It comes as no surprise to anyone in Europe who loves the sport of football that another group of thugs has been spotted behaving egregiously while supposedly following their beloved team. If you live in the UK you might assume I'm referring to the so-called Chels*** fans filmed on the Paris Metro repeatedly pushing a black man off a train as he tried to board. While our print and online media here were full of reports and responses regarding this incident, I recall no reference or links to reports about the Dutch thugs who damaged the Bernini fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome. Police battled hundreds of "fans" and arrested 29. Perhaps because they follow Feyenoord of Rotterdam rather than an English team they were not considered newsworthy.
Not a football problem but a social problem blah blah blah times of economic uncertainty reflected in social unrest blah blah blah we've been working hard for years to eradicate racism in football BLAH BLAH BLAH
Lucia is right when she questions why I would put my passion, my time and my money into such a corrupt and damaged system run by a bunch of old white men - I find it almost impossible to defend. At the same time, another side to this debate is expressed in the new film coming out next week - The Story of QPR. It's full of QPR fans explaining the reasons for their attachment. I'll see it at a premiere on Thursday so I'm not yet sure which part of my interview was used, but the film-makers have promised me a copy of my rough footage :-)
Meanwhile, the news that broke today about more disgusting behaviour by so-called football fans is shown in another amateur vid , shot on Sunday, of WHammers on their way to the derby game with Spurs. The bleeping makes it hard to understand all the words but it sounds like "I've got a foreskin. Haven't you, Jew?"
Some time last year, Lucia and I were on the District Line heading for the East End one Saturday afternoon, sitting in a carriage full of WHam fans. A group of young men started singing a song about running up and down White Hart Lane saying "We got foreskins, we got foreskins - you ain't!". I'd not heard that one before and in my innocence (not having a clue about the benefits, or lack thereof, of having a foreskin, or not) thought it was just a bit of banter. Lucia was scared, and I said to her that as long as the nice middle-aged couple in WHam colours sitting across from us seemed calm, we didn't need to worry. We got out at Whitechapel and had a lovely afternoon together.
Listening to the version of the "song" presented in this new vid with the addition of swearwords and the vicious tone in which "Jew" is said shows me the hate such statements represent. I didn't get it on the train. But that was before last summer, and the public response to events in Israel and Gaza. Now I really need to be more aware about our physical safety. There's no such thing as banter any more, or at least I'm an idiot if I think so. I am too old and fat to escape trouble. It is cliche time: better safe than sorry, because I would rather soothe the guilt of betraying my liberal principles than heal the cuts & bruises of an antisemitic attack.
PS for my WHam friends I should also note the spoof vid some WHam fans made this week in response to Paris - the Mail includes it in this article. Russell Brand tweeted his support of using comedy as a "weapon against hate". I'd like to see it like that, rather than just a way to wind up some West London rivals.
