Cod Almighty | Diary
You're damned if you do
10 December 2018
Trentside Diary writes: Well, now we know when a fair number of Town fans will be making their way down to south London: 5:30pm on the Saturday evening of the first weekend of the year. That's a bit rubbish.
We're not often affected by matches being moved for television, being in the fourth division, but there is no consideration of the fans when a match is moved to a time when they won't be able to get public transport home that day. Some will drive, some will get fans' coaches and some will stay over but one day I would love to see fans here resisting like they did recently in the Bundesliga. The football authorities in Germany have agreed that when the TV deal is renegotiated in 2020 there will be no Monday night matches. Sadly, the majority of people who hold power in the FA and the Premier League have very little in common with your regular football fan and are more interested in selling the product.
Despite the weekend's defeat, Town are getting better and a key player in this has been Elliot Embleton. It was good to hear that that his loan doesn't finish until the day after the third-round match and he will be available to play at Palace. John Tondeur has reported that he is happy to stay till the end of the season. Let's get him signed up, Town.
Racism in football reared its ugly head again this week. I don't think attitudes at football matches are anything other than a reflection of wider society. We don't go to football and then change our views suddenly as we walk away from the ground. Irrespective of what you think of him as a player or a human being, respect is due to Raheem Sterling laughing in the faces of fans shouting racist abuse at him. Chelsea supporters have history and these weren't daft lads who don't know any better (which is no excuse, but you hope they might grow up and become a little more worldly) but middle-aged men.
Let's hope action is taken against these vile individuals but this is just the tip of the iceberg. It's a sad fact that Sterling and other non-white players still get abused solely because of their colour at football. It makes you wonder what decade we're living in. Raheem responded politely on Instagram, suggesting that some of the media should look to how they portray black players. He's not wrong but unfortunately the bigotry in newspapers such as the Daily Mail is probably fuelling attitudes that already exist.
There was a similar incident in the Scottish League Cup final, when racist abuse was shouted at Scott Sinclair as he took a penalty. You do wonder at the role of stewards in these sorts of situations. They can't be oblivious to it but you can only imagine that they "don't hear it" and the clubs are complicit because it saves a headache. Organisations such as UEFA and the FA have run campaigns to Kick it Out but how committed are they really and how successful have they been? In England there appears to be less abuse than 30 or 40 years ago but is that down to changing attitudes in society rather than success with the campaign?
Perhaps the only way this is going to improve if fellow fans call them out, as has happened at Town games. We'll support our players with passion, we'll ride the frustration, and while we're at it let's wipe these attitudes from our terraces. UTM.