A report from Reuters concerning the total lack of reporting of the Racist chanting by the Spanish NT "fans"during two "Friendly" games played on Nov 17 and Nov 18...............
Spain gloss over racist chants
MADRID, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Spanish media and football authorities glossed over racist chanting that marred Wednesday's friendly between Spain and England and accused the their English counterparts of mounting a witch-hunt against them.
Spain won the friendly at the Bernabeu with a determined and stylish performance, the only goal of the game coming from a ninth minute header from Athletic Bilbao defender Asier del Horno.
But the game was marred by continual monkey noises directed at visiting black players and by a regular chorus of 'If you are not f**king black jump up and down' sung by large sections of the 55,000 crowd at the Real Madrid stadium.
After the game the Spanish Federation's press officer Fernando Garrido refused to permit any questions about the incidents, saying that some of the blame for the incident lay with English reporters.
'Were there racist chants against some players? This hasn't happened in the Spanish league and Spain for many years,' he said. 'So you (English reporters) should ask yourselves what you have done to contribute to all this.'
The runup to the match was marked by controversy involving coach Luis Aragones, who mounted an angry defence of his recent comments about Thierry Henry in which he had referred to the Arsenal and France striker as 'that black ****' during a Spanish training session last month.
Aragones refused to comment on the chanting by the crowd, saying he was only prepared to answer questions on his team's performance.
'I've always said my conscience is clear and I only want to talk about football,' he said.
A 10-minute anti-racist video was shown before the match on the stadium's big screens and the two teams lined up behind a banner bearing the slogan 'All united against racism in football'.
But the atmosphere soured as soon as the game started with Ashley Cole and later substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips greeted by monkey noises every time they touched the ball.
Despite the furore, Marca, Spain's leading sports newspaper, insisted the subject had spiralled out of control and accused the English Football Association of fanning the flames.
One of their columnists, Miguel Angel Mendez, wrote: 'It's one thing that we have a coach and another that people see something wherever they look.
'What the (English) FA have done is make a noise about nothing.
'At the under-21s there were songs and racist chants towards the England team's black players? I repeat that is a lie.
'There were insults but not because someone is black, white, green or blue.
'That happens every weekend in every ground throughout the world.
'If you want to look at some bad behaviour, look at the England fans who arrived totally drunk. Are we going to say all England fans are drunks?'
Marca gave more column inches to the actions of Wayne Rooney - the young England striker who was taken off by Eriksson shortly before half-time after a series of reckless challenges saw him threatened with a red card.
'Rooney went mad,' Marca said.
Although Diario AS printed quotes from England captain and Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham which expressed his disgust at the chants, the paper only dedicated four lines to the subject in a paragraph which also mentioned 'various incidents between Madrid ultras and England fans'.
The paper also refers to Aragones' post-match press conference, saying that his stubborn answers of 'no comment' to repeated questions about the incident were because he 'didn't want to enter the trap set by the English journalists'.
Barcelona-based paper El Mundo Deportivo does not even mention the issue, preferring to focus on the excellent performance by Barca midfielder Xavi.
The only measured assessment of the racist abuse came in El Pais - Spain's most liberal paper.
Their experienced columnist Santiago Segurola was scathing in his criticism of the crowd's behaviour and the Spanish FA.
'English football perfectly reflects the changes their multi-ethnic society has gone through. Football has served as an element for balance,' he wrote.
'It is a country that is sensitive and attentive to conflicts such as those started by Luis Aragones with his comments about Thierry Henry.
'The English FA have protested to UEFA and FIFA over the events and they have done well to do so,' added Segurola, who was less impressed with his own country's response.
'As usual the Spanish FA's reply has been disappointing. Someone should moderate Luis Aragones or we will have more damaging conflicts.
'This is a case that has damaged the image of Spanish football.'
El Pais' more right-wing competitor La Razon takes a different view, briefly mentioning the racist chanting saying it was 'the perfect excuse to continue the war between the English press and the Spain coach'.
Absolutely disgusting from a so called civilised country within the heart of Europe.I hope that Spain never get to host another tournament of any kind ever again.Its bad enough when an ignorant minority behave this way,but to have the Spanish media and the Spanish football authorities actually defend the racists and make excuses for them.......Then its time to exclude that country from taking any further part in any multiracial events,be it football or the Olympics or whatever.Sure we all have racists in our countries but does your media or football association support those racists.They do not where i come from....................
