Spanish football fans racially abusing Black English players

Captain David Beckham, who plays at the Bernabeu for Real Madrid, admitted the chanting had surprised him.

"Playing here and living here, I've never heard anything towards racism at all," said Beckham.

The actions of the Spanish fans follow the controversy surrounding Spain coach Luis Aragones.

Unfortunately it isn't a one off either. I go to see Malaga every week and quite often if a black player upsets the home crowd it quite often triggers off a chorus of racist abuse and yes it is rascist, similar to the crap we heard last night.

Similarly I am amazed at seeing Nazi salutes and chants of Seig Heil, not only by the Ultras of Malaga but I’ve seen it at other grounds in Spain too. If that was in England the supporters concerned would be thrown out and probably arrested and barred too.

Similarly I am amazed at seeing Nazi salutes and chants of Seig Heil, not only by the Ultras of Malaga but I’ve seen it at other grounds in Spain too. If that was in England the supporters concerned would be thrown out and probably arrested and barred too

In the UK, any fans caught engaging in that kind of behaviour are booted out and banned. They are caught because either another fan might have reported them to stewards or they are caught after the fact on CCTV.

Can somebody please explain why the Spanish people find that it is acceptable to do that.

Madrid's mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon on Wednesday presented the official dossier for the city's bid for the 2012 Olympics by praising what Madrid and Spain have to offer.

"Let us face the responsibility. As a city and a country we are communicative, open, transparent and we are in a position to use those virtues to transmit this same dream that in Madrid feeds a true passion for sport, for the meeting of people and for peaceful co-existence," said Ruiz-Gallardon.

Less that 12 hours later, black players in the England football team were subjected to a barrage of vile racist abuse, which ranged from monkey chants to the song "Que no bote negro es!" which can be translated as "whoever doesn't jump up and down is a black."

Next to that, the night's other song of choice from the home fans, "Gibraltar Espanyol", seemed insignificant.

The chanting was not done by a small but vocal minority. Several thousand fans in Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium joined in with gusto.

Neither was it done by people who could use a lack of education as an excuse. The vast majority of the crowd were young, upper middle class and likely to be well schooled.

So just where does Spanish sport fit between Gallardon's message of welcome and the chanting masses?

The answer is somewhere in between, although the situation could be improved if the problem was acknowledged.

"Racist chants? This doesn't happen in La Liga or in Spain," said the Spanish FA's press officer Fernando Garrido during Spain coach Luis Aragones' post-match press conference.

Mr Garrido may be a nice man, but in this case he has got his facts sadly wrong.

Only last Thursday, Atletico Madrid midfielder Kiki Musampa was subjected to monkey chants every time he touched the ball during his side's Copa del Rey match in Tarragona.

Maybe it's an exaggeration to say that happens every week in every ground in Spain, but it happens on a regular basis.

You can hear racist abuse quite often in grounds such as Getafe's Colosium Alfonso Perez and Atletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon as well as others.

Some people would prefer to believe the problem does not exist.

"It's one thing to say we have a national coach who lets his mouth run away with him now and then, but something else to see things that are not there," said Marca columnist Miguel Angel Mendez, who insisted accusations of racist chanting during the Spain-England Under-21 game were "a lie."

Indeed, many in the Spanish press believing their English counterparts came over looking for a fight and aiming to cause trouble.

They simply do not understand that Aragones' comments about Thierry Henry last month were offensive and incidents of casual racism are all too common.

Only last week Marca compared Spain's most famous basketball player - Pau Gasol - with Shaquille O'Neal.

"All he has to do is paint himself black and inject silicone into his lips," they joked under a cartoon of Gasol.

Atletico Madrid's recently deceased president Jesus Gil (a man who gave Aragones a job on two different occasions) once commented "I hope they kill the black," after the crowd turned on Atletico's Colombian striker 'Tren' Valencia.

Even former Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque, a man considered to be warm-hearted and of a left-wing leaning, showed the lack of progress Spain has made in terms of understanding racial issues.

