East Lothian journalist 'in tears' after racial abuse at Rangers game

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Mount_Bear said:
This post is such a painfully perfect way to describe the attitude and actions of Celtic and the Catholic Church when it comes to sexual abuse.
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Don't disagree with the sentiment but could you not have just stuck to the alleged racist actions.
 
siegeheroes13 said:
Another racial claim being made against our fans

www.edinburghlive.co.uk

East Lothian journalist 'in tears' after racial abuse at Rangers game and pub

Bobby Nwanze, 32, is a Rangers man but was left in floods of tears after being racially abused in Ibrox as well as in a local Rangers supporters bar.
www.edinburghlive.co.uk www.edinburghlive.co.uk

A freelance sport producer from East Lothian says he was racially abused on two occasions over the space of a few hours after attending a Rangers football game.

Bobby Nwanze, 32, said that he was forced to leave a Rangers Scottish Cup match vs Stirling Albion at half time on Friday January 21, after he faced abuse from a fellow supporter in the stands.

READ MORE - Hearts manager Robbie Neilson targeted by 'seething football fan' during TV interview

To make matters worse, Bobby was subjected to a further bout of abuse when visiting a Rangers themed bar close to the stadium.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Bobby said that he was left in tears in the car when returning from Glasgow, and that the incident had put him off from returning to Ibrox but that he would do so, as he did not want to empower racists.

On the abuse he received, he said: “Why I like Rangers is that the team is relatable to me. In the past the squad was not overly diverse but when you look at the team now that has completely changed. The captain Tavernier is black as is Bassey, Balogun, Aribo, Morelos, Sakala, Bacuna and Kamara. So for me I identify with them.


“To be honest, I am often apprehensive about going to live games due to the elements of racism that can occur there. But my friend Abie, John and I decided to go through for the Scottish Cup tie as we thought it would be a nice family friendly atmosphere with it being the fourth round of the cup.

“Around 25 minutes into the game, I’m doing my usual and talking football with fans around me, having a good time. But then I see an older man waving his arms at me, he looks at me and says ‘I can’t understand a word you are saying, are you even speaking English?’

“I turned to my friends and asked if he had just said what I thought he had. After that I just felt sick and my mood completely dropped. My friends said to try to ignore him but I could not.

“So we left to go to a Rangers bar, I think it was called the Wee Rangers, and when we walked in it was as if everyone had stopped to stare at me walking to the bar - it was weird. We ordered some drinks and just took ourselves to a quiet corner to watch the rest of the game. That is when a middle aged man approached me.

“This gentleman would not leave me alone. He said ‘You are black, what does Fashion Sakala mean?’ My friend asked what he said and when I repeated it they were absolutely astounded. The man proceeded to keep calling me Fashion Sakala even though I asked him to leave me alone to watch the game.

“My friends then tried their best to get them to leave me alone but then the man turned with their group of 20-30 mates and started singing the Fashion Sakala song at me. Now I do not mind banter but my race is not a joke for other people’s amusement. This was being derogative.

“The guy then sat next to me again and started to touch my arms whilst saying, ‘You’re a big boy eh, you're always big.’ He continued to bother me before I was stern and said to leave me alone. It was then that the man said I shouldn’t be there.
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Sadly I believe this,as we have some real lowlifes in our support.
 
Claverdon Loyal said:
again, is that racist? Or just a reflection that we live in a multicultural society where people have all sorts of terms. I mean, do we even know if the guy using the term roadman is white? If that even matters
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Don't think it was in the context as I don't think the guy had a clue what it means but still a weird thing to say
 
Took a Mancunian friend to Ibrox a few years ago and the number of people who asked if he was Ronaldinho was bizarre, he took it well tho, think I was more embarrassed than him. Maybe because I could pass for Kaka's ugly twin, in a certain light.
 
55 and counting said:
I've attended far more games than you ever have I suspect. I don't think the 2nd part of that story happened as he says. 1st part I can see as being true. Just because I don't believe something doesn't make me a crackpot. There will be CCTV if true it can be proven.
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10 Rangers fans turned up to the Sparta Prague game armed with a banner against kneeling & BLM.

A game that was significant because Kamara had received racist abuse from Sparta fans in the first leg. We had morons that chose to side with Sparta and their anti-kneeling stance.

And you think 25 people didn't sing the Sakala song at a black guy? Come off it.
 
Calcio said:
10 Rangers fans turned up to the Sparta Prague game armed with a banner against kneeling & BLM.

A game that was significant because Kamara had received racist abuse from Sparta fans in the first leg. We had morons that chose to side with Sparta and their anti-kneeling stance.

And you think 25 people didn't sing the Sakala song at a black guy? Come off it.
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Forgot that happened against Prague. That was an absolute embarrassment
 
55 and counting said:
20/25 people singing the Sakala song to him? Ha ha you believe that says more about you than anything racist.
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Aye OK, we are glad you cleared that up.

