A disgrace to football

First topic message reminder :

http://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2015/feb/17/chelsea-fans-prevent-black-man-boarding-paris-metro-video

Identify them and ban them for life

I think that half the point of this is that there isn't much Chelsea can do. They were not at a football ground. They haven't committed an offence that Chelsea can punish. They do not represent the club, they are fans by choice not by appointment. Chelsea can, and have, condemned them but this is a police matter. I'm not sure that Chelsea have any right, although they are a private business so can probably do as they please to some extent; I'm not sure they have to sell them tickets or allow them on their premises, but they probably can't stop them attending away games if they source their tickets elsewhere.

Not hiding from the fact they are fans, I just think that's interesting.

GSC wrote:They weren't running around a football pitch either...

FIFA and UEFA have repeatedly failed to come down hard on any racism in football grounds.

Its clear they were fans but as you say they were representing nobody but themselves. Focussing on what football club they support rather dilutes the focus on the true issue

Well that depends, if they are season ticket holders, then I'm sure there is something in the small print in regards to bringing the club into disrepute.

Come now, super............... surely pink golfing sweaters over green tee-shirted shoulders, tucked into burgundy slacks held up by white belts is an equal affront to sartorial decency????

There was another incident involving Chelsea fans at ST Pancras station on Wednesday, the club have already banned two fans after the initial incident.

The problem as I see it, is that it doesn't matter whether they are or aren't football fans in general, or Chelsea fans in particular.  The one pretty reliable fact is that they are English (or at the very least, British) citizens behaving in a disgraceful way whilst in another country.  That is what they should be condemned for.

I for one would have no qualms if the French police were to make a request for extradition which was granted so that these people could be put to trial under whatever French law applies.

It then begs the question, does the French taxpayer want to waste time, effort and valuable resources on these toerags..?  

I wish there was some sort of reciprocal arrangement in Europe whereby, whenever citizens of one country behave in such a disgraceful way, the parent nation could conduct the prosecution, at their own expense.

I realise this would cause all sorts of litigation difficulties, and the practical problems are many and varied.  I only moot this as a pipe dream because to do such a thing would show the people of the offended country (in this case, the French) that British society takes responsibility for the actions of its people and punishes them in a way that expresses our disapproval.

I don't want a return to the bad days of the 70's and 80's, when the English were the lepers of Europe because of the actions of our football fans.  I just wish we could, in some way, show Europe that the vast majority of British people want to see these individuals punished.

Yes, I think you hit the nail on the head there, Lion.  When I was looking at the incident, I didn't think "Chelsea" And I have to say I didn't even think "Racism".  

The idea that came into my head might more accurately be described using the word 'Crusade'.  

It was a bunch of lads being overtly racist but, even more so, a bunch of lads claiming Imperialistic rights to dictate rules and regulations in a foreign country - it was a brief exercise in asserted Power and Dominance.  They got their kick not from throwing the black man from the train but in exerting the power to do so in a foreign country and get away with it.  They loved the empty space around them - the no-go area of threatened violence they had created around the open door.

I think that was the real buzz for them.

So yes, I don't think it should be described as a particularly football issue.  It was a power asserting nationalistic  issue in a foreign land.

It's a bunch of ar$eholes behaving like ar$eholes. One lad had said that they weren't just refusing entry to the black passenger but to whites and women as well. Well, whoopdy doo!

Like I said, ar$eholes....plain and f*cking simple. A total lack of respect for their fellow human beings but more importantly a total absence of self-respect.