I’m glad about this:
Four Chelsea fans accused of aggravated violence against a black man on the Paris Metro have been given suspended one-year sentences by a French court.
Joshua Parsons, 22, and James Fairbairn, 25, had denied their actions of February 2015 were racist in nature.
Their co-accused, fellow Chelsea fans Richard Barklie, a 52-year-old former policeman, and William Simpson, 27, from Surrey, were tried in absentia.
They were also ordered to pay the victim 10,000 euros in compensation.
Souleymane Sylla was targeted at Richelieu-Drouot station as football fans made their way to a Champions League match between Paris Saint Germain and Chelsea.
The hearing at the Palais de Justice saw a video recorded by a passenger of fans pushing him off the Metro train.
I remember that happening and thought it was a disgrace. The term “racist” has been bandied about to such an extent in recent times that it is now largely meaningless, thus leaving us with no term to describe proper racism. And what happened in this case was proper racism:
Supporters can be heard chanting “we are racist, we are racist and that’s the way we like it”.
The AFP agency reported that after giving evidence Parsons apologised to Mr Sylla, a Frenchman of Mauritanian origin, but denied there was any racist aspect to what had happened.
Turning to Mr Sylla in court, Parsons said: “I am very sorry to Mr Sylla, but I was not racist in any way.”
Yeah, right. God only knows what Mr Sylla must have thought: minding his own business in his nation’s capital and a bunch of foreign thugs deny him access to a Metro carriage because of the colour of his skin. Had he been armed and shot his way aboard and I’d been on the jury, I’d have refused to convict. Go and watch the video in the link if you think I’m being unfair. The actions of these thugs are indefensible, and I can only imagine what Chelsea fans would think if a bunch of swarthy foreigners turned up in London and denied a native-born paleface access to the Underground.
I hope that 10,000 Euros sends them into bankruptcy.
“The term “racist” has been bandied about to such an extent in recent times that it is now largely meaningless, thus leaving us with no term to describe proper racism.” Yes, and I think I see “anti-semitism” on the same trajectory.
However, now that “racist” just means ‘I resent losing an argument with you’ we should perhaps adopt “Chelseaist” as meaning ‘tending to coercion or violence on grounds of race’. Whereas ‘making rude remarks based on race’ could be “Terryist”.
Yes, and I think I see “anti-semitism” on the same trajectory.
Accusations of antisemitism has always been used to shut down debate, so much so that nowadays somebody making antisemitic remarks can deflect all criticism by invoking this as a defence.
Used to live near Stamford Bridge, ‘down by the river’. It was interesting knowing when it was safe to go out for a walk and when not. I tended to wear a fair bit of blue around there.
I once went to a football match (not an entirely uncommon event) and sat near some Chelsea supporters. This was years ago before ‘racism’ was given the power it now has, but some of the these Chelsea ‘fans’ near me wound up one of their number by saying a player they had recently signed from Spurs was a “Yid.” The poor sap clearly wasn’t bright enough to realise he was being baited and sat for the whole game repeatedly mumbling the question “He ain’t a Yid, is he?”
For reasons only Chelsea rabble can say, being a Yid was a terrible thing. After that game I always regarded Chelsea fans as not very nice and was, like many ordinary footy fans, not very impressed how they spent millions to become good when as a club they were at best average-to-middling for decades.
On racism, the excellent ZMan posted this today about the inevitable, maybe, kickback against the race issue: http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=9321
“Terryist” – you know, that strikes me as being a bit “Bushist”
Watcher: I don’t really know why, but following Hillsborough, the Taylor (?) report, all-seater stadia and multiple, ever-increasing Premier League TV deals, Chelsea fans struck me as having a nasty streak that ran very deep, whereas the other firms were, sort of, just of their time, up for a ruck because they could, to a point, get away with it. There also seem to be elements within the home fanbase that have (or had in 2006-ish) links with Combat 18.