Four years ago when asked if the signing of black central midfielders Claude Makelele and Flavio Conceicao would be a problem for him, he replied, "The only problem I will have is telling them apart."

Only last week Marca compared Spain's most famous basketball player - Pau Gasol - with Shaquille O'Neal.

"All he has to do is paint himself black and inject silicone into his lips," they joked under a cartoon of Gasol.

Instead of making excuses for it, why not find a way to put an end to it, like you should. Until you do, you're supporting it, because you've failed to stand up against it.

one day Spain may have black players in their national side and then what will the racist fans do?

As for the comment on Marca about Shaquille O'Neal and Pau Gasol ("All he has to do is paint himself black and inject silicone into his lips," they joked under a cartoon of Gasol.), I fail to see what's wrong with it... They are saying that Shaquille O'Neal is a superb player to which Gasol can only be compared. I think that you are so used to avoid "potentially racist" statements that you see them everywhere. If they had written "All he has to do is to put himself a pearcing and shave his head" you wouldn't have said it is a bigotry... the comment was made without intention and not implying that being black was anything to be shame of (to the contrary, in fact).

We have now more than three million inmigrants in Spain. I really think that it is better to deal with inmigration naturally than the way racial minorities are integrated in anglesaxon societies: in ghettos. You won't see racial states in any of our cities (though there are some states in which inmigrants are more common), nor will you see schools in which all the children are inmigrants.

Frankly, I think that you tend to judge us by your social standards, and yes, with a hint of disrespect and a high moral attitude.

Frankly, I think that you tend to judge us by your social standards, and yes, with a hint of disrespect and a supposedly higher moral attitude.

ArCa.....let's see, when England play Germany we hear themes from World War 2 movies throughout the game and Nazi salutes from the England fans during the playing of (bizarrly) both National Anthems, when England play France the tabloid press fell free to issue "frog free editions" and reams of abusive tripe bout the opposition. Against the Republic of Ireland, when not trying to tear their stadium apart, the old refrain "no Surrender to the I.R.A." despite the fact that much of that organisation is based in Northern Ireland !. Abuse of the Spanish - long before last night - when the "Daego" word is used with fre abandon. The Scots and Welsh must have enough stories to fill a book. Ask any Turkish shop owner how they were treated following Istanbul last year. Ask the German tourists or owners of German cars attacked throughout Englandafter the Euro96 defeat in Wembley. Not to mention the fear that stalks every European capital when they are next slated for a visit.

For goodness sake, stop trying to hide behind this "look at them, they're worse that us at it" routine. England have continually gotten away with wrecking event after event for decades now - only for the action, of late, by the UK authorities in preventing thousands of thugs travelling by with-holding their passports has some normality prevailed. Don't dream that it is finished. Spain may well be fined and good enough for that, but don't come the white angel with us that Engand fans are somehow now Europes best behaved fans.

What bothers me is that the cartoon, and the situation at the game is not a question of being politically correct. It's a question of sensitivity to the rights of others. Nobody has the right to de-humanize another person, and nobody has the right to make insensitive jokes about ethnic features. They fall far outside the realm of PC.

While many Spanish people like to think that they are much more cultured than Americans, I can't imagine something like the football incident that happened in Spain happening in America.

This incident and the many racist posts on this board have really has changed my opinion of Spanish people.

Let me see...Celts, VisiGoths, Basques, Romans, Greeks, Carthaginians, Phoenicians, North Africans, Arabs. A compilation of different peoples and cultures. Gee...I wonder from what country? This country also has four distinct languages and various dialects and it's citizens don't all claim or care to be known as part of this country.

It's most well known foods and music were introduced from other lands. Am I describing the US? Why it's Spain, of course! If you can say that the US has no true culture but a mixture of cultures, than I can say the same for Spain! In your eyes Quintos, which part is the true Spain; Castilla/Leon? Andalucia (with all that nasty Muslim influence), Aragon? How about Catalonia?(yeah, right).