Chelsea Thread

[samanosuke]

What's his nationality/ethnicity got to do with it? Spouting nonsense is one thing, but let's not veer into the realms of borderline racism on here eh?

I feel I should explain what I meant in my last post even though I'm wandering waaaay off topic here...

I see many people using racism as a blanket accusation for many different prejudices. For example, in order to validate your claims of racism you asked what nationality/ethnicity has to do with a comment someone else made. The answer is that ethnicity has nothing to do with it - the guy used the term 'French', not 'black French' or 'white French'.

I believe that far too many prejudices exist in society. Racism, it seems, is the only prejudice that is generally seen as being unacceptable. Could this possibly be down to the guilt of slavery? Who knows. Anyway, it seems to me that when somebody makes a prejudiced statement such as calling someone a French tosser or singing that Adebayor's dad washes elephants, many are quick to call it racism. To me they are both stereotypes and prejudices but not racist as neither is directed at a person's race. Nationality, yes, and culture/background, yes, but not race. Neither is any more (or any less) racist than calling someone a northern tosser or calling someone who lives on a council estate a chav.

What is my point? Society deems some prejudices as being acceptable such as class prejudice, sexism, stereotyping to some extent, and if somebody has a prejudice that people see as unacceptable such as calling someone a French tosser, it falls into the realm of 'racism' or, in other words, unacceptable prejudice. Why can't we as society have, instead of acceptable prejudices and unnacceptable (or 'racist') prejudices, only unacceptable prejudices? I am not trying to soften the severity of racism - I think it's humanity at its worst - but I am trying to question why society ignores other prejudices so willingly.

[Team Andromeda]

Firstly, please point out an incident after that much publicised one where United players have clearly hounded the referee in an aggressive manner

Well you know I know Mike is a lot of tosh, but I seem to remember him having a hard time of it off Neville and Hargreaves, I think Shrek even put his hands on Mike too , it was at of all places stamford bridge last year .

Lastly, I wasn't aware that a manager isn't allowed to wear a stopwatch during a match

Why do you need one ? its quite simple in most cases kick off is at 3pm and hald time comes 45 mins later , now its not for Sir Alex to decide how much time to add on , that's for the ref .

What's his nationality/ethnicity got to do with it?

Seriously get a life , and start to work out what real racism is all about
If you think calling someone a French tosser is Racist , then you haven't got the 1st clue , what its likes to be a victim of racism.
What next , because Ann makes fun of Welsh on The Weakest Link, she a racist ? , or wait some sad welsh tossers with out the 1st clue , thought so . Idiots like that , do the cause of Racism , no good what so every , and trivialise the issue .

Really Stick to watching footy on TV

[ezee ryder]

Well you know I know Mike is a lot of tosh, but I seem to remember him having a hard time of it off Neville and Hargreaves, I think Shrek even put his hands on Mike too , it was at of all places stamford bridge last year .

Why do you need one ? its quite simple in most cases kick off is at 3pm and hald time comes 45 mins later , now its not for Sir Alex to decide how much time to add on , that's for the ref .

I can remember Hargreaves have arguing the penalty decision at Stamford Bridge last year but I don't think he went overboard with any protests. Rooney went off injured after he scored if I remember correctly as he got hurt so he wouldn't have been on when the penalty was given.

You don't really need one, you're right but managers like to keep one on them just to monitor things it seems like it. It is not against the rules and loads of managers including Fergie still do it.

[Matt]

What's his nationality/ethnicity got to do with it? Spouting nonsense is one thing, but let's not veer into the realms of borderline racism on here eh?

Yep. He's entered in to the realms of insults. Not good man, keep it clean. It's just football banter

[Oh_Mutants]

But why put 'French' in front of 'tosser'? What does the fact he's French have to do with anything??
By TA's (and your first post Samanosuke, though i appreciate you clarified this) logic' is it's evidentally deemed ok to call someone a 'Black bastard'.. ie ''the 'bastard' was the offensive part, i just mentioned he was black too''.

Pure ignorance.

Samanosuke - i appreciate what you're saying, but nationalism or racism (the dividing line is pretty small), it was still quite unecessary in a thread discussing football on a videogaming internet forum

Oh and TA, i have a life thanks But by all means carry on spouting drivel, i'll leave you to it as i simply have better things to do than get drawn into an argument with you.

[ezee ryder]

Agreed, let's keep to football related discussions please.

[Matt]

Oh and what, old Shrek doesn't react ? , or Man Utd still don't chase Ref's across the pitch , Old Shrek would have reacted no differently to Ballack, and Old Golden Balls like to dives and moan at Ref's just as much as Drogba , Scholes is hardly a angel too . So best if Man Utd fans don't t try and score points against Chelsea fans , because your players have been the worst of the lot for years

Rooney and Ronny are no-where near as bad as a few incidents Keano was involved in. And Keano never acted like a petulant little child like Drogba and Ballack did.

No-one here is trying to score points. We, like the rest of the football world, are quite amazed at the scenes and are discussing them. Players do get worked up in football, it's a passionate game, and you want your team to fight. But this was something else. I actually can't believe any Chelsea fan can genuinely argue that those two "players" acted like dildos.

