Tom Adeyemi Abuse: Direct By-Product Of Defending The Indefensible

Chris Wright

7th, January 2012

50 Comments

By Chris Wright

Oldham’s Tom Adeyemi, a 20-year old lad playing in one of the most prevalent games of his professional career to date, was reduced to tears  – I’ll say that again, reduced to tears at Anfield last night by a small group of Liverpool-aligned flesh-wastes in the Kop and their toxic, racist oral excreta.

I must reiterate that it was only a few shit-grinned fans that actually hurled the abuse that reduced Adeyemi to tears, but the fact that the majority of the home crowd began singing a Luis Suarez chant and booing the young Oldham right-back was more than indicative of a club-wide hive-mind. It would be wrong to over-generalise and blame every Liverpool fan present, but there were – at the very least – a few thousand voices barracking and taunting Adeyemi for the last few minutes, and that’s a few thousand too many.

I don’t wish to dwell too long on the subject as, frankly, it’s not worth my chagrin, but it seems to me that, as no-one was decisively and unerringly admonished and no hard line was taken in the aftermath of the Suarez/Evra shitfest, Liverpool Football Club yet again managed to pervade an air of persecution and, ergo, the general feeling that Suarez’s conduct was ‘not that bad’.

Speaking theoretically, had the club taken a no-nonsense stance the very thought of hurling racist abuse, especially in this kind of climate, would hopefully have been stymied.

Alas, they didn’t and, as a direct result, the tiny pocket of Liverpool fans that directly abused Adeyemi were acting under a misguided perception of relative brevity toward the subject of racism, directly bought about by the club’s questionable gestures of support during, their reaction to and their continued stance over the Suarez fiasco. This is what happens when you defend the indefensible.

The people that are willing to do this kind of thing in a public forum obviously need to be led. Liverpool’s pigeon-toed ‘sorry for ourselves’ routine created a bubble and allowed for dissension amid their ranks. Intolerant discord of the worst kind.

As for the rest of the crowd that reacted in unison as they did because – and believe me, I’ve racked my ever-numbing brainlump for a less derisive conclusion – they are all insular, conceited, reactionary arseholes. That or they’re completely f**king moronic.

Hands up, that’s the best I’ve got. How else can you make sense of what happened at Anfield last night?

Posted in Featured, Liverpool, Opinion

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50 Comments

  1. Tinez says:

    It made me viscerally sick to see the treatment he suffered.

  2. murry1975 says:

    Chris , not only do I like maths I am a Liverpool fan. However as you point out this is fucking disgusting. What other club would not follow up racist behaviour of a player , which was proved to all the moronic idiots who still believe that its ok to use it where he is from so he didnt know it wasnt in England bull shit, with their own discipline. What has happened is the club and most of the fans have bought into the “hero returns” crap of Dalglish and believe anything that comes out of his mouth. Yes Saurez did use offence/racist language, yes he dives, yes he can play a bit, no he is not racist, yes he did use offensive/racist language, no we dont need crap like him in the PL. Do we need idiots in the crowd who show support to a player who has done shite like that on the pitch and maybe even one who decides it is to be done? No we fucking dont. Will all the idiot lemmings who can see beyond their white noses or the 1980’s please jump into the Albert Dock and bring Saurez with you.

  3. Kacker says:

    makes me really really sad to see this. oldham had a good game last night but this just made me feel disgusted.

  4. The beef is cooking says:

    spot on. liverpool have been defending the indefensible. further, a lot seem to be proud of what suarez did, whilst the rest are trying to make out like the club’s been victimised.The club deserves a penalty for the statement following the acceptance of suarez’s ban; with the FA well within their rights to do so. But last night was completely unacceptable. Tough action needs to be taken and examples need to be made.

    Both club and supporters should feel embarrassed about the whole debacle, but you can’t help but think that’s quite the opposite of what’s really going on.

    A disgrace of a club

  5. sanchez says:

    Sick fucks.

  6. kopred says:

    Have to say I’m finding it really hard to support my beloved Reds at the moment. Some of this stuff is fucking disgusting. I support them because I enjoy watching every game, and getting behind a team with such fantastic history. But this shitstorm emanating from the club and some of its fans makes me ashamed to be supporting them right now. You’ll Never Walk Alone, but if this keeps going, you’ll have one less supporter – and many others will follow.

