Hey guys,
Talking with many people and doing my own research I have come to this conclusion. For instance, I’ve read about player who went to the Premier League and were not called by any “Racially charged” nickname by their fellow players. Something had to go through on other leagues especially La Liga.
To me this is “Common Sense” and I don’t believe the “term of endearment” argument that some people put forth, usually closet racists. Since ethnic identification should be more of “private matter” and has nothing to do with football or work collegues or friends on the pitch. For instance,if I had a friend from a different ethnic group I don’t think it should be up to me to start giving him nicknames based on his ethnicity; To me that’s crossing the line.
I’ve also heard the Premier League fans at the stadium behave better than the La Liga. I seen videos of how Spaniards behave towards players from minority groups. They’ll shout all kinds of racial slurs. It seems to be a extremely hostile environment.
The three main objections that Spaniards and the Directors of Spanish Football put forth are:
1-Fatalism: Nothing can be done. Spanish Society is Racist, Football its Racist, The World is Racist. I’m not buying it if this was the case, then how are Brits able to do something about it?
2-Empathy towards the evil doer and not the victims: I’ve seen this with Spaniards but also with Argentinians. Like,‘Oh those poor working class people, they don’t know any better." If you start giving them fines you’ll be doing them a great harm since they don’t have much money’ I heard some Spaniards say, “Vinicius and other minority players are rich they need to get over it.”
3-It would be too expensive: Some people say that if they start implementing these reforms it would be too expensive and they would lose fans.
What do you guys think? How was the Premier League able to overcome these objections?
I agree with you. In fact 20 years ago I saw people say that it was like 30 years ago in the UK. And even then I pointed out to them that Spain where the UK was 50 years before. So things are moving in the right direction. But it is hard work.
I had a bit of a tiff with an acquaintance regarding an objection I raised when they started going off on “wokeism” and the food caricatures. And I was extremely polite and considerate. But the opinion of the friends in common that agree with me seems to be that I should be more tolerant of her bigotry because “that’s just how she is” and we’re meant to be nice to each other or something (huh?).
Things like the “Chino” name for a cornershop opening earlier and closing later 365 days a year would take a lot longer to disappear though. But since it started in the 80s-90s when those shops run by Chinese nationals started showing up, it might change soon. Or just the simple fact that your lawyer might be a Spaniard of Chinese descent. Or your kid’s teacher… Or the owners of your local bar… What would they refer to if the say they’re going to the “Chino”. But yes, it is cultural. I remember when as a young man I moved to North London and young arrivals said they were popping off to the “Turk”. I don’t see them saying it now.
And the same goes for “blackface”. There were no minstrel shows in Spain. So it never had the loaded history. But progressively people will listen to what others say. Even more so if they’re black. And it also backfired massively when a white Englishman starts pontificating, for obvious reasons I will not get into.