[abigsmurf]

You constantly see Rooney swearing at refs and linesmen and I've seen him scream in the face of officials but neither of those players have had to deal with this kind of situation, so you can't fairly say "but Rooney wouldn't...". Frankly I think Rooney in particular would equal or do something worse but we'll likely never know. You just don't see that many blatently bad decisions in single matches in an average career.

The refs know when they make a howler, they're in contact with other officials and at halftime they likely chat with people who've seen video footage. Once it's clear they've made a howler, they do all they can to make things worse. After all, their status is under threat from bad games. The big scandal is why, after 2 or 3 decisions did none of the other officials give advice to him on big decisions, did they seriously think he was making the right calls?

I don't condone Ballack and Drogba's behaviour but I sure as hell understand it. What can players do if decision after decision goes against them until you eventually lost a game you should've won by a few goals. There's nowhere for a player to turn to. Everyone has their limits before the red mist sets in and that game pushed a lot of people close to it, some over it.

[Oh_Mutants]

To be fair, and i'm no fan of Ballack or especially Drogba, it's hard for any of us to really state we wouldn't react like that in the situation. I've played amateur football as a goalkeeper, and i recall an incident when a quite frankly ridiculous penalty was given against me. I basically lost it big time and had a proper go at the ref. I'm normally a pretty calm guy, and again this was a relatively meaningless amateur game. I can't imagine how worked up the Chelsea lads must've been in the circumstances.

Credit to lampard and the rest however, and particularly Hiddink who showed class in his post match interview. What i will say was poor though on Drogba's part was the fact he wasn't instantly reacting to a bad decision/s... he came from out the tunnel after the game to hurl abuse at the ref. As a result, he probably does deserve the punishment he'll no doubt receive.

[Team Andromeda]

But why put 'French' in front of 'tosser'? What does the fact he's French have to do with anything??

That he's french ?. During the Enzo Maccarinell fight , with the Haymaker. I called Enzo a useless Welsh T*** . I hardly call that racist , childish , silly yes by all means , but not Racism.
Got to a Football match , and if you're Welsh , Scottish, English, Irish , then you'll tend to hear the you useless Welsh Bast*** and so on , if you happen to make a mistake and so on. I don't think that Racism, its silly small talk .
What next , all those people slagging off that Norwegian ref , with comments like his not fit to Ref, what do Norway know about football , are all Racists ?

I think real Racism, its just a little bit more horrid that that . I didn't meant to have a go at , but getting so sick of this PC that's sweeping the country .

You constantly see Rooney swearing at refs and linesmen and I've seen him scream in the face of officials but neither of those players have had to deal with this kind of situation

Yes and punching the Corner flag , clapping in the ref face , thrown the ball inthe direction of the Ref, I've seen Ferdinand in the Ref's face , kick the ball full force into some women face (to be fair I don't think he really meant to hurt anyway) I don't think hardly any Teams in the Prem conduct their self's any better , arsenal players love to question every decision that goes against them too

I don't condone Ballack and Drogba's behaviour but I sure as hell understand it

While I think Ballack should have been sent off , would could see he was sort of in control and he was holding back , from what he really wanted to do the Ref , and I'm so many players would have done no better .

Drogba , no excuses For a man that had to be helped off , he didn't half move around well , and he acted like a complete idiot after the match .
He should be fined and banned for a few games , and I'll be amazed if he's still at Chelsea next season

[samanosuke]

But why put 'French' in front of 'tosser'? What does the fact he's French have to do with anything??
By TA's (and your first post Samanosuke, though i appreciate you clarified this) logic' is it's evidentally deemed ok to call someone a 'Black bastard'.. ie ''the 'bastard' was the offensive part, i just mentioned he was black too''.

Pure ignorance.

Calling someone a black bastard is racist as far as I'm concerned. You're right - when a person's race is used as an insult it is derogatory.

Calling someone a French bastard, however, is not racist as it's not directed at a person's race. That does not make it any more acceptable though, and that is why I think people like to class it as being racist, along with other derogatory insults aimed at one's culture or religion for example.

Samanosuke - i appreciate what you're saying, but nationalism or racism (the dividing line is pretty small), it was still quite unecessary in a thread discussing football on a videogaming internet forum

The dividing line is small because both are seen as being unacceptable prejudices, so both are heaped under the banner of racism. I question why class prejudice, sexism and other socially devisive prejudices are not treated with the same intolerance as racism.

Perhaps this isn't the place to discuss such issues but as somebody made a prejudiced statement and the issue of racism was raised, I felt compelled to involve myself in the debate. My apologies to Chelsea fans who'd probably rather discuss their club.

[hudson]

[Oh_Mutants]

Am i the only person who wanted to see Drogba nail a 'spin-a-roony' after that pose?

[Zapp$ter]

Haha, yeah. The first thing thought when I saw that pic posted elsewhere was "Booker!"

[abigsmurf]

A draw or better would be ideal for tomorrow. Doesn't matter too much, can't see either team going all out unless a team feels they need to 'bounce back'.

It's all about the FA Cup for us now. Would be a nice way to finish what has been a horrible season for Chelsea fans to endure. It's probably going to be up to Ray Wilkins to scout out a new striker (or two if Drogba goes, I could see us considering a swap for him, especially if there's a young talent)