  7. Holland 1945 says:

    Nice to see a few LFC fans above speaking sense.

    Despite living in Liverpool I’ve come across so few who are doing so at the moment.

  8. Liam says:

    Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realise anyone had been proven to have shouted racial slurs.

  9. Suresh says:

    Perhaps we can expect the squad to wear t-shirts in support of those fans in the next public training session? While Kenny Dalglish nods like the Churchill dog; his reputation slowly melting away with each nod.

  10. Pissed Off African says:

    This is fucking ridiculous. Those three mugs in the Suarez shirts seem proud of what they did, but what really pisses me of is that the rest of the Kop start singing about Luis Suarez. This bullshit mob mentality is damaging the clubs reputation week after week. Suarez is a great footballer but he’s also a cheat and a racist and if you’re going to defend just because he’s a player from Liverpool FC. Adeyemi is 18 for fuck’s sake. You’ve left him in tears and then you start exacerbating it. I’m tired of making excuses for this club and if this bullshit continues, I’ll be finished with this club. LFC aren’t being victimised, they’re being fucking idiots

  11. Greg says:

    Liverpool fans need to abandon this ‘cult’ that Kenny Dalglish seems to have thrust upon the club in the last few months. Nearly 90% of Liverpool fans see the club as doing no wrong on and off the field.

  12. Adam says:

    I think that Suarez let the club down by telling them he did no wrong, when he was proved to have used offensive language. This is why Liverpool and Dalglish defended him and obviously they regret that, hence the lack of an appeal.

  13. Femi says:

    The fact that you actually believe that idiots like this weren’t racist prior to the Suarez vs Evra bollocks is astonishing! In fact, you are suggesting that it is only because of the actions of LFC in defending one of their players that a section of fans suddenly decided that it is ok to use racist remarks!

    Don’t get me wrong, there is no place for racism in football or society. But as a Nigerian native I can assure you that it is something that will never be completely eradicated from our lives.

    There are hundreds of these ignorant racist bigots at every football ground across the country each week, so instead of jumping on the band wagon, why don’t you use your brain before posting such tosh!

  14. Scouseterry says:

    I’ve been a season ticket holder at anfield for 20 years but this will be my last one. Maybe he did or didn’t know it was offensive but the way he said it made me think he did. Even if hep was innocent, which let’s be honest we all know he’s not then, Liverpool should have said look he’s made a mistake and we move on.

    Our clubs been dragged through the mud here and some of our sheep like fans seem to encourage it, I shake my head at some of them I really do, I felt ashamed last night, it wasn’t that bad in the 80s

  15. Hissing Sid says:

    You can’t expect much else from the supporters when people much higher at the club have behaved in the way they have recently. It’s a modern social problem, refusing to accept resposibility for anything breeds this kind of idiot, bad parenting from people at the club who should know bette, where is the guidance. I expect to see a big PR campaign from LFC on the back of recent events to try and salvage some credibility. Failing that I can see the kick it out campaign refusing to let Liverpool endorse their cause in the future.

  16. JJ says:

    Since you have already convicted the fan(s) for shouting racist abuse, you should be able to enlighten us with WHAT WAS SHOUTED at Adeyemi.
    Or are you telling us that it is now racist to sing the Suarez song?

  17. Pissed Off African says:

    @JJ

    The kid bursts into tears after being abused, he informs the police that he was racially abused and Shrewsbury player Reuben Hazell, who was at Anfield and spoke to Adeyemi after the game also said that he was abused. Do you really he would start bawling after being called a wanker? Let’s be realistic. Something really really bad was said to him

  18. murry1975 says:

    @JJ and Liam,
    The police are investigating racist abuse by a Liverpool fan at Adeyemi, the fact that no-one may co-operate with the police is a disgrace and the fact the you two muppets are one here helping drag the name of the club into the mud shows that this is a problem. Maybe you should ask yourself is a opposition player had called Glen Johnson a “negro” what your reaction would be? Its not a case of us and them its a case of right and wrong.