You could have at the very very least read what the guy wrote, instead of cherry picking bits out that suited you. A simple rule to follow with race, is not to do it regardless of if you think it's funny and a good laugh. I have a mate from Pakistan and he says he doesn't mind being called a Paki and tbh most probably couldn't care, but I wouldn't take that as an OK to go around calling folks Pakis as some will find it derogatory.
 
jimbear said:
I don't want to believe the guy as I've never heard any racial abuse in the years I've been going to Ibrox, but that doesn't mean that it did not happen. The SLO needs to get in touch with the lad to establish what took place and then look into the allegations.
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Yes, he should, that would go a long way.
 
OohAhHuistra said:
Friday was like people had just discovered alcohol.
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And just discovered Football.... the number of people who came up the stairs in the SJ Rear and had no idea how to even begin to find their seat was astounding, thankfully most of them had remembered the way back out by the 80th minute.
 
It pains me to say it, but I believe this lad.

The bit about the pub sounds completely convincing and like he’s met a total throbber steaming out his nut.

The basic question everyone should always ask about these types of incident is would they occur at all if the person wasn’t black or other ethnic origin. I believe a white guy wouldn’t get asked the explain what Sakala means and have inferences made about the size of his dick or his general physical size.

So, I’m calling it racist and I believe the guy. Really sad that he’s had to experience this in amongst a crowd of us
 
DoubleWhopper said:
Well put it this way, Rangers name doesn’t deserve to be tarnished by the actions of individual “supporters” in pubs.

But it will be - because of this.

We’re a huge support, there will be fannies and they ought to be dealt with as they expose themselves.

But do I agree with someone professing to support Rangers giving the media the porn it wants, over the actions of one clown ?

I don’t. You can call things out without providing ammunition for our enemies.

I don’t feel Rangers has to answer for the actions of everybody who purports to support it
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Did you read what he said? He literally said it is not representative of the support. But that it happened.

I suppose you are one of the sorts who likes things swept under the carpet to protect a name. Or just deny they happened. I know the sort. We all do, very well.
 
Tino_Col said:
Did you read what he said? He literally said it is not representative of the support. But that it happened.

I suppose you are one of the sorts who likes things swept under the carpet to protect a name. Or just deny they happened. I know the sort. We all do, very well.
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You’re missing the point.

Racism amongst Rangers/ it’s support is not institutionalised and Rangers do not need to answer for the conduct of an individual in a pub.
 
Sad to see so may folk would rather pretend that we don’t have a racist element in our fan base than support a fan on the end of racist abuse.
 


Remind the filth that are infesting his twitter feed that a Livingston player was racially abused earlier in the season by Celtic fans.
 
Some of these responses are just embarrassing. Racism is not limited to slurs used with intent. No-one, and I mean no-one, should come to Ibrox and be made to feel like anything other than part of the Rangers family. Being a football fan is not about all being the same so we need to support a certain club because that's the mould we fit in. It's about all being different, with different backgrounds but having support for our team be the one thing we do have in common and unites us.
There are no ifs or buts here.
 
OzzyGersman said:
I’m not going to defend the comments but I agree. The statement in the article “racial abuse” surely can’t apply to what the fan said. He shouldn’t have said it but maybe he genuinely couldn’t understand.

The pub stuff is racist, it’s moronic and ignorant, would happen in pubs across Scotland when you have guys pished out their minds.
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Mate, what fucking pubs are you drinking in where it's the norm for black guys to get abused ?
 
SWBlue1872 said:
Mate, what fucking pubs are you drinking in where it's the norm for black guys to get abused ?
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I don’t go to pubs. My wording was poor in the message I was trying to convey. I wasn’t excusing it, the point I was trying to make was that it wasn’t a Rangers thing. In pubs up and down the country when you have pished punters there are bound to be idiotic comments and songs sang by people getting carried away under the influence mistaking it for “banter”. I wasn’t for a second excusing it.
 
El Cid said:
Some of these responses are just embarrassing. Racism is not limited to slurs used with intent. No-one, and I mean no-one, should come to Ibrox and be made to feel like anything other than part of the Rangers family. Being a football fan is not about all being the same so we need to support a certain club because that's the mould we fit in. It's about all being different, with different backgrounds but having support for our team be the one thing we do have in common and unites us.
There are no ifs or buts here.
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Correct, this has to be investigated. It is embarrassing for the club especially with the number of black players that play for us and are idolised.Pathetic behaviour.
 
HowdenEnder said:
“Around 25 minutes into the game, I’m doing my usual and talking football with fans around me, having a good time. But then I see an older man waving his arms at me, he looks at me and says ‘I can’t understand a word you are saying, are you even speaking English?’

Is that racist?
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Ever had someone tell you they cannae understand the Invernessian accent?
 
Carson’s chosen few said:
I’ll be honest find it hard to believe . I’ve ko doubt we’ve an element of bad apples in our support but rather leave in tears , could he not contact a police officer or steward ? They would be kicked out and jailed leaving him to stay and support his team . Also surely people beside him , if front, behind , would have heard this and surely they in turn would have called this abuse out ?
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Did you believe Kamara?
 
