Hate on the terraces

Sorry fil , you may not be racist but you’re certainly naive. You ‘should’ know the connotations of that badge. I too totally hate how far political correctness has gone in this country but there are certain terms which have been used in a derogatory way in the past and are therefore now unacceptable – the P word and your badge being two of the main ones.

If you want to test it out, why don’t you make a detour to Moss Side before Sunday’s game and explain it to some of the local lads there – maybe you could book your ambulance before you go, to save time.

So using the “N” word is only racist if its used towards a black person? A chant can be homophobic if there are no homosexuals present (& in a crowd of about 14,000 for Latics that day you can estimate that there would have been 150-1000 there plus 1-3 on the pitch/on the bench). Whether homophobia & racism are any different to calling Scousers thieves or Wiganers Pie Eaters, legally they are – whether they should be is a whole different debate.
Personally I’m more uncomfortable/offended by someone shouting “It’s a long way home you f***in f****t” as one Latics mon does in this programme than I would ever be by someone shouting “It’s a long way home you pie eating b*****d”. Some other people wouldn’t be but its not for me to tell other people what they should or shouldn;t be offended by
Some of it is down to tolerance levels & personal taste I guess – personally I have no issue with people using swear words but other people do so I don’t use them in work & if I have kids round me at the football I’ll try & watch my language (try!!).

In relation to the Latics footage in this programme, in all fairness to those there that day it is quite clearly only coming from a tiny smattering of odd individuals out of what 14k there that day & there is no joining in from the rest, again apart from the odd 1 or 2. Also, whilst I know it was only a half hour programme they seem to have only managed to find 4 or 5 instances of chants/shouts in 90 minutes.

In relation to the general programm, the issue I have with it is not for raising the issue but for not stressing enough the improvements that have taken place bar a brief footnote right at the end of the programme or (as with what the footage at Latics seems to show) making a point of how small a number of people who were there that it applies to. Nor when having a go at the stewards or coppers for doing nowt do they acknowledge the crowd management issues they deal with whereby piling in & making threats or arrests can at times escalate a situation & they’ve got to weigh up that option when deciding what to do

I’m not
I know that it is not an offence to be a racist/homophobe or sexist & nor should it be but it is not just an offence to discriminate against other races, sexuality or sex & only to discriminate.

It is an offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour if done or said within the hearing of anyone likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress. For it not to be an offence, whoever does it would have to have no reason to believe that there was any person within hearing or sight who was likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress or alternatively that his or her conduct was reasonable.
The Latics lad shouting “It’s a long way home you f****n f*****s” cannot argue that defence.
If the chants weren’t meant to offend or insult then they wouldn’t be sung in the first place

I know what you’re saying but, as we’re both arguing legal technicalities, I would say that you have to look at why those chants are being used.
If you asked the people chanting them, I’m pretty sure that you would get responses of “to wind them up”, “to get on their nerves” etc.. & I would say (legally) you are doing it because you know it can cause harassment, alarm or distress – that’s certainly why I wind someone up. There’s differing degrees of winding someone up but ultimately people do it coz it’s funny to cause someone some form of distress (the most memorable candid camera/Beadle’s about clips are those where someone goes off their nuts & gets upset)
Even by claiming “its a laugh”, legally they would look at why they think it’s a laugh & ultimately that’s because they think, in this instance, that having a reputation of a high homosexual community is something to be ridiculed & mocked about.

I do agree though that you can say the same about Scouser’s getting mocked for being thieves.

Back to the subject thread

My question would be this – how did he / they (the secret reporter(s)) get a ticket for the game. How could he possibly be on the database !!??!!

We only use the database to limit purchases for certain games (eg Liverpool, United).

How on earth otherwise would anyone be able to buy tickets and get on the database? It’s by buying tickets for games like Brighton that qualify someone to buy tickets for higher profile games.

Nah, I still think I’m right fil. As for that article , I don’t think he could convince me that bears shit in the woods.

Anyway you’ve made your badge choice , albeit a strange one , just watch out for undercover channel 4 reporters.[/quote]

Well the badge had been used as my avatar for as long as I can remember and not once was I asked to remove it ! In fact not one person even mentioned it apart from yourself that is and that was when it had been changed ! To me that says that nobody had a problem with it ! ;)