    @ADAM
    Liverpool have not club disciplined Saurez it show that they dont care about it as an internal problem, which is bull shit, do you think if you called a person in your work enviroment a “negro” you would have a job?

  19. Rob says:

    So this idiot wouldn’t have shouted something racially abusive if the club hadn’t of shown support for Suarez? Come on that’s a really dumb argument.
    Hopefully they’ll find him and ban him from football for life.
    As for the rest of the Kop, they were signing the Suarez song the whole game and most people had no idea why the game had stopped. They weren’t signing because of the abuse, I sit near where the incident was and no one near me had a clue what had happened. The singing had nothing to do with the abuse.
    Again, do you seriously think that this neanderthal suddenly turned racist over the last few weeks?
    Awful article; terrible arguments.

  20. jon says:

    @Rob no they haven’t turned racist in the past few weeks however the environment created by lfc recently has certainly not discouraged this kind of behaviour. Being able to hide behind the club worked for Suarez and that was probably a gratuity these moronic fans thought would be extended to them. Let’s hope it isn’t. Stop being a blinkered Liverpool fan and be a decent person.

  21. Ryan says:

    What a disgrace! Chris is right; here is an 18 yr old kid living the dream, playing in a legendary stadium and it’s ruined by some misguided fans. All of which is due to the fact that LFC’s poor communication skills. I don’t believe Suarez is a racist, too many of his teammates stand beside him (opposite of Terry). I believe Suarez used racist language to get Evra off his game, a childish and misguided tactic, but I do not think he believes in the words he was using. The FA needs to ban the fans from the next round, John Henry needs to circle the wagons, put out an intelligent statement and everyone needs let their football do the talking! (sorry for the long rant)

  22. js94 says:

    I’m not saying that this didn’t happen but he thought that Adeyemi heard “F**king black bastard” but a lot of people at the game heard “F**king manc bastard” and they are quite easy to mix up. Of course if it turns out that there was racism the fans involved should be banned for life and thrown to the police but I’m just saying that we should wait till it’s cleared up before pages like this are printed. And it wasn’t thousands of fans being racist that’s a massive over-exaggeration.

  23. KingEric7 says:

    @Rob, Of course the Suarez incident has catalysed this, they were probably racist anyway but now they’re able to express it as an act of defiance over the ban and wearing the t-shirts that Liverpool so tastefully made.

    It strikes an amazing coincidence that as the player is being consoled the Kop would then strike up a Suarez chant, especially as he wasn’t even on the pitch. I’ve heard other people say they shouted “Manc Bastard” and he misheard, ridiculous. Stop claiming ignorance and accept what happened.

  24. DJ says:

    The article makes a lot of sense, you think if Liverpool had taken a tougher stance against Suarez then this may not have happened. The Suarez chants going up a decibel or two and the jeers seemed to back that up. I think Liverpool are scared of upsetting Luis in fear that he might want to leave as he is their in form/best player, had this been Jay Spearing instead for instance they probably would have shipped him out by now.

  25. MikeF says:

    Suarez did not racially abused Evra, Liverpool had the right to defend suarez, he was innocent.

    Evra past record says it all, he is a liar and he himself has used the N-word (there is a video) which is way worse than what Suarez used.

  26. Sonix says:

    Okay, lets see. This Suarez-story got really way out of proportion. The word he was using, was something along the line of “nigger” or “negrito”. As i am neither a native english speaker nor do i have any knowledge in hispanic languages, i really can’t comment in what way that was racist or not- it certainly sounds racist- there are people who argue that it’s not.
    What i can comment on is that this “incident” wasn’t so much about racism. It seems like it was more about liverpool vs. united, about patrice evra, about the FA, about that dumb-as-shit blatter and so on. Basically, you could have really made a difference if you were just going after that racism-thing. they didn’t, they made a battle of epic proportions with everyone and their mom involved- a lot of unspoken things.
    That didn’t help to solve the racism-accusation or the racism-problem in football at all. Instead, we’re now fighting some war that doesn’t help against racism at all.
    That said, i think when you start looking for racism- you will find it. Would this post be here if it were not for the suarez-incident beforehand?
    It is good that we start to take racism more seriously and fight against it- but please do it right: Why is there racism, why do people say stuff like that, do they mean it or do they even care what it means for the victims? These are the questions to be answered- not which club has the most racist supporters.

