Politics warning. Personal opinions approaching and I’m not trying to ram them down anyone’s throat. Part of the reason for starting to blog is to give me an outlet for some thoughts and feelings as I try to wean myself gently off a long-term dependency on Prozac for my mental wellbeing. There’s stuff I need to get out and writing keeps my brain occupied. Bear with me, it’s my therapy! If you can’t, for the pure football, skip down a bit to below the first photo. Regular visitors, if you spot me going downhill over the next week or two, you’ll know why - but feel free to give me a slap! ;-)
The Hungarian authorities are promising to take the “strongest possible action“ against those found responsible for racial abuse of England players in Budapest on Thursday. As England cruised to a comfortable 4-0 win in the World Cup qualifier, black players were subjected to sustained verbal abuse and objects, including a flare, were thrown onto the pitch. In the confusing online world, response to this is a remarkably complex mix of opinions, largely around ‘taking the knee’:
Some, probably a majority, but you never know - Twitter is famously an echo chamber and this could just be a result of who I choose to follow - still support taking the knee, the gesture which first emerged in the Black Lives Matter protests, following the murder of George Floyd by US Police.
Others, while clearly making anti-racist comments, oppose it as a futile gesture; one which possibly antagonises racists further and exacerbates the problem. Villa and England’s Tyrone Mings is frequently quoted as an example of a player who has recognised this futility and no longer takes the knee, which of course is surely up to him.
Others still oppose it as it is seen as the gesture of the avowedly Marxist BLM Party in the USA, despite almost all Black people here, footballers included, going out of their way to distance themselves from this. This third group I struggle with. I just can’t see Gareth Southgate and his squad of multi-millionaires as hard-core Marxist revolutionaries. It’d probably be more fun watching England if they were though! “Take that capitalist, imperialist dog!” cried Harry as he rifled in a beauty from the edge of the box, before announcing he would be spending the close-season volunteering to help build a school in Nicaragua. And presumably heading off to Hamburg to sign for Bundesliga 2 St Pauli, where players routinely do that sort of thing.
We also have the ‘All Lives Matter’ views. Of course they do, but that’s not the point of the protest. It is possible to protest about one thing, to improve conditions for one group of people, without threatening another, surely? Levelling up (North v South) is rightly a big agenda item right now. Isn‘t this just another form of levelling up an injustice? Ditto campaigning for rights for women, the disabled, LGBT? If players were campaigning, let’s say for an end to discrimination against blind people, Blind Lives Matter, would sighted people be up in arms about it? It’s also interesting to spot how a lot of ALM posts come from people who don’t want refugees from Afghanistan either - clearly some lives do matter more than others. Even in just my recent travels watching football, I’ve come across individuals, groups and even whole communities that are disadvantaged - not dealt a fair hand in terms of education, money, physical or mental health, life chances - and who people beyond their immediate circle seem to care very little. Of course, these lives matter. What would be fantastic, of course, would be if the BLM movement has raised social awareness in footballers and the next thing we see them involved in is a wider campaign. I’m not holding my breath, mind. But for now, they’ve chosen to start here. Fair enough, say I.
On a slight tangent, if we are looking for a footballer with a social conscience to lead the way, then we do have Marcus Rashford. As someone who has worked the majority of his life in education of young people, frequently the very disadvantaged, I can‘t think of an individual who has had a more positive effect. Jamie Oliver with his food campaigns, maybe? Not quite. Rashford’s actions during the first wave of Covid, applying pressure to secure free school meals for those in need of them, was a huge help to countless struggling families, all over the country, black, white and all shades in between. On top of that, his superb book on wellbeing for young people will continue to have a positive effect on them for years to come. We use it as a toolbox of mental health strategies in my setting and it works. Children can relate to it and the life lessons in it are inspirational. OK, so he’s a multi-millionaire footballer too and he should give back, but most don‘t and he has. Didn’t have to, but he has.
