We can lead the way in fighting racism

[APN_EFC]

Born, brought up, and still in Liverpool, I'm the son of Indian parents who moved over in the 70s to the city. At the time, our parents' generation experienced some difficult times with prejudice, patronising behaviour but mainly amazing warmth, kindness and openness - some of the things that make the city great. While it was kind of 'easy' and 'obvious' to support Liverpool in the 70s and early 80s (don't ask me why) I somehow got caught up in the wrong group of friends and went blue! best decision of my life - well, character building anyway as I was too young to really enjoy the success of the 80s and at the time when I was enjoying football the most we had Walter Smith, Howard Kendall III, Mike Walker etc...

It's difficult to explain and I hope you understand this - going to football matches at that time was a scary experience, and ethnic minority families were afraid of having their children go to games, where there was a reputation for violence, racism and of course 'Everton are white' stereotypes. I still supported everton but was not allowed to go to matches. If you have ever been in this situation, or even if you can understand this - immigrant families worked harder to stay safe and protect jobs, build networks of friends and families and tried to create a community around them. Going to Goodison was out of the question because of stories, reputation, fear, especially when Liverpool had a reputation for crime and violence overseas. (They still moved here, but tried to stay in a comfort zone)

Even today, as an adult and dad myself, I find it challenging to go to matches, as I don't see many coloured faces around the ground. I know our people are not racist, but it's still intimidating. I know that if I'm wearing an Everton shirt, nobody cares about the colour of my skin But still, when I talk to friends and family who are not blues, and not from Liverpool, I get the feeling people still have a prejudice and stereotype view of Everton that we are a local, insular, 'white' club and don't have any space for international fans, ethnic minorities and immigrants.

As a friendly club, with a fantastic charity, great reputation as a 'people's club' and 'family club' we have to do something about this. How can we make the club more approachable, more accessible, totally disassociated with violence, aggression, intimidation, racism while still being a great powerful stadium and home ground that is intimidating for opposition teams? We can find a balance where we are totally behind our club, have amazing 'walls of blue', or great songs and chants that ring around the stadium, amazing noise like in the derby, but don't abuse and intimidate opposition players and fans. I know there have been no racist incidents, but hopefully you get where I'm coming from.

Whether we like it or not, the way of the EPL now is to be international, have a powerful brand and an attractive offer for new fans. We need to show ourselves to be different from the top clubs and not just buy our way to success, but build the club up from within, with strong roots. There's definitely a lot to be said in being the plucky outsider, the club punching above its weight, the honest, authentic club - all cliches that can help us to attract more fans, sponsorship, attention in the media and make us grow.

I hope that we can also start initiatives and embrace the anti racism movement, with some symbolic gestures, with some programmes for people of all backgrounds, and mostly, for being honest that we are treating everyone the same, whatever their skin colour, language accent, etc. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm sure there are other people like me who would love to go to matches, but used to stay away.

I'm happy to argue this out, and be told I'm wrong, but because we are so good at so many things, we need to be good at one of the major problems of our time.

 

[f.t.r.s]

Wouldn't say we're a stereotypically white club?
I'd say we've moved on from the dark days of the past, you're more likely to see white fans given that proportionally the country has more white European people, not because of the club name....

I also think we're quite good for maintaining tolerance, even a bit too good considering we banned a fan for calling Saha a lazy french turd

 

[Lanolin]

I'm totally behind you in fighting racism mate, there's no place for it in society nevermind football. Truth be told though, I have no interest in making Goodison a place where opposition players and fans are not intimidated or 'abused' (within reason obviously). That's part of football for me, and a snarling Goodison is better at it than most.

 

[APN_EFC]

Wouldn't say we're a stereotypically white club?
I'd say we've moved on from the dark days of the past, you're more likely to see white fans given that proportionally the country has more white European people, not because of the club name....

