Peter Anderson ⚽ Back in 2008, I was living in Madrid and teaching Business English as a foreign language. 

I was doing very well at it and my company promoted me to the "Executive Team". This meant going to the private offices of top business people and giving one-to-one classes. 

One of my jobs was at the Madrid banking giant, Caja Madrid. There I had to teach their Chief Political Analyst. It was the best possible gig to get. The man was a living legend in Spain. During the Franco years he was a top communist activist and lived on the run from the security forces. Following several arrests and beatings from the Guardia Civil, the Partido Comunista de España (PCE) managed to get him out and into Poland, where the local communist party got him a prestigious job in academia. He married a local girl and settled down until the Solidarity union started and he became a leading activist for them. After several arrests by local and Russian security forces for subversion, he was deported to Spain, as by then Franco was tatty bread and democracy was in action there. He was also a personal friend of Communist legend La Pasionaria, Dolores "No Pasarán" Ibárruri before her death. The one-hour classes spent with him every week were fantastic, as I am sure you can imagine. What made them even better was that, like me, he was an Atlético de Madrid season ticket holder. We had so much to talk about! I really put that guy on a pedestal. One which he very quickly fell off.

At that time Atletico's front two, Agüero and Forlán, were ripping teams apart in La Liga, however the bench was decidedly light in the forward department. A back-up was required, so in the Spring of 2008 it was widely reported in the Madrid sports newspaper AS that a verbal agreement had been reached with ex-Liverpool striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle. After leaving Merseyside he ended up in Huelva playing for local side Recreativo and was attracting attention due to his goals and performances. He was due to join the squad in the summer for the 2008/9 season. 

As chance would have it, Recre were due to play Atleti in Madrid that week. The mate I went to the games with and myself were super interested to see how he would do against us, and how the fans would react to him. He had a quiet first half, but in the second he came alive. In one play, he got put clean through, but skyed the shot into row Z. Frente Atleti, Atletico's Ultras who were in the paddock behind that goal, then started to monkey chant. These chants persisted for the rest of the game at every touch. We were appalled, obviously. 

Later in the week, I went to Caja Madrid for my class determined to talk it out with my student, expecting him to agree with me. I was wrong. He laughed and said that we British are too politically correct. That they were only winding him up. That if he was gay they would mock him for that, or ginger haired they would mock him for that. I was appalled with him and let him know. How exactly did Atleti's black players feel watching their own supporters racially abuse a black man? He didn't care. That's life, don't take it so seriously. That pretty much sums up the attitude of the average Spanish fan to racist abuse. I wasn't invited back to Caja Madrid!

At that time Samuel Eto'o was getting slaughtered at every ground he played in. His club, Barça, were trying to get the authorities to take action. There was none. Against Real Zaragoza, the monkey chanting was so bad he threatened to leave the pitch. The game was stopped, but he was told by his playing staff to ignore it and get on with it. After this he refused to bring his family to the games. The latest Spanish player to get the monkey treatment is Real star Vinicius Junior, and like Eto'o before him the Spanish FA are doing FA. Any penalty is worthless. The UK and Ireland have a problem with racism, but nothing compared with Spain. It is an utter disgrace to see the inactivity of the Spanish authorities.

I'm sure Vinicius Jr enjoyed his trip to Anfield last week. He would have got zero racial abuse there.
 
Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports

Real Racism In Madrid

Peter Anderson ⚽ Back in 2008, I was living in Madrid and teaching Business English as a foreign language. 

I was doing very well at it and my company promoted me to the "Executive Team". This meant going to the private offices of top business people and giving one-to-one classes. 

One of my jobs was at the Madrid banking giant, Caja Madrid. There I had to teach their Chief Political Analyst. It was the best possible gig to get. The man was a living legend in Spain. During the Franco years he was a top communist activist and lived on the run from the security forces. Following several arrests and beatings from the Guardia Civil, the Partido Comunista de España (PCE) managed to get him out and into Poland, where the local communist party got him a prestigious job in academia. He married a local girl and settled down until the Solidarity union started and he became a leading activist for them. After several arrests by local and Russian security forces for subversion, he was deported to Spain, as by then Franco was tatty bread and democracy was in action there. He was also a personal friend of Communist legend La Pasionaria, Dolores "No Pasarán" Ibárruri before her death. The one-hour classes spent with him every week were fantastic, as I am sure you can imagine. What made them even better was that, like me, he was an Atlético de Madrid season ticket holder. We had so much to talk about! I really put that guy on a pedestal. One which he very quickly fell off.

