Put Anton on a bonfire!!

[IsleworthRanger]

More garbage from the Mirror who if you recall started the Dubai drinking rumours though this article is by Oliver Holt who I thought was one of the better football journalists

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/england-sickening-chants-against-rio-1786627

Yes there were plenty of songs about Rio Ferdinand and his desion to pull out of the England squad and earn some dosh in Doha instead of playing for his Country but none of them racist in the slightest and not one fan at the two games heard the bonfire song

Hot was challanged for evidence at the airport and freely admitted he had none to back the story up and yet he and other journalists know that the PC brigade will lap this "news" up and it will justify the likes of the society of black lawyers receiving subsidies from the taxpayer

What I have noticed since getting home is that the papers have completely ignored the spitting at England players on the touchline simply watched by the stewards,flares being aimed at us in the ground and perhaps most worrying a small bomb which was thrown in the England stand from the Montenegro section to our left which exploded destroying a seat and which could have seriously injured the fan if he had actually been sitiing in it rather then standing up

[jfish]

Utter scumbags.

To think i felt sorry for one of the sun reporters along with his cameraman getting ironed out in Charleroi in 2000 (or however you spell it)

[IsleworthRanger]

Utter scumbags.

To think i felt sorry for one of the sun reporters along with his cameraman getting ironed out in Charleroi in 2000 (or however you spell it)

The Red Tops I can sort of understand as they have done it for years and its even expected but even the broadsheets are the same these days and its true that the only thing to believe in a newspaper is the date

[IsleworthRanger]

FA statement attributable to Club England MD Adrian Bevington following racism allegations

The FA takes all incidents and allegations of racism extremely seriously.

In San Marino, we had FA security officers monitoring the English supporters in the stadium. This includes recorded video footage.

We also worked closely with UK Police in advance of and on the night of the game.

While we have no reason to dispute the media reports which are without doubt made for the right reasons of fighting racism, at this time we have not found any recorded evidence of the specific discriminatory chanting referring to Rio and Anton Ferdinand and the vile 'bonfire' song.

We will of course continue to review all of our recorded footage.

We recognise the importance of FARE's responsibility to report any incidents to FIFA.

We will liaise with FIFA and work with them to assist any investigation. Should evidence of any racial chanting be found, we would expect action to be taken against any individuals.

The FA would terminate englandfans membership of any guilty members, while we would expect banning orders to be issued by the courts as a minimum penalty.

We do not want supporters who chant vile or racist abuse following the England team.

The FA will continue to work closely with Kick it Out and FARE to ensure we do all we can to eradicate racism from football. We fully recognise that we must continue to address any issues that arise involving our own supporters in the same manner we expect other nations to do so.

We should also make clear that in addition to the officially ticketed englandfans in San Marino, there was also a large number of non-members who did not receive tickets through The FA.

As is normal practice for England senior away fixtures, The FA had full-time staff and security managing the collection of tickets for the games in San Marino and Montenegro.

We also made specific arrangements in Montenegro for official supporters to be issued with wristbands on collection of their tickets.

The FA has a stringent approach to ticketing and security, working closely with UK Police and other UK agencies.

We will continue to take every possible measure to ensure our supporters conduct themselves appropriately, as most have over the past decade.

However, we will not accept any racist chanting and we also call on those attending England matches at home and abroad to stop the 'No Surrender' chanting during the singing of the national anthem, both before and during games.

We have made significant progress following the hooliganism that blighted the national team in 1998 and 2000. We must continue to maintain this hard work.

[Stanley]

The Red Tops I can sort of understand as they have done it for years and its even expected but even the broadsheets are the same these days and its true that the only thing to believe in a newspaper is the date

“I think that it’s one of those things that is very subtle. We would say racism and other forms of discrimination is not always banana throwing and monkey chants. It can be very subtle and the people collating the reports believed it is strong enough to send on to FIFA.

From the reports we have seen I personally think there was an undercurrent of race there, and other people have thought that it has been imbued with racist overtones.

Whether FIFA think that is strong enough to take action is another question entirely and we accept that it is certainly an unusual report.""

- Piara Powar - Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) executive director
- March 2013

[blueboy]

well,after watching "Sunday Supplement" on Sky this morning,two things to consider.Henry Winter also heard the chant(albeit one person)also,there were England fans on all sides of the ground,which means if you were in one section,your not always going to hear whats sung in another section.So,it seems there is no doubt the song was sung,its how many sung it.If there is an accusation,it has to be investigated.After the fines and punishments handed down to other countries for similar offences,you can see that UEFA/FIFA would be under pressure to look into this,and punish England if found guilty

[IsleworthRanger]

well,after watching "Sunday Supplement" on Sky this morning,two things to consider.Henry Winter also heard the chant(albeit one person)also,there were England fans on all sides of the ground,which means if you were in one section,your not always going to hear whats sung in another section.So,it seems there is no doubt the song was sung,its how many sung it.If there is an accusation,it has to be investigated.After the fines and punishments handed down to other countries for similar offences,you can see that UEFA/FIFA would be under pressure to look into this,and punish England if found guilty

Actually all the England fans were on one side of the pitch apart from a few who were sat next to the press and nobody was behind either goal

Interesting that on the show the journalists claimed not to have heard the bonfire song and yet backtracked when their pal Oliver Holt was mentioned and then claimed that perhaps one or two might have sang it

Old pals act?

[blueboy]

Actually all the England fans were on one side of the pitch apart from a few who were sat next to the press and nobody was behind either goal

Interesting that on the show the journalists claimed not to have heard the bonfire song and yet backtracked when their pal Oliver Holt was mentioned and then claimed that perhaps one or two might have sang it

Old pals act?

well,i must be seeing things,as i saw a section of England fans behind the goal,but hey,you were there so....

[IsleworthRanger]

well,i must be seeing things,as i saw a section of England fans behind the goal,but hey,you were there so....

I think you must be thinking of the Montenegro game where we had the top and bottom of half a stand behind the goal as no fans of either side were behind the goals in San Marino

[MattyRangers]

This whole saga is aload of b0ll0x. How on earth has anybody taken the song as racist?! It's distasteful, yes, but racist?! It's a song sung by many clubs about various other clubs / players - there is not a single mention of colour or race or anything in the song. Winds me right up how, as usual, it's been turned into a race argument

[blueboy]

This whole saga is aload of b0ll0x. How on earth has anybody taken the song as racist?! It's distasteful, yes, but racist?! It's a song sung by many clubs about various other clubs / players - there is not a single mention of colour or race or anything in the song. Winds me right up how, as usual, it's been turned into a race argument

no,there is no mention of colour,i think its, why these two players?Racism these days can be a lot more subtle than it used to be
i dont understand why Engerland fans have a gripe with either of these two...but especially Anton?whats he done?There must be an awful lot of Chelsea fans at these games.

[IsleworthRanger]

Just to repeat there was not a song about bonfires sang or heard by any England fan out there and the England Fans message board has numerous threads all saying the same

Yes Rio got loads of abuse but not because he is black it was because he stuck two fingers up to playing for his Country and decided to earn some cash in Doha instead