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Violent attacks, the chanting of Adolf Hitler's name and anti-Semitic abuse -- not dark memories of the 1930s but four days in the life of English Premier Leage club Tottenham Hotspur.
It has been an annus horribilis in football's fight against discrimination with Chelsea and Liverpool notably dragged through the mud, but Sunday's game against West Ham at Spurs' White Hart Lane stadium -- as fans made Nazi salutes -- gave the impression English football had reached a new low.
As well as the salutes, there were also accusations of anti-Semitic abuse, including hissing to mimic the sound of gas chambers, a reminder of the deaths of six million Jews during the Holocaust.
It has been an annus horribilis in football's fight against discrimination with Chelsea and Liverpool notably dragged through the mud, but Sunday's game against West Ham at Spurs' White Hart Lane stadium -- as fans made Nazi salutes -- gave the impression English football had reached a new low.
As well as the salutes, there were also accusations of anti-Semitic abuse, including hissing to mimic the sound of gas chambers, a reminder of the deaths of six million Jews during the Holocaust.
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Visiting fans are alleged to have sung "Viva Lazio" and "Can we stab you every week?" in relation to the attack which left a Tottenham fan seriously injured when a group stormed a bar Spurs supporters were drinking at in Rome ahead of a Europa League match with Lazio last week.
Media reports also said fans chanted "Adolf Hitler, he's coming for you" and hissed, mimicking the gassing of Jews during the Holocaust.
Media reports also said fans chanted "Adolf Hitler, he's coming for you" and hissed, mimicking the gassing of Jews during the Holocaust.
You don't say?
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Given what had happened on Thursday in Rome, third-tier Scunthorpe United manager Brian Laws will probably wished he had chosen his words more carefully in describing his team's performance on Saturday "as bad as the Holocaust"
... you *can't* condemn it on face value?
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Promoted West Ham's manager Sam Allardyce told reporters he did not hear any controversial chanting by away fans.
"I don't hear what the fans say or do when I'm concentrating as a manager on a game of football," he said.
"They shouldn't be doing things like that, it is the least of my worries at the minute isn't it? What do you want me to say? If I didn't hear it I can't condemn it can I?"
"I don't hear what the fans say or do when I'm concentrating as a manager on a game of football," he said.
"They shouldn't be doing things like that, it is the least of my worries at the minute isn't it? What do you want me to say? If I didn't hear it I can't condemn it can I?"
I occasionally get sucked into soccer discussions with folk and it is just amazing how extreme this gets. From some of the videos on youtube it looks like loyalty lies in what - gate, section, team/club, and then country?
Groups like Gate 9 (from Cyprus) crop up and they have outlandish videos. Then there's the bananas thrown on field, monkey calls, and the like.
Of course there's the stereotypical hooligans to round out the fun, and that whole rats nest of issues with hardcore violence over a game.
So the question is 'why'? Then the follow up is what are the soccer authorities doing to reign this in? Sure so and so gets banned for sometime, but is that addressing the issue?
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But he added: “I don’t see this as only Eastern European, except by shade or degree. It’s ubiquitous in Europe. Somehow the soccer stadium has remained the last bastion of unmitigated maleness. You can behave badly and be proud of it, the way you can’t in virtually any other venue in Europe.”
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