Disgusting behavior the guy has had to put up with. You think to yourself - there's no way people could be so moronic and backward in their thoughts. But then you read some of the comments on this thread.

I've not enjoyed hearing about this guys experience, but it has been a useless thread to use the ignore button.
 
Rangerista said:
We all know how this is going to be spun, ironically when the media do their usual thing in just highlighting the words "Rangers fans", they'll once again just serve to trumpet their own agenda, which has nothing to do with fighting racism.

Anyway, on to the points.

The incident in the stand is open to interpretation, it may have been a genuine question from the fan, or he was someone taking the c@nt and has a sadly questionable sense of humour.

As for the experience in the Wee Rangers Club, unfortunately we can't outlaw ignorance and this sounds like some fans with a very limited experience of life reacting to a solitary black guy, by asking crass questions based on on the misguided assumption that all black people are the same and share the same background. Were they being racist singing the Fashion song, probably not, but they were acting like ignoramuses.

As ScottyRFC1872 says in post#50, this is a societal problem. Education is the key here, people need to jettison their ignorant assumptions and stop making fools of themselves.

As a follow up, perhaps Heart and Hand could have Bobby on as a guest and ask him to detail his experiences and how together we can all help to eliminate this embarrassing attitude that pertains in some sections of Scottish society?

We need to offer Bobby more than sympathy and as a fellow Rangers fan, he deserves all of our support.

Blue is the only colour that matters.
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Great post mate more power to you.
 
The Goal Machine said:
Correct, this has to be investigated. It is embarrassing for the club especially with the number of black players that play for us and are idolised.Pathetic behaviour.
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It's especially telling that he says that one of the things that connects him to the players is how representative the team is.
Tav and Goldson are great examples for young people on social media.

Even when Tav was explaining the reasons for the team taking the knee, some folks were still whining about "cultural marxism" and other nonsense to excuse their own ignorance
 
Big Joe Canoe said:
I can believe he was abused by a fan as you get f*cking idiots everywhere but the one with the whole of the wee rangers club seemed to stop and stare at him when he came in is hard to believe.
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Do you see many black people in there?
 
Arminius said:
It pains me to say it, but I believe this lad.

The bit about the pub sounds completely convincing and like he’s met a total throbber steaming out his nut.

The basic question everyone should always ask about these types of incident is would they occur at all if the person wasn’t black or other ethnic origin. I believe a white guy wouldn’t get asked the explain what Sakala means and have inferences made about the size of his dick or his general physical size.

So, I’m calling it racist and I believe the guy. Really sad that he’s had to experience this in amongst a crowd of us
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Tend to agree. Many of those that frequent the wee club are far travelled bears as its next to where many of the buses are parked. Often guys too pished to go to the game just stay in there and keep drinking.
The guy responsible may have not been a racist as such but a pub pest and the guy has taken him the wrong way. If not its certainly disappointing.
 
So the guy tweeted about it saying it was 2 fans and in no way does that represent the club and a support as a whole

But by fûck, the reach network of 19th Century Terrorist rhags are going to try and make it a thing
 
DoubleWhopper said:
He doesn’t need to bring another negative storm of publicity down upon us.

We need to work amongst ourselves to eradicate such behaviour.

It’s pornography for the press when such things happen - they have no interest in ending such behaviour, their sole concern is to castigate Rangers and this is an open goal.
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But it won't be eradicated "amongst ourselves"; just look here for a cross section of the Rangers support, this guy is being made out to be the bad guy for going to the press, over the racist. Other just don't believe him because he's not your stereotypical fan.
 
Coisty09 said:
As a former media person, this smacks to me of journalist invents story about himself.
That picture of him with the BBC Mic is very telling.
I’m not saying we don’t have absolute idiots in our support but there is no way that he ‘left in tears at half time’.
An absolute set up story if you ask me.
Similar to the one when Alfie’s car was interfered with by the private detective who was evidently hired by a newspaper to do it.
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Do the pictures of him in a Rangers shirt not matter?

Was Alfie not his burd cause he was knocking around?
 
oldtimer said:
Then why not report it in the stadium and let Rangers deal with it instead of going to the media.?
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Perhaps because he works in media or Perhaps he thought it should be brought to the attention of other fans that this happened as it might prevent it happening again ..
I suppose we are now discussing it rather than it being dealt with quietly ?
There is an absolute minority of racists that can give the rest of us a bad name / we shouldn’t cover up for them - no hiding place.
Should Glen Kamara kept quiet & just made a quiet complaint to the ref o& UEFA.

I hate racists - I wish they would stay away from my club .
But as I said - it’s a real minority .
But one is one too many .
 
Here's the bottom line here.

It's vile if it's true and it's vile if it isn't.

That's why allegations such as these need thoroughly investigated and actioned accordingly.

All this Bullsh!t from the two sides bringing their own agenda to bear based on what 'they want to believe' is utterly tragic, and is frankly part of the problem. And yes I'm talking about BOTH sides.

How about get the facts first then make judgement.
 
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