Comments on: Platini: “When there are racial incidents, the referee should call off the game.”

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:43:44 +0000

Laurie, well said.

By: Ian Rose

Ian Rose — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:40:54 +0000

It really is a shame that the symbol was stolen along with so many other things by the Nazis. Ideally, I’m with Sam, and wish that the other people in the stands would handle this by just beating the everloving crap out of whoever acts like this. The problem arises when a large number of fans are involved, and as much as we hate to think about it, that does happen quite a bit.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:36:27 +0000

Greg, I picked that photo because it shocked me also. In this case I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:10:58 +0000

Bureaucracy can suck my ass. If a guy calls a guy a monkey, don’t suspend him. Let him get his ass kicked.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:21:58 +0000

I’m not Jewish or any of the other groups that were singled out by the Nazis, nor was I alive during World War II. However, something about seeing even a PART of that symbol creeps me out. The interesting thing is, that the swastika used to be a common symbol of luck and / or military distinction. Aside from ruining a great type of mustache, Hitler also turned a once distinguished symbol into something that still, to this day, chills bones. PS, I agree with Luisão and Ian on the lack of pragmatism in this effort.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:21:47 +0000

Unfortunately, I have to agree. I don’t think it’s practical, unless the bar for racial taunting is set pretty high. A single word screamed from the stands is so hard to prove and document … it’s just very difficult. I certainly think that the ref should have the option of stopping a match to deal with an incident / throw out the fan or even the section if a large group is doing it, but realistically, I can’t see games being abandoned for this. Unfortunately, some people would probably also take advantage of the rule and use it strategically to get matches abandoned that their team would have lost.

By: Luisao

Luisao — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:50:23 +0000

Yeah right they would have the balls to do that, and if they did, we would not have any more soccer games.