Spain gloss over racist chants
MADRID, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Spanish media and football authorities glossed over racist chanting that marred Wednesday's friendly between Spain and England and accused the their English counterparts of mounting a witch-hunt against them.
Spain won the friendly at the Bernabeu with a determined and stylish performance, the only goal of the game coming from a ninth minute header from Athletic Bilbao defender Asier del Horno.
But the game was marred by continual monkey noises directed at visiting black players and by a regular chorus of 'If you are not f**king black jump up and down' sung by large sections of the 55,000 crowd at the Real Madrid stadium.
After the game the Spanish Federation's press officer Fernando Garrido refused to permit any questions about the incidents, saying that some of the blame for the incident lay with English reporters.
'Were there racist chants against some players? This hasn't happened in the Spanish league and Spain for many years,' he said. 'So you (English reporters) should ask yourselves what you have done to contribute to all this.'
The runup to the match was marked by controversy involving coach Luis Aragones, who mounted an angry defence of his recent comments about Thierry Henry in which he had referred to the Arsenal and France striker as 'that black ****' during a Spanish training session last month.
Aragones refused to comment on the chanting by the crowd, saying he was only prepared to answer questions on his team's performance.
'I've always said my conscience is clear and I only want to talk about football,' he said.
A 10-minute anti-racist video was shown before the match on the stadium's big screens and the two teams lined up behind a banner bearing the slogan 'All united against racism in football'.
But the atmosphere soured as soon as the game started with Ashley Cole and later substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips greeted by monkey noises every time they touched the ball.
Despite the furore, Marca, Spain's leading sports newspaper, insisted the subject had spiralled out of control and accused the English Football Association of fanning the flames.
One of their columnists, Miguel Angel Mendez, wrote: 'It's one thing that we have a coach and another that people see something wherever they look.
'What the (English) FA have done is make a noise about nothing.
'At the under-21s there were songs and racist chants towards the England team's black players? I repeat that is a lie.
'There were insults but not because someone is black, white, green or blue.
'That happens every weekend in every ground throughout the world.
'If you want to look at some bad behaviour, look at the England fans who arrived totally drunk. Are we going to say all England fans are drunks?'
Marca gave more column inches to the actions of Wayne Rooney - the young England striker who was taken off by Eriksson shortly before half-time after a series of reckless challenges saw him threatened with a red card.
'Rooney went mad,' Marca said.
Although Diario AS printed quotes from England captain and Real Madrid midfielder David Beckham which expressed his disgust at the chants, the paper only dedicated four lines to the subject in a paragraph which also mentioned 'various incidents between Madrid ultras and England fans'.
The paper also refers to Aragones' post-match press conference, saying that his stubborn answers of 'no comment' to repeated questions about the incident were because he 'didn't want to enter the trap set by the English journalists'.
Barcelona-based paper El Mundo Deportivo does not even mention the issue, preferring to focus on the excellent performance by Barca midfielder Xavi.
The only measured assessment of the racist abuse came in El Pais - Spain's most liberal paper.
Their experienced columnist Santiago Segurola was scathing in his criticism of the crowd's behaviour and the Spanish FA.
'English football perfectly reflects the changes their multi-ethnic society has gone through. Football has served as an element for balance,' he wrote.
'It is a country that is sensitive and attentive to conflicts such as those started by Luis Aragones with his comments about Thierry Henry.
'The English FA have protested to UEFA and FIFA over the events and they have done well to do so,' added Segurola, who was less impressed with his own country's response.
'As usual the Spanish FA's reply has been disappointing. Someone should moderate Luis Aragones or we will have more damaging conflicts.
'This is a case that has damaged the image of Spanish football.'
El Pais' more right-wing competitor La Razon takes a different view, briefly mentioning the racist chanting saying it was 'the perfect excuse to continue the war between the English press and the Spain coach'.
Absolutely disgusting from a so called civilised country within the heart of Europe.I hope that Spain never get to host another tournament of any kind ever again.Its bad enough when an ignorant minority behave this way,but to have the Spanish media and the Spanish football authorities actually defend the racists and make excuses for them.......Then its time to exclude that country from taking any further part in any multiracial events,be it football or the Olympics or whatever.Sure we all have racists in our countries but does your media or football association support those racists.They do not where i come from....................