  27. murry1975 says:

    @MikeF
    He was found guilty, by a panel. He is not innocent. Evra’s past record? Yes he is a muppet, he used the N-word? Ever listen to rap music? I prosume you are white. Go up to the nearest coloured person in a public place and say “negro” to him repeatedly.

    This blind faith is the crap that is allowing this shit to happen. He used a racially offensive term, was found guilty. At this stage Liverpool need a kick in the arse. A player who has probably just got racist abuse from a fan gets boo-ed from the MAJORITY of fans. Get a life. Who gives a fuck if Saurez leaves , he has sullied the name of the club and in shock the club and the fans have blindly followed him. Time to realise that racially offensive remarks , or racism, have no place at Anfield or anywhere else.

  28. Tom says:

    I attended the match last night and would like to clarify some points. I and most fans sat near me thought Adeyemi had been hit by something thrown from the crowd, this was as he was holding his face.
    Secondly most of the Suarez chants were in retaliation to Oldhams chants of ‘you’re just a town of racists’ and ‘ where’s your famous atmosphere’. The Suarez chant had been sung multiple times before the incident.
    Lastly no one around me made any negative comment directed towards Adeyemi whilst the incident was occuring. This changed after he committed what seemed like a violent challenge on Flanagan. After that challenge he was most certainly booed but it didn’t differ from the reaction of fans of all clubs after they’ve witnessed a poor challenge.
    This is not to say there wasn’t an idiotic section of fans who did act in an inappropriate way, and I hope if anyone racially abused Adeyemi they would be subject to a criminal investigation.
    The booing might have been inappropriate but I’m convinced that 99% of the crowd were not doing it with a racial overtone in mind

  29. Pete says:

    Adeyemi is at Oldham on loan from his home town club of Norwich, Liverpool have yet to visit Carrow Road. So there’s still a chance of him returning to play in that fixture.

  30. Mr. T says:

    Chris, I think this is being blown out of proportion.

    Has anyone yet heard the verdict from the police as to whether any racial slur was shouted? No.

    In absence of said verdict should you really be commenting on this? If yes, then based on what?

    The suarez incident reflected the LFC mentality of standing by what your man has said. Suarez said he hadnt been racist, and we stood by him. Its a bit unfair to crucify the whole club coz of that.

    There are belligerent club ‘fans’ everywhere…..to pin the act of one on the entire club is rather excessive.

    Also, “misguided perception of relative brevity” – what do you mean? doesnt seem to make any (semantic or grammatical) sense to me.

  31. The beef is cooking says:

    @MikeF come on mate. suarez admitted to using the word negro. Do you honestly believe that he meant it amicably? Evra already admitted to insulting suarez first and they were having a bit of a push and a shove in the box. Do you then think that suarez turned around, with no offence intended, and said ‘you cheeky negro scamp you’ ??? Course he didn’t. It was a heated situation and there’s no way suarez retaliated in a friendly manner.

    That said it was in the heat of the moment and i’d like to think that luis suarez is not actually a racist. I could be wrong tho

  32. Tom says:

    If he was racially abused the ‘fan’ should be charged with whatever crime was comitted. However, there’s a lot of facts being mangled and omitted in a poorly written piece and subsequent comments.
    The Suarez song was sung way before the incident.
    Adeyemi is not 18.
    BTW an arrest was made so could you all just shut up and let the law take its course.
    The boos came only after a violent tackle on a real 18 year old.
    No mention was made about Adeyemi having a piss poor game. He gave away a penalty and was booked. He also defended poorly throughout.
    He reacted to the alleged taunt as if he was shot. What would you bigots’ reaction have been if Glen Johnson would have done the same thing? Cheat, drama queen?
    No mention about Liverpool assisting the authorities.

  33. Riley says:

    I know I’m going to get flamed for saying this but crying on the pitch? Really? Because someone said something not nice to you?