At that time Atletico's front two, Agüero and Forlán, were ripping teams apart in La Liga, however the bench was decidedly light in the forward department. A back-up was required, so in the Spring of 2008 it was widely reported in the Madrid sports newspaper AS that a verbal agreement had been reached with ex-Liverpool striker Florent Sinama-Pongolle. After leaving Merseyside he ended up in Huelva playing for local side Recreativo and was attracting attention due to his goals and performances. He was due to join the squad in the summer for the 2008/9 season. 

As chance would have it, Recre were due to play Atleti in Madrid that week. The mate I went to the games with and myself were super interested to see how he would do against us, and how the fans would react to him. He had a quiet first half, but in the second he came alive. In one play, he got put clean through, but skyed the shot into row Z. Frente Atleti, Atletico's Ultras who were in the paddock behind that goal, then started to monkey chant. These chants persisted for the rest of the game at every touch. We were appalled, obviously. 

Later in the week, I went to Caja Madrid for my class determined to talk it out with my student, expecting him to agree with me. I was wrong. He laughed and said that we British are too politically correct. That they were only winding him up. That if he was gay they would mock him for that, or ginger haired they would mock him for that. I was appalled with him and let him know. How exactly did Atleti's black players feel watching their own supporters racially abuse a black man? He didn't care. That's life, don't take it so seriously. That pretty much sums up the attitude of the average Spanish fan to racist abuse. I wasn't invited back to Caja Madrid!

At that time Samuel Eto'o was getting slaughtered at every ground he played in. His club, Barça, were trying to get the authorities to take action. There was none. Against Real Zaragoza, the monkey chanting was so bad he threatened to leave the pitch. The game was stopped, but he was told by his playing staff to ignore it and get on with it. After this he refused to bring his family to the games. The latest Spanish player to get the monkey treatment is Real star Vinicius Junior, and like Eto'o before him the Spanish FA are doing FA. Any penalty is worthless. The UK and Ireland have a problem with racism, but nothing compared with Spain. It is an utter disgrace to see the inactivity of the Spanish authorities.

I'm sure Vinicius Jr enjoyed his trip to Anfield last week. He would have got zero racial abuse there.
 
Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports

7 comments:

  1. The Spanish FA should be sanctioned by UEFA for failing to tackle racism in the Spanish game.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think Ruud Gullit took a similar view to abuse in the game. He said people will say what they need to say to annoy you and put you off your game.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thats true, Anthony, but just because Ruud Gullit said so does not make it right. It is very much a nineteen eighties mentality, which sickened me on my travells to the point myself and others remonstrated with our own supporters.

    I share Peters disgust at the attitudes prevallent in Spain and Barrys argument that UEFA should act against the Spanish FA.

    Caoim O'Muraile

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is never right but it shows the wide cultural gulf that exists. This Communist guy Peter refers to was probably as opposed to racism as Peter but didn't see what was happening as genuine racism. That is the point I was making about Gullit.

      Delete
  4. Barry
    UEFA are part of the problem. Short bans and small fines are not enough. The FA have practically eradicated it from the EPL, it can be done.
    AM
    I know what you mean. Where to draw the line? Was it ok to call Beckham a poof for wearing alice bands, sarongs and hanging around with Elton? Monkey chanting isn't acceptable but what is?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peter for it to be done, there needs to be a recognition that it has to be done. From what you wrote I get the feeling that in Spain it is not seen as a problem in a way that the British see it. I have heard that when Ajax play Feyenoord, the latter's fans use hissing to mimic the gas chambers. Vile to us but seemingly not so much in the Netherlands.

      Delete
  5. AM
    No, racism is very different in Spain. It was explained to me that we see racism through a "Empire prism", the Windrush generation et al. Before the 2008 olympics the whole Spanish team were pictured in Madrid airport on the way to Beijing doing "chinky eyes". The Daily Mail and others ran it on the front covers. In Spain, they were laughing at us as PC gone mad. The same again when Suarez called Evra "un negro". Here he was sanctioned for racism, while in Spain they were again saying how we don't understand the race politics of the Latin world with the negros, nativos, morenos and mezclas (blacks, native, Spanish and mixed race). It is an interesting argument, but I still don't want to hear monkey chanting when I'm watching footy.

    ReplyDelete