[Devongone]

Gave up on Bob's Board today.

There are some really good people. Wish they'd come over here.

But there's too much unconscious racism too .

[spireitematt]

Gave up on Bob's Board today.

There are some really good people. Wish they'd come over here.

But there's too much unconscious racism too .

There are some great posters on Bob's Board but also some idiots as well. I still read it mind.

[Devongone]

Oh I'm still going to read it ......

[bluepooch]

Seems like they hunt in packs on there ,if someone says something that doesn't go with the general consensus theyre toast.
Theres a guy called H again who is absolutely vilified by some yet I read his posts and they arent that far off the mark ,they certainly dont warrant the disgusting abuse he gets .He gives it back but it must be exhausting having to fight them off.

[Dancingwilldoit]

Dev, I was born in Manchester, I used to live about 5 mins from the old Maine Road but used to jump on my bike and ride down to Old Trafford to get the autographs of the team I supported until I was 12 (Oh yes you can change your allegiance to a team Blue, Matt) I had Paddy Crerand, Nobby Stiles, Harry Gregg and yes I also had Bert Trautman!
My world was turned upside down when I got home from school one night and my mother announced that we were emigrating to South Africa. We landed in Cape Town and I can remember the first time we got on a bus, my dad smoked so we went upstairs. I couldn't figure out why we were the only white faces and everyone was looking around at us. It turned out that on the buses, whites rode downstairs and "blacks" rode upstairs. Even park benches were labelled Blacks only or Whites only. I remember driving along the sea front at Durban and sitting open mouthed whilst we drove past segmented sections of beach with massive signs saying Whites only, Bantu only, Zulu only, Indian only, Asian only etc etc.
All the communities were kept entirely separate and apart with no mixing allowed. I can remember sneaking into the local "Black compound" because of the vibrant noises that came from there every weekend. Unlike the Afrikaans side of town where everything was like a morgue, I used to love it and was accepted just for being there, I would sit for hours watching the dancing and ceremony behind a 10 foot high partition wall. It was just like being in another world and kept me sane through the 2 and a half years we were there. I had more dark skinned friends than white who hated the Roineckers or Red Neck English.
I can remember one time my mother decided that in an effort to blend in we should go to the local church. The problem was that apartheid had even hijacked the bible. Did you know that Noah had 2 sons, I black and 1 white? The white son was all that was good whilst the black son was cast into the wilderness and was evil personified. At the age of 13 I had to learn very quickly to sit on my hands and keep quiet.
One other thing it did teach me was tolerance of others and their views. I couldn't care less if someone was Black White Muslim European Jewish Asian Arab Gay or Straight, we all have 2 legs 2 arms and a brain that we sometimes engage.
Just in case you are wondering, am sat in the middle of one mother of a thunderstorm having had a few. Still on holiday but driving back over the weekend. Back for the next home game guys, looking forward to it.

[bluepooch]

You should type more often when youre pissed Dancing.!
I have no problem with skin colour and creed I have a problem with people living amongst us who want to secretly kill me because I'm a white westerner.If thats called Islamophobia then I am guilty

[Dancingwilldoit]

Blue, unfortunately when it comes to Islam everything is shrouded with the same veil that the Dutch White Afrikaaner's believed in. When you go to church and are read something from a holy book purporting to be thousands of years old with a slight bias or twist on it, you can understand where all the problems stem from. One thing I learned very quickly in life was how divisive and disruptive religion and religious preaching could be. If there was ever only 1 god and everybody had the same view how would that work? Would we all be like the Stepford Wives?
Thunderstorms stopped now, hailstones the size of bloody golf balls. God is determined to get his own back on me when I walk the dog !!!

[spireitematt]

Dev, I was born in Manchester, I used to live about 5 mins from the old Maine Road but used to jump on my bike and ride down to Old Trafford to get the autographs of the team I supported until I was 12 (Oh yes you can change your allegiance to a team Blue, Matt) I had Paddy Crerand, Nobby Stiles, Harry Gregg and yes I also had Bert Trautman!
My world was turned upside down when I got home from school one night and my mother announced that we were emigrating to South Africa. We landed in Cape Town and I can remember the first time we got on a bus, my dad smoked so we went upstairs. I couldn't figure out why we were the only white faces and everyone was looking around at us. It turned out that on the buses, whites rode downstairs and "blacks" rode upstairs. Even park benches were labelled Blacks only or Whites only. I remember driving along the sea front at Durban and sitting open mouthed whilst we drove past segmented sections of beach with massive signs saying Whites only, Bantu only, Zulu only, Indian only, Asian only etc etc.
All the communities were kept entirely separate and apart with no mixing allowed. I can remember sneaking into the local "Black compound" because of the vibrant noises that came from there every weekend. Unlike the Afrikaans side of town where everything was like a morgue, I used to love it and was accepted just for being there, I would sit for hours watching the dancing and ceremony behind a 10 foot high partition wall. It was just like being in another world and kept me sane through the 2 and a half years we were there. I had more dark skinned friends than white who hated the Roineckers or Red Neck English.
I can remember one time my mother decided that in an effort to blend in we should go to the local church. The problem was that apartheid had even hijacked the bible. Did you know that Noah had 2 sons, I black and 1 white? The white son was all that was good whilst the black son was cast into the wilderness and was evil personified. At the age of 13 I had to learn very quickly to sit on my hands and keep quiet.
One other thing it did teach me was tolerance of others and their views. I couldn't care less if someone was Black White Muslim European Jewish Asian Arab Gay or Straight, we all have 2 legs 2 arms and a brain that we sometimes engage.
Just in case you are wondering, am sat in the middle of one mother of a thunderstorm having had a few. Still on holiday but driving back over the weekend. Back for the next home game guys, looking forward to it.

Really interesting story Dancing. When did you come back to England? and how did you end up supporting Chesterfield?

Also Storm Brian is on the way in the UK.

[bluepooch]

Dancing ,Its a great story you have and I bow down to your experience of life .I have lived a very sheltered life in comparison .However that does not get away from the fact that I am very uncomfortable with the way the country is going .
Have a safe journey back

[Devongone]

Strange life .... my partner spent time in South Africa (and Kenya) working in theatres.

I can cope when I can disagree sensibly with people, or try maybe to reassure Pooch that I don't think Islam has anybody on his specific case and that nearly all muslims just want to live a comfortable life, love and be loved, avoid hatred and being hated ....

But when people think that openly racist and very lame jokes are just dressing room banter, because sometimes black players will often either collude with them, or keep quiet ....... I wonder how a gay player could cope and what he might be coping with. It's obvious to everyone when there are black people in the team - they can see it. But what sort of banter will gays face? If people will openly make racist jokes to black people what will they be saying when one of their team is a closeted gay? How brave is a player going to have to be to turn up at a team night out with his boyfriend?

It just makes me feel dispirited is all. For the future of humanity. I now just tell people I'm gay. They must wonder why's he telling us that, we didn't say we're straight ........... and it's so they know so they don't come up with the range of accidentally stupid stuff that afflicts conversations. I don't want them to be walking on eggshells, but equally I don't want them to start burying an IED in full view, expecting to receive my approval.

Being alive and a human bean is very odd. Good journey home Dancing.

I half wish Eni Aluko, who I was writing about on Bob's, had returned Sampson's Ebola remark with, "It's okay Mark my family have agreed to delay the Female Genital Mutilations till the dressing room straight after the match ....." but it would only have opened the gates to a flood of this bile, because even though she's obviously cleverer than him, he had the power.

I'm a reader of Bob's now. Albert has retired. He won't be sliding in.