    I’m not excusing those who yelled at Adeyemi because they’re clearly in the wrong, but breaking down into tears and showing people that they can get in your head is hardly a way to get them to stop. Kid needs to get a little thicker skin, imo.

  34. Andrew says:

    I’ve learned a lot from this episode. I initially thought people were overreacting. Now I realise why all the fuss. I couldn’t agree with Chris’ article more. Shame on everyone who is still inclined to excuse the behaviour of these eejits, or criticise Adeyemi for his (perfectly understandable) reaction.

  35. Del says:

    In response to some of these fools who say the kid over-reacted, they’ve probably never been subjected to racial abuse themselves. It’s extremely hurtful and you should never expect anyone to put up with it. The kid had every right to his reaction.

  36. Mr. Sparkle says:

    Eric Cantona was needed to be at Anfield that night. Racist abuse needs to end in the 21st century, and if it’ll end by getting kung-fu kicks to the chest, than I’m all for it.

  37. Whatthewaht says:

    The idea that Liverpool throwing Suarez under the bus would have kept some idiot from yelling racial slurs is just dumb.

  38. Demon says:

    This has turned into a witch hunt. EVERY single club in this country has an problem (and a severe one at that) with racist supporters. It doesn’t make the team and its supporters racist in general. Whoever gave the “90% of supporters support the behaviour” is ridiculous. What? Did they stand at the ground taking a Mori poll?
    With regard to Suarez, LFC defended someone who they believe had a cultural misunderstanding placed upon them. Having has several conversations with Uruguay nationals it seems apparent that Evra’s comment of “Don’t touch me, you South American” can be seen as just as offensive if not more offensive as Suarez’s “black man”. It’s a colloquial issue, and one I don’t think white, middle class englishmen should be making a judgement call on. Language is a complex issue and differs across the world.
    What happened at the Oldham match is disgraceful, but LFC have stated that a lifetime ban will apply to any racist behaviour from any fan. You point out one team in this country that doesnt have a single racist fan, and I’ll show you a liar.

  39. Demon says:

    No one here mentioning Terry?

  40. R-Hops says:

    Tom Adeyemi has every right to react how he did if he was racially abused at Anfield on Friday. Hell, I’m surprised he didn’t deliver a roundhouse to those making the remarks. This need to stop, and if racism is to be tackled, Liverpool FC need to tackle this issue now, before it gts out of hand further.

  41. CMYK says:

    The argument about whether or not “Negro” or one of its derivatives is offensive in Suarez’s native language is pointless and ignores the bigger issue. Suarez was found to have used that term derisively multiple times, at one point telling Evra he “doesn’t talk to Negros.” THAT is evidence enough of Suarez’s intentions. I live in the U.S., where terms like “Negro” and “colored” long gave way to the preferred phrase, African-American. But if I were to walk up to a person and say, “Hey, you African-American! Get out of here! I don’t talk to African-Americans!” and so on, it would still be horribly offensive and probably earn me a well-deserved punch in the face. For Suarez to claim some sort of cultural ignorance is absurd. For LFC to support him is offensive, wrong, and exactly the sort of response that breeds what we see in that horrible video. Shame on them.

  42. sloth says:

    Adeyemi is born and raised in Norfolk. Calling him a manc is like calling Andy Carroll a scouser. Smells like a pissy way to try and back out of this.

  43. LFC_Fan says:

    Suarez is guilty of using racist remarks, I don’t know if it was a racial attack or not, he is guilty of being ignorant at least.
    You are right in saying that because the club hasn’t taken a tough stance on him, allowed some morons to think its alright to hurl racial abuse.

    Suarez apparently has a black grandfather and runs an organisation in which I’m told has a statement about not discriminating against people of different races. Theres an FA panel which are “biased” and hes been accused by a player with no standing (previous unproved racial accusation and france debacle). I don’t think he is “indefensible”. The fact that he dives, cheats and bites doesnt mean that hes a racist, he is a complete moron yes.

    I think that LFC wanted to make clear that he is not a racist thats why they support him but they didn’t see the consequences of their actions. Most football clubs would have taken action, would be fine with a player labelled a racist as long the team does well, LFC decided to be unselfish and put the team under the spotlight in order to support their player. If Suarez is so gulty, why didn’t LFC just take the easy route?