I also think we're quite good for maintaining tolerance, even a bit too good considering we banned a fan for calling Saha a lazy french turd

Yes that's true everything you say. Agree

 

[APN_EFC]

I'm totally behind you in fighting racism mate, there's no place for it in society nevermind football. Truth be told though, I have no interest in making Goodison a place where opposition players and fans are not intimidated or 'abused' (within reason obviously). That's part of football for me, and a snarling Goodison is better at it than most.

of course - agree we have to be intimidating but without crossing the line

 

[GwladysPhil]

To be honest, Everton is a "white" club.

I very rarely see anyone of ethic origin at the match,

 

[f.t.r.s]

To be honest, Everton is a "white" club.

I very rarely see anyone of ethic origin at the match,

Disagree with the first point, nothing of evertons doing associated with skin colour of fans.
Second point refer to the previous post.

Also , (please don't take this the wrong way) a lot of foreign fans (black,Asian, Oriental etc) tend to be glory hunters, hence why you see a lot more fans that are classed as minorities in Britain supporting the sky 6, Barca, Madrid etc
My boss is a great example of this, he's Pakistani and moved over here when younger for work, education etc. He used to be a utd fan, now he's a Liverpool fan, his loyalty lies with whoever is doing better
Also for immigrants and foreign fans it's more likely they'll be able to watch a sky 6 team, meaning that clubs like us will have a more localised support until they become consistently successful in a recent context

 

[larbert toffee]

To be honest, Everton is a "white" club.

I very rarely see anyone of ethic origin at the match,

Disagree Phil, I come down to about 6 games a year average and I'm seeing more fans of ethnic origin all the time and it's great to see. I would not want anyone, player or supporter to feel uncomfortable in Goodison because of their colour.
I would like to think racism at Goodison is a thing of the past, I know the club has worked hard to eradicate but also the fans have played their part as well in moving on from all that.

 

[PITA]

Disagree with the first point, nothing of evertons doing associated with skin colour of fans.
Second point refer to the previous post.

Also , (please don't take this the wrong way) a lot of foreign fans (black,Asian, Oriental etc) tend to be glory hunters, hence why you see a lot more fans that are classed as minorities in Britain supporting the sky 6, Barca, Madrid etc
My boss is a great example of this, he's Pakistani and moved over here when younger for work, education etc. He used to be a utd fan, now he's a Liverpool fan, his loyalty lies with whoever is doing better
Also for immigrants and foreign fans it's more likely they'll be able to watch a sky 6 team, meaning that clubs like us will have a more localised support until they become consistently successful in a recent context

Not having a go at you but there need to mention that. For example, most Irish fans that support English teams choose the Sky 6 Most Norwegian, of course, support the RS.

 

[PITA]

Disagree Phil, I come down to about 6 games a year average and I'm seeing more fans of ethnic origin all the time and it's great to see. I would not want anyone, player or supporter to feel uncomfortable in Goodison because of their colour.
I would like to think racism at Goodison is a thing of the past, I know the club has worked hard to eradicate but also the fans have played their part as well in moving on from all that.

Apart from a minority (that we call idiots) most of the world has moved on from that rubbish.

 

[Benedict]

Born, brought up, and still in Liverpool, I'm the son of Indian parents who moved over in the 70s to the city. At the time, our parents' generation experienced some difficult times with prejudice, patronising behaviour but mainly amazing warmth, kindness and openness - some of the things that make the city great. While it was kind of 'easy' and 'obvious' to support Liverpool in the 70s and early 80s (don't ask me why) I somehow got caught up in the wrong group of friends and went blue! best decision of my life - well, character building anyway as I was too young to really enjoy the success of the 80s and at the time when I was enjoying football the most we had Walter Smith, Howard Kendall III, Mike Walker etc...