Finally, back on track with types on social media, as far as this simple guy can see, there are those, let’s call them Group 5 here, who oppose the knee because they are just racist and don’t like it because they don’t like Black people, end of.
I don’t know and even discussing it seems to take you into toxic places on all sides. Clearly, the final group mentioned above need addressing and in this case, that for me makes the first two groups tenable. While Group 5 exists, it is necessary to confront that.
Surely, it is up to young black men and their friends and colleagues to decide whether or not a protest gesture is appropriate. It needn’t bother anyone else who doesn’t agree with it (Group 5 excepted!). Is it futile if it provokes discussion? Is it futile if it raises awareness? Is it futile of it makes them feel better? Does it matter of it brings racists out from their cover?
I’m not convinced it’s my place, as a middle aged White male to be the arbiter of what is right here. I’ve never been racially abused or discriminated against. I can’t see a reason to feel threatened by it either.
Strange days…
To the football and nicer things. Saturday saw a return trip to Mansfield Woodhouse to take in Sherwood Colliery v Buxton in the FA Cup, colours pinned very much to the mast of underdogs, The Wood. Underdogs and representing Notts against Derbyshire. Debdale Park had a carnival feel for this one, a big crowd building up and a real sense of occasion. Buxton are relative big-shots, a squad full of League, academy and higher-in-the pyramid experience. Diego de Girolamo, an Italian international at u-18, u-19 and u-20 level, with appearances for Sheffield United, Cheltenham and Chesterfield only made the bench. Word is that Italy legend Arrigo Sacchi phoned Chesterfield-born de Girolamo to persuade him to chose Italy over England! There were clear Nottingham connections too, with ex-Pie Ben Turner and ex-Forest Jamie Ward at the club…
A double decker stand!
… and clearly Buxton can play. They dominated early on and at times it looked like Sherwood would buckle. The Wood admirably tried to play their passing game, but found themselves penned in. After a mysterious lengthy stoppage - we couldn’t tell but Buxton’s Twitter feed suggested the linesman ‘needed a call of nature’ **- Buxton unsurprisingly went ahead after 27 minutes when an in swinging free kick was chested in from close range. A lively crowd of 408 was quietened. Sherwood, to these eyes, went a bit more direct and managed to stem the tide and got to half-time a respectable 1-0 down.
** update courtesy of @scottywalden of Boston United fm, the assistant ref’s flag had been broken by the ball and he went off to get a new one. A bit disappointing! ;-)
Intriguingly, Buxton didn’t go off at half-time and instead had a team talk on the pitch, followed by a very professional looking warm-up. Giving this a bit of thought, we think we figured out that this was out of necessity, it being a long walk back to the clubhouse. Buxton’ s manager, Gary Haywood, lost a leg to diabetes earlier this year and is, for the present a least, wheelchair bound. All the best to him and to Buxton who we’re told have been very supportive.
Buxton resumed where they left off and started the 2nd half strongly, but didn’t dominate or threaten in the same way. Nonetheless, Buxton went 2-0 in the 51st minute with a tidily taken goal from close range. “That’s killed it - game over then,“ a smart-arse, know-it-all blogger turned and said to his family. However, Sherwood are not Forest and had other ideas, Two minutes after going two down, Liam Theakstone niftily got on the end of a great cross to pull it back to 2-1. Game on!
Another two minutes on and Jamie York cut the ball back for Gareth Curtis to fire home an equaliser. It there had been a roof, it would have come off. For a while Sherwood threatened repeatedly but the final killer ball eluded them Understandably, they seemed to tire and were hanging on a little at the final whistle.
2-2, a tremendous result and a great afternoon’s entertainment. Up with my afternoon at Maltby Main in the last round as my favourite football experience in quite a while. Put it this way, on the way back to the car, both Mrs Zagger and her two young ones asked, pleadingly, “So can we get to Buxton on Tuesday then?” I think we’ll try!
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