  44. RobH says:

    Thank you Demon. Following a very poor article you are one of the only posters to show common sense and intelligence.

    Can I ask whether there have been any other racist chants or absue thrown in the last 10 years at football grounds? Of course there has. At every gorund I imagine. Where was the outrage when Adebayor was insulted by the masses at Spurs – why weren’t 5,000 Spurs fans banned for life?

    Liverpool Football Club has shown a measured stance and will BAN the supporter who is in fact a low life, but, football support is led by emotion not intelliugence so they’re will always be insular opinion at grounds, but accpording to this article and posts, only at Anfield at course…

    Ridiculous. Let’s move on from the Liverpool witch hunt and look at the situation as a whole.

  45. Craig says:

    On the Daily Mail they had a picture of the section of fans the abuse was coming from. You could clearly see in the picture a young lad, couldn’t have been older than about 11-12, with his arms in ‘monkey’ position. Unfortunately this is one of those things that is passed down from bigots to their kids.

  46. Markell says:

    Disgusting. How would Kopites feel if all their Black players decided to be off? And, by simple extension, their Latino ones as well? How would Liverpool FC fans feel if Glen Johnson and Raheem Sterling decided to walk out? And if Jose Enrique, Fabio Aurelio, Maxi Rodríguez, Sebastián Coates, Lucas Leiva, Pepe Reina, Suso, Doni, and Dani Pacheco all chose to leave with them, feeling threatened by the behavior of so called ‘supporters’ of the club they play for? What if John Barnes had felt unwelcome at LFC, where would the club be? What is Howard Gayle had to go through the same treatment?

    If you wouldnt say these foul things to the men who wear the shirt of your team because you know how they would react, what in the hell gives you the right to say them to the man in the other one? If a player is shit, by all means let him know about it, but race should never be an issue. There are Black and Latino players on all EPL teams these days. What if they all chose to leave the pitch the next time a game they were involved in devolved into this? And what if they never came back?

  47. R-Hops says:

    This isn’t a case of just Liverpool being at fault, there are many clubs guilty of it, its just the racism hitting the press at this time (bar John Terry’s behaviour, for which he should be stripped of the England captaincy in my opinion) has involved Liverpool. The FA, UEFA and FIFA need to act, and all clubs in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and every nation all across the globe should do their utmost to stop this behaviour.Simply, it has no place, and it needs to be dealt with, and eradicated, from football, all sport and life as a whole.

  48. Le-hunt says:

    Because no-one in here think Liverpool Football Club has never taken any kind of stance / action against racism ? I do feel embarassed by this whole “suarez shirt” thing, as there was no need to over-react just to prove the obvious (I.E. Suarez not beign racist) especially when the club turns his back accepting the ban, but this race row is getting beyond ridiculous.

  49. JB says:

    YNWA*

    *unless your black

  50. idiot self pitying, self righteous, racist kopite. tribal bellend. says:

    Chris Wright usually puts out good articles and well-considered views, but I think this is absolutely dreadful. I’m going to try to respond to a few of the points because hopefully that will be constructive. I’m hoping some people who will read it are considerate and thoughtful, and not your typical internet fan who seems to get their views and personality from The Sun and The Daily Mirror (not that more “high-brow” sources have been any better in regard to all of this). And yes, I’m a Liverpool fan, and I was on the kop.

    “Oldham’s Tom Adeyemi, a 20-year old lad playing in one of the most prevalent games of his professional career to date, was reduced to tears”