It's difficult to explain and I hope you understand this - going to football matches at that time was a scary experience, and ethnic minority families were afraid of having their children go to games, where there was a reputation for violence, racism and of course 'Everton are white' stereotypes. I still supported everton but was not allowed to go to matches. If you have ever been in this situation, or even if you can understand this - immigrant families worked harder to stay safe and protect jobs, build networks of friends and families and tried to create a community around them. Going to Goodison was out of the question because of stories, reputation, fear, especially when Liverpool had a reputation for crime and violence overseas. (They still moved here, but tried to stay in a comfort zone)

Even today, as an adult and dad myself, I find it challenging to go to matches, as I don't see many coloured faces around the ground. I know our people are not racist, but it's still intimidating. I know that if I'm wearing an Everton shirt, nobody cares about the colour of my skin But still, when I talk to friends and family who are not blues, and not from Liverpool, I get the feeling people still have a prejudice and stereotype view of Everton that we are a local, insular, 'white' club and don't have any space for international fans, ethnic minorities and immigrants.

As a friendly club, with a fantastic charity, great reputation as a 'people's club' and 'family club' we have to do something about this. How can we make the club more approachable, more accessible, totally disassociated with violence, aggression, intimidation, racism while still being a great powerful stadium and home ground that is intimidating for opposition teams? We can find a balance where we are totally behind our club, have amazing 'walls of blue', or great songs and chants that ring around the stadium, amazing noise like in the derby, but don't abuse and intimidate opposition players and fans. I know there have been no racist incidents, but hopefully you get where I'm coming from.

Whether we like it or not, the way of the EPL now is to be international, have a powerful brand and an attractive offer for new fans. We need to show ourselves to be different from the top clubs and not just buy our way to success, but build the club up from within, with strong roots. There's definitely a lot to be said in being the plucky outsider, the club punching above its weight, the honest, authentic club - all cliches that can help us to attract more fans, sponsorship, attention in the media and make us grow.

I hope that we can also start initiatives and embrace the anti racism movement, with some symbolic gestures, with some programmes for people of all backgrounds, and mostly, for being honest that we are treating everyone the same, whatever their skin colour, language accent, etc. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm sure there are other people like me who would love to go to matches, but used to stay away.

I'm happy to argue this out, and be told I'm wrong, but because we are so good at so many things, we need to be good at one of the major problems of our time.

We live in a world were everyone is taught(by the media and the powers that be) to love ourselves, to such an extent that most people care only about themselves, the world is going to [Poor language removed] in a handbag, groups of people whether they black, white, rich or poor, females, males,different walks of life all in a segregation type world were one is getting played up against the other and each one falling for it, I suspect things are going to get worse unfortunately.

 

[f.t.r.s]

Not having a go at you but there need to mention that. For example, most Irish fans that support English teams choose the Sky 6 Most Norwegian, of course, support the RS.

In relation to this post there is a point, as some of the posters are talking about seeing mainly white faces at the match.
now a white person as you pointed out can be scouse english, irish, american, australian etc but you can't tell without speaking to them.
Obviously the same can apply to a person of colour, however I was also pointing out the reasons for the percieved increase in racial diversity among more successful clubs,
Does that make sense?

 

[Eggs]

...let’s hope Goodison becomes a place where ethnic minorities are commonplace and comfortable in attendance.

 

[Khalekan]

To be honest, Everton is a "white" club.

I very rarely see anyone of ethic origin at the match,

Well, I wouldn’t say Everton is a “white” club (whatever that might be).

We certainly aren’t a “white” team as our players on the pitch are very multi racial.

However you are right in saying one rarely sees owt but pasty faced caucasians in the crowd at Goodison,

And this applies to visiting fans as well.....I sit in Bullens near the visitors and they are as overwhelmingly “white” as we are,

Look at the crowd in any televised EPL game and you will see the same thing......football attendees in England are almost exclusively white, overwhelmingly male and increasingly over 40.

In such an environment it is is hard to see how young, local black people (as opposed to Asian daytrippers which proliferate at places like The Pit, the Emirates and OT) are going to get the marchgoing habit.

 

[PITA]

In relation to this post there is a point, as some of the posters are talking about seeing mainly white faces at the match.
now a white person as you pointed out can be scouse english, irish, american, australian etc but you can't tell without speaking to them.
Obviously the same can apply to a person of colour, however I was also pointing out the reasons for the percieved increase in racial diversity among more successful clubs,
Does that make sense?

Perfect sense. I'm just observing that most non-English fans latch onto the Sky 6.