Watching tv.........

Jake303

And reading some of the threads on here over the last few months Iv really started wondering.........

Is it me or do black and asian people make up a far smaller proportion of the crowd at Premiership games than their representation in urban areas in England within the general population would suggest they should?

If this is the case and my eyes are not deceiving me, why is this so?

Mossy Monk

it is is mainly white people who go to the games. don't know why though. maybe it has got something to do with the racist minority

Bateman

Well it depends on the particular area, but generally a lot of racism goes on beneath the surface on both sides, some Islamic groups can be very hardline, and many Muslims wouldn't be seen dead at a football match.
Some clubs have larger racist elements than others (Sheff Wed and Leeds Utd would be examples), but the riots in Bradford last year and other associated friction caused an upsurge in racial tensions. In short, for the most part, Asians and whites just don't mix. Anywhere. Unfortunate, but true.

mike65

Its true enough esp of Asians, there is a cultural issue, regarding
sport being seen as less than a honest, upstanding way of making a living but its an attitude thats slowly changing. A few players of Indian/Pakistani background would help, but I suspect many would-be fans stay away for fear of racists on the terraces. Leciester City
should have loads of Asian support but I only spot a hardy few
when they've been on telly.

Mike.

pickarooney

Football isn't a big sport in India or Pakistan, cricket is miles more popular. That's probably the main reason that there are few or no Indian/Pakistani players or fans.

Jake303

Thanks for the responses
From visiting Liverpool Iv seen for myself that the city has a massive afro-caribbean community but Iv very seldom seen any black people on the terraces at either Liverpool or Everton games on tv.
Iv lived in London and know for a fact that the afro-caribbean and Asian sommunities make up a large percentage of the population and cant honestly say Iv seen black people in the stands when the likes of Chealse or Arsenal are playing on tv(maybe one or two at Arsenal games)
The only reason I can draw from these fact, coupled with the fact that many black people in particular play the game, is that racism must be the reason.

My reason for asking this is the response of some people on this board over the months regarding posts about Celtic and Celtic fans.
Some seem to associate bigotry with the fans and so the club and fans are off limits in terms of support,

NOW before anyone jumps down my throat Im not suggesting for one minute that everybody should support Celtic but how can bigotry be used as a means to point the finger and as a reason specifically NOT to support Celtic?
I find this very confusing as several of these same people openly proclaim support for English teams on here.
If racism is a problem among english teams how can it be deemed exceptable to support such teams and not Celtic because of bigotry?

Jake303

No takers?

joey D

There's too many double negatives in your reasoning Jake, it hurst my brain....

Waylander

To be honest I have never really paid much attention to the make up of the crowds at any premiership matches I have attended, but i will pay it a bit more attention on telly over the weekend and get back to you on Monday. However I do think that even if what you say is accurate, bigotry is alot more rife in Glascow then it is in other clubs. The main reason for this is because the two Glascow clubs have a clear dividing line along religous terms. You do not get clubs that mainly consist of black players, staff and fans playing clubs with mainly white players, clubs and fans so the racist element would not be as pronounced as the bigotry in Glascow.

Jake303

Originally posted by Waylander
The main reason for this is because the two Glascow clubs have a clear dividing line along religous terms. You do not get clubs that mainly consist of black players, staff and fans playing clubs with mainly white players, clubs and fans so the racist element would not be as pronounced as the bigotry in Glascow.

20 years ago I would have said you were right, not now, to an extent.
I can only speak from what I know about parkhead but i can tell ye that the club now draws from a much wider fan base than at any time in its history.
Many of the "new fans" have no association with Ireland or indeed catholism and are drawn from provincial Scotland
However I do take you point that in general religius/cultural ties in the west of Scotland determine who you will support.
But does this constitute bigotry in itself?

And more importantly (and this is my main point) is it ok to point the finger at a team because they have a greater problem (meaning Celtic and bigotry as its highlighted almost weekly) while still supporting a team with less of a problem (ie Liverpool or Man U etc. because the problem is never spoken about) and as such is not considered to be much of an issue?

Jake303

Im kinda repeating myself now so Ill let others have their say
:cool:

Pigman

Another factor is that football support (in England at least) is a generational thing ie where a father brings his son to see the local team and in time the son will do the same with his sons. These traditions date back (at the very least) to pre-WWII times and since the majority of 'non-white' people in Britain only started arriving and living there since the 1950s the pattern was largly irreversible.

Also as there was no history of a widespread interest in soccer in countries like Pakistan, India and the Carribean countries a similiar generational pattern of club support wouldn't have been created amongst those groups.

The point about Asians shying away because of not having 'role models' playing the game is incorrect IMHO because as is plain to see the participation of black players in the English game since the 1970's hasn't encouraged black people to visit or support their local clubs in the interm.

That's just my 0.02euro.

Bateman

Interesting topic though, another point is that in the 70s and 80s, some mobs like Arsenal and Man City had many coloured people running with them, but since the advent of the Taylor Report and all-seater ripoff stadia, the MCW invasion of English tp flight football means that the average person who can afford 25-50 st every week to support their team is more likely going to be white than Asian.

chernobyl

I was at the FA cup in 94 and about 10 minutes before the end my dad decided we should leave.
My dad used to go to Man U & Man City games, like most would to their local team.
So i bitched for a minute about us having to leave and asked him why and he said:

"Darren, we are two Irish guys in London, wearing Man U shirts in a game Chelsea are loosing...i dont want to be here when the game is finished"

..and when we were leaving so were a lot of non white people...crazy.