    I hope I’m not misinformed on this, but what was shouted was ‘You black bastard’. I was shocked to hear this, didn’t believe it for a while, and actually assumed it was probably ‘You manc bastard’. Partly I was so surprised because, for better or for worse, like other clubs such as United, Arsenal et cetera, Liverpool today has a very ‘cosmopolitan’ or ‘gentrified’ fanbase. In fact it’s just idiotic in 2012 to use ‘black’ as an insult, in football or otherwise. Nonetheless, it’s a shitty thing to shout and you have to pity a gobshite whose mind actually produces such an action, he must be quite dim. HOWEVER, the nature of the player’s reaction, i.e. breaking out in tears, is quite surprising. Players like Gerrard, Rooney, Terry get worse abuse from thousands of fans very often. The fact he cried shouldn’t change the issue at all (except for your point about the fans ‘turning on him’ which I’ll address). This whole ‘brought him to tears’ rubbish has muddied the waters so much in what is already a bilious issue characterised by self-righteous, offended spasms. If you’re going to think about this seriously, forget that he cried on the pitch, because I can’t imagine anyone else crying if someone shouted ‘you black bastard’ at them. While it’s perfectly legitimate to complain about it and have the fan arrested, I would probably laugh at how preposterous it was. If it turns out it was something else said, I’ll reconsider that view, but the idea that Liverpool fans should feel guilty because he wept from a crowd member shouting at him is preposterous.

    “a small group of Liverpool-aligned flesh-wastes in the Kop”
    “it was only a few shit-grinned fans that actually hurled the abuse that reduced Adeyemi to tears,”

    One man, the frequently referenced 20 year old from Aintree, has been arrested, reports heard of a “single voice” from the crowd, albeit according to rumours. If I’m correct and the idea that it was several fans is fabricated, then this is another case of ‘stretching the truth’ to put it lightly, and muddies the waters further, making more vitriol and basically it boils down to a lie to make Liverpool look worse. And yes, the information is sketchy so if I’m wrong about this, again I’ll have to reconsider my point there. And I know Chris likes to use inflammatory language like “toxic, racist oral excreta”, usually justified and to great affect, but this is a serious issue and it’s not necessary. Are you trying to convince us that you’re personally offended by this instance of racism? Or just that you really disagree with what some bellend shouted? I’m sure it’s the latter.

    “but the fact that the majority of the home crowd began singing a Luis Suarez chant and booing the young Oldham right-back was more than indicative of a club-wide hive-mind. ”

    I’m not being sarcastic, but am I to deduce that you think the Kop, who were singing the Suarez song (singing starts from the back, where I was), could hear or understand what was going on between the full back and the single crowd member? Because that is not sensible at all. Liverpool fans were singing the Suarez song throughout the match, and vocally during all of our recent matches, as a show of support to Suarez. The idea that it was a reaction to the player is ludicrous and just not true. What we could see was a player shouting and pointing at a fan, and yes, we took our fan’s side, how could we know what had happened? We booed the full back and continued to do so when he got the ball afterwards, that’s a fact, it was a reaction to him stopping the game and complaining, while we had no idea what he was complaining about. It would happen in any match, any where, it usually does happen (the crowd picks on a player to boo) because of a bad tackle, or stopping the play or whatever. If you think crowds shouldn’t “barrack and taunt” players, that’s an issue for football matches in general and not this case alone.

    Skipping on a bit:
    “a misguided perception of relative brevity toward the subject of racism”

    This seems to be the crux of the article and is based on, effectively, nothing at all.

    “as no-one was decisively and unerringly admonished and no hard line was taken in the aftermath of the Suarez/Evra shitfest, Liverpool Football Club yet again managed to pervade an air of persecution and, ergo, the general feeling that Suarez’s conduct was ‘not that bad’.”

    Well, this is the Mirror party line as far as I can tell, a simple, uninformed and ironically tribal interpretation of our support for Suarez. I believe that support is justified, and I believe Liverpool FC has a right to self-pity. This is effectively just another outraged anti-Liverpool blog, but you can do better.

    If you want a well-articulated interpretation of the entire Suarez-Evra scenario, which is an alternative to the same old story reprinted by the football media of late, have a read of this:

    http://newsframes.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/media-on-racism-churnalism/

    (I didn’t write it LOL)

    Allow to me reiterate that I am really disappointed that some idiot fan shouted (apparently) ‘you black bastard’. I agree that that was a terrible, misinterpreted and damaging reaction to the Suarez affair by Mr. Aintree, 20, but it doesn’t give the media and bloggers a free pass to insult Liverpool as much as they can, and especially not on the basis of such a poor understanding of events. It’s hardly worth saying there are a few horrible morons at every single ground. Even the City Ground, Chris.

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