he is playing well against us. These comments don't necessarily make these individuals racist, homophobic or any other label we want to give them, it just makes them ill thinking idiots.

As society is so multi cultural there are so few families now that do not have an individual of ethnicity or gay or just different in their families, this is the new norm.

it always seems to be the older individuals who have had the real racist comments thrown at them but they will never admit that it is not as bad now.

Racism, homophobia etal is always not welcome at GP but it is so much better that in his day.

He is also one of the main protaganists in the fight for equal opportunities for BAME players for managers jobs but says they do not get the opportunity! I think he had the opportunity on several occasions and blew it.

All racists, homophobics should when identified be punished and educated, but as a no racist, non homophobe I get sick of it getting shoved in my face because I am straight and white.

I hated John Barnes because he was good not because he was black!

I hated Stevie Me because he was good not because he was white!

I understand the point you're trying to make, but your views are misplaced. You are technically correct that someone who made monkey noises at black players would not have acted violently towards that person in the way a white supremacist might, but the behaviour is still racist as it normalises the differentiation of that person because of their skin colour. Discrimination is an all or nothing problem. You can't claim a difference in the same action.

 

[sladen90]

The guys a complete and utter _________ (please feel free to insert your own word but I'm pretty sure non of them will be nice words)

 

[CJR]

Barnes is correct and there is no point even denying it, we had lots of racist chanting in the late 80's and early 90's it was awful looking back, yes I was there and at the time did not think it was awful as I was a teenager (no excuse) but remember it clear as day. Thankfully that is long gone now, I think I am correct in saying at the time we were the only team out of the 92 league teams without a black player and used to take great delight in singing about it. Barnes is right and has every right to point it out, doesn't upset me and it shouldn't upset anyone else that he has said it, and there is no point saying he is lying or has an agenda. Where we the only ones no, but again that is no excuse. It Happened.

 

[Dublin blue 75]

Just another in a long line of RS luvvies who disproportionately grace our match coverage, studio panels, analysis/chat shows. MOTD did it for years, Sky upped the ante a notch and BT have a default ex RS on every game even where they are not playing. And of that lot, he is one of those with least of relevance in a direct game analysis context to say.

 

[Lord Buckethead]

There is no defence for Racist abuse.

Didn't Barnes also say that Celtic and Tranmere Rovers were racist because they both sacked him after a few months for being a dreadful manager?

 

[trueblue84]

Barnes is correct and there is no point even denying it, we had lots of racist chanting in the late 80's and early 90's it was awful looking back, yes I was there and at the time did not think it was awful as I was a teenager (no excuse) but remember it clear as day. Thankfully that is long gone now, I think I am correct in saying at the time we were the only team out of the 92 league teams without a black player and used to take great delight in singing about it. Barnes is right and has every right to point it out, doesn't upset me and it shouldn't upset anyone else that he has said it, and there is no point saying he is lying or has an agenda. Where we the only ones no, but again that is no excuse. It Happened.

To be fair, it was still a problem in the mid to late 90s. I remember watching Everton (think it was the 96 season) when Everton made an anti racism announcement during the match and less than 5 minutes later, the steward of all people, hurled the most horrific racist abuse at earl barrett. It was rife at all clubs and we need to own it. There's no point trying to play it down. It is how we learn and move on.

Unfortunately, the mentality of some clubs, who choose to deny ever doing bad things mean they are destined to repeat the same mistakes again and again. Like printing t shirts in support of a racist player less than a decade ago.

 

[Papa Shango]

All black players got terrible abuse in the 70's. I rememeber one of the worst was towards Clyde Best who got it all through the match, then scored an absolute belter of a goal going past about 5 players. The ground fell silent for a moment then a massive round of applause went around.

It went on well in to the 80's even in the early 90's we still had some Everton are white chants.

I remember watching old matches on ESPN classics and they didn't edit the crowd sounds or anything and some of the stuff at every club was awful.

Thankfully things are a lot better these days, seems the racism in football is more of a lazy kind these days and comments get rightly derided by and large.

 

[Thomasc]

Bollocks to John Barnes and every other member of the red cult media.

 

[Parker]

After defending suarez simply because he played for liverpool barnes has no coin with me at all, that was disgusting.

That being said I've no interest in defending our own fans racist behaviour in the past and all tribalism and club interests should be thrown out the window when it comes to racism

Absolutely nailed it in one.

 

[AsiaAsia82]

It was bad, they were times when nothing was left out in terms of abuse players got, even topics like Munich, Bryan Robsons sexual health, race, religion etc etc
TV companies themselves played on those factors with numerous racist tv shows and comedians etc - easy to judge people at that time with today’s hindsight. But I think we have all moved on

 

[Death]

He’s just trying to get relevant in the hope of getting the Anfield rap ahead of spirit of the blues.

 

[roydo]

Ah, a "John Barnes Racism" thread.

This time of year comes round so quickly. What is he selling this time?

 

[Bluebonic]

Stevie Me got a fair load of abuse for the parentage of his children, this gets no media coverage because?

We all hear individuals hurling abuse at players generally if in own team because he made a mistake if the opposition because he is playing well against us. These comments don't necessarily make these individuals racist, homophobic or any other label we want to give them, it just makes them ill thinking idiots.

As society is so multi cultural there are so few families now that do not have an individual of ethnicity or gay or just different in their families, this is the new norm.

it always seems to be the older individuals who have had the real racist comments thrown at them but they will never admit that it is not as bad now.

Racism, homophobia etal is always not welcome at GP but it is so much better that in his day.

He is also one of the main protaganists in the fight for equal opportunities for BAME players for managers jobs but says they do not get the opportunity! I think he had the opportunity on several occasions and blew it.

All racists, homophobics should when identified be punished and educated, but as a no racist, non homophobe I get sick of it getting shoved in my face because I am straight and white.

I hated John Barnes because he was good not because he was black!

I hated Stevie Me because he was good not because he was white!

I must be a racist because I hate them all because they are red?

 

[Big Neville Southall]

It was a society problem, certain regions there was less mixing between races. Everton and Liverpool fans were the same as it was just as prevalent in everyday life. There's no moral high ground to be had over each other.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

I might be an outlier here, but I do have a respect for Jon Barnes stemming from my childhood, where I grew up, and the people I grewup with. I hail from a very mixed area which, in the late 80s and early 90s had a large afro-carribbean population. For the 2nd and 3rd generation black kids he was an absolute hero, a symbol of a black guy getting on and standing up to dreadful treatment. Trust me, their grandparents and parents dealt with some nonsense and had the attitude of "you need to be doubly good to get on". Awful that folk felt like that. So yeah, what went on in football stadiums just reflected crap that went on elsewhere.