The problem with this is that it rewards the racists. They go through to the semi final unchallenged.
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No it doesnât. Playing on regardless rewards racists.
I can honestly say that if Arsenal sacrifice their place in the competition, citing the reasons of racism that havenât been addressed by their opponents, never can I say Iâd be prouder to be a Gooner.
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Last thing UEFA wants is a top English club to go against them though. You best believe others will follow even if itâs for PR.
UEFA have been preaching about âno racismâ for more than a decade yet they always do the bare minimum or at times nothing about it.
Theyâre fucked. English media wonât let this die down easily.
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Thereâs no point in Arsenal being martyrs here. We will be punished far far heavier for missing a UEFA tie than they will ever punish a team for racism.
That ainât right, but it is what it is.
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Iâm conflicted because taking a stand will show UEFA that we wonât take that kind of nonsense especially if utd do the same. However it would be annoying if that despite taking a stand the competition continued and a club with racist cunts like that made it to the final or even won it. Playing them and beating them with our diverse and ethnically mixed squad is more humiliating and embarrassing for those racist cunts than just not taking part.
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Sorry, but this is fantasy.
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Yeah had a feeling it might not have been allowed. Apologies dude
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Yeah have to agree with Super Sham, no point in us being Martyrs. UEFA should just ban these clubs like how they banned all the British teams for hooliganism. That will quickly put an end to this kind of disgusting behaviour. Fuck these teams man.
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We ainât boycotting and forfeiting our chance at returning to the CL and massive paydays, especially in these dire times for clubs financially.
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I didnât say I wouldnât be proud of them. I would completely understand and I wouldnât be annoyed in the slightest if they did it.
My issue is that I donât believe it would achieve anything. Weâd be punished/fined etc, plus Slavia Prague would be in a European semi final and would carry on denying any racism had taken place.
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Well firstly you wouldnât be subjecting your black players to sharing a pitch with an actual open racist, someone who thought it was acceptable to use the foulest word in the language in a deliberate act of racial abuse. Thatâs a pretty good thing to do first off
Iâd be proud of my club for taking actual stand in the fight against racism and forcing UEFA to take their responsibilities seriously.
So? UEFA can keep their EL, I donât want any part of it if racism is condoned
For Arsenal football club, the message weâd be sending to the world is that we have zero tolerance for racism in football, its not just something we say to pay lip service, we really mean it and weâre prepared to suffer any and all consequences, financial or competitive, to that end.
If the club donât have the grapes or donât want âmartyrsâ in tackling actual racism, to me that clear confirmation that youâre willing to accept a level of racism in football and you arenât really committed to eradicating it, which I suspected was the case
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We probably should have packed it in as a football club long before now if we were serious about not tolerating racism. Didnât hear anyone making these noises when we were playing Lazio in the CL or after we played Chelsea that first time after the Terry/Ferdinand incident.
Itâs not realistic or fair to expect one club to take such a stand. The authorities should not need to be shamed into doing their job.
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Racism in a nutshell though really, people are very stubborn about not doing the right thing.
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Yeah, Iâm not disagreeing with what youâre saying as such. In the only part of my post you didnât quote I said Iâd completely understand if they took the stance.
But I do think it is unrealistic to expect a club who has nothing to do with the situation in question to take one for the âteamâ, when no one else in the âteamâ has taken the fall for another member.
And if UEFA do not do anything, then Arsenal boycotting a match is not going to make them think âah you know what, we canât survive the Europa League semi finals without their shitty football, we best close the organisationâ.
Itâs a crap situation, but Arsenal are not going to solve it.
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Especially when there are millions/tens of millions of pounds at stake.
Itâs shit, but it ainât gonna change cos of one action. The only people who can make the meaningful actions are those in charge.
They wonât do anything unless their hand is forced Iâm afraid.
My question to you is: How do you expect things to change if we continue to tolerate inaction on racism in football from the authorities?
When has any football club anywhere ever taken a stand like an actual boycott in protest of racism?
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We didnât stand up for Mykhi in Baku. If you donât stand up for one of your own being wronged your not doing it for Rangers.
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Exactly. Why now? How is this the breaking point?
Well there was the PSG Besiktas game last year where all the players walked off the pitch. I remember reading articles asking if that was a game changer in the fight against racism. Spoiler alert: no it was not.
But Iâll reiterate again, I agree with your point. I just donât believe that us refusing to play a Europa League quarter final match is realistic, and neither is it the answer.
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