Racism.... in football.

[Workingman]

Well said, mate. We disagree on many things, but you are spot on here.

Some will find it hard to accept and live with, but the basics are there.

[cromwell]

Lots of things to think about here.
I was a big fan of Leeds United in the 70's and 80's. It was the era when black players were first coming into the English game and monkey chants were commonplace. I never joined in; monkey chants are denying the targetted person their humanity. No civilised person should ever do that.
I did like Os's observation about obligation. So we are "obliged" to report racist behaviour? What if we don't? Will that become a criminal offence?
I don't like that at all. It does remind me of the passage in 1984 where a father is obviously terrified of his son, because the son has joined "the spies". Inform! What do you have to hide? No thanks.
As a nation I do find we are hypocritical about racism. None are more hypocritical than politicians and the rich. If a wealthy white London couple loudly proclaim their support for vibrant diversity, you can be sure that this support will waver when they find out that the local primary school is 90% BME. If that happens it is 100% certain that little James and Tabitha won't be going to that school. In fact going on the number of people who are leaving London altogether to live somewhere else you could say that they loudly maintain their support for vibrant diversity whilst putting a lot of distance between them and it.
A lot of good point have been made about racism in football. Punish the club if you must, but that isn't going to alter the people behaving badly.
In a way, the UK is living in a dream world when it comes to racism. A lot of the attitudes are for show only. We don't live in that happy, mixed-marriage world portrayed by just about every advert on the TV. There is a lot of hidden resentment, and a lot of hypocritical posturing. Not having a go at anyone on here but I saw a lot of it when working for a public body.
In some ways I think racism is worse now then it was in the 70's and 80's, because now it is hidden.

[Suff]

It would be very difficult to live in that mixed marriage state crommers. Given that only 15% of the population is other than white ethnic and a significant proportion of that actively discourages mixed marriage (just ask my cousin the hoops he had to jump through), then our population would be plummeting as most people wouldn't be able to marry.

The elephant in the room is that we are a white ethnic majority. The problem is that the equal opportunities act does not recognise it. There is no proportion in that act, it demands equal representation for unequal minorities and it is all downhill from there.