ego.istic.org

Geoffrey Pullum over at Language Log today wrote about racial abuse in sport. He claims that sport is increasingly being disrupted by racism. He gives as an example that “British soccer fans, in particular, have become notorious for appalling racist abuse of black players”. This is, strictly speaking, true, but unfair as he does not also mention the appalling abuse of white players. In fact, all players are fair game for the rude chants of opposing supporters, and for trash-talking on the pitch itself.

It's equal-opportunities racist abuse, and apart from a minority of genuinely racist people, supporters are happy to abuse any player for their race, homosexuality, hairstyle and colour, dubious parentage, fitness, height, regardless of any details like the truth of such allegations. (By long-standing tradition, referees are only ever abused for their poor eyesight and lack of judgement.) It's not very nice, and it makes the game less gentlemanly, but it is far from racially motivated.

On its release, I read the paper copy of this level-headed report from the Guardian, which is most relevant and you should go and read.

Quite apart from the legal issue of whether the chant is illegal under the Act, and apart from the practical issue that such chanting is likely to cause trouble, I think Mr. Richards, the District Judge who first heard the case, is quite right to say that the chant is merely banter: racially insulting maybe, but not racist.