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Daily Post (Liverpool)
June 23, 2006, Friday
North Wales Edition
THE WAY I SEE IT;
I've witnessed the eerie, evil silence that envelops the death camp
at Oswiecim - known in German as Auschwitz. That's what you call
racism
by ian PARRI
THE World Cup has certainly succeeded in stirring up a few emotions.
Take reader Bryant Merrick, who calls himself "a proud Yorkshireman",
and who in a letter dubs me a "racist" because I choose not to
support his country's football team. Get real.
Didn't they knock us out of the World Cup, having booed our anthem
with venom before the teams met at Old Trafford? You surely don't
expect me to support them? I'd rather back Greenland. True, we booed
their anthem in Cardiff too, but that was surely knock for knock in
car insurers' parlance. Wasn't it?
But how ludicrous can you get? It's only a game, for crying out loud.
If through some aberration I was to support England in Sunday's clash
against Ecuador, would I then be accused of racist anti-Ecuadorian
bias? Even a hatred of the entire people of the Andes, duty bound
never to buy an album of pan-pipe music ever again?
Paul Balsom similarly finds himself under the cosh. The 42 year-old
Englishman, who's worked for the Swedish FA for the last eight years,
was branded a traitor in the London press for preparing a dossier on
England's team prior to the two teams' clash on Tuesday.
Which was a bit rich considering that England's management team
consists of more Swedes than your average farm field. What's the
Swedish for "traitor", then?
Such accusations are too easily bandied about and applied to sporting
banter. I've seen the rows upon rows of graves in the Terezin ghetto
in the Czech Republic, and I've stood at the moving eternal flame
memorial in Yerevan to the one million Armenians slaughtered by the
Turks during World War I. I've witnessed the eerie, evil silence that
envelops the death camp at Oswiecim - known in German as Auschwitz.
That's what you call racism.
On an admittedly far less bloodthirsty scale, I live in a state where
the laws declare categorically that I don't have the same rights as
those for whom English is their mother tongue.
The unilateral Act of Union of 1536, annexing this country to England
in the same manner as Germany's THE World Cup has certainly succeeded
in stirring up a few emotions. Take reader Bryant Merrick, who calls
himself "a proud Yorkshireman", and who in a letter dubs me a
"racist" because I choose not to support his country's football team.
Get real.
Didn't they knock us out of the World Cup, having booed our anthem
with venom before the teams met at Old Trafford? You surely don't
expect me to support them? I'd rather back Greenland. True, we booed
their anthem in Cardiff too, but that was surely knock for knock in
car insurers' parlance. Wasn't it?
But how ludicrous can you get? It's only a game, for crying out loud.
If through some aberration I was to support England in Sunday's clash
against Ecuador, would I then be accused of racist anti-Ecuadorian
bias? Even a hatred of the entire people of the Andes, duty bound
never to buy an album of pan-pipemusic ever again?
Paul Balsom similarly finds himself under the cosh. The 42-year-old
Englishman, who's worked for the Swedish FA for the last eight years,
was branded a traitor in the London press for preparing a dossier on
England's teamprior to the two teams' clash on Tuesday.
Which was a bit rich considering that England's management team
consists of more Swedes than your average farm field. What's the
Swedish for "traitor", then?
Such accusations are too easily bandied about and applied to sporting
banter. I've seen the rows upon rows of graves in the Terezin ghetto
in the Czech Republic, and I've stood at the moving eternal flame
memorial in Yerevan to the one million Armenians slaughtered by the
Turks during World War I. I've witnessed the eerie, evil silence that
envelops the death camp at Oswiecim - known in German as Auschwitz.
That's what you call racism.
On an admittedly far less bloodthirsty scale, I live in a state where
the laws declare categorically that I don't have the same rights as
those for whom English is their mother tongue.
The unilateral Act of Union of 1536, annexing this country to England
in the same manner as Germany's anschluss or annexation of Austria in
1938, was never repealed. It states that it aims "to extirpate (from
Wales) all and singular the sinister usages and customs differing
from the same (the Kings' realm)" and that "no person or persons that
use the Welsh speech or language shall have or enjoy any manor,
office or fees within the realm of England, Wales or the king's other
dominions."
That, again, is racism. Supporting others at football is a wheeze we
enjoy because our team isn't there - especially when there's a tenner
riding on the winner. Viva Argentina!
June 23, 2006, Friday
North Wales Edition
THE WAY I SEE IT;
I've witnessed the eerie, evil silence that envelops the death camp
at Oswiecim - known in German as Auschwitz. That's what you call
racism
by ian PARRI
THE World Cup has certainly succeeded in stirring up a few emotions.
Take reader Bryant Merrick, who calls himself "a proud Yorkshireman",
and who in a letter dubs me a "racist" because I choose not to
support his country's football team. Get real.
Didn't they knock us out of the World Cup, having booed our anthem
with venom before the teams met at Old Trafford? You surely don't
expect me to support them? I'd rather back Greenland. True, we booed
their anthem in Cardiff too, but that was surely knock for knock in
car insurers' parlance. Wasn't it?
But how ludicrous can you get? It's only a game, for crying out loud.
If through some aberration I was to support England in Sunday's clash
against Ecuador, would I then be accused of racist anti-Ecuadorian
bias? Even a hatred of the entire people of the Andes, duty bound
never to buy an album of pan-pipe music ever again?
Paul Balsom similarly finds himself under the cosh. The 42 year-old
Englishman, who's worked for the Swedish FA for the last eight years,
was branded a traitor in the London press for preparing a dossier on
England's team prior to the two teams' clash on Tuesday.
Which was a bit rich considering that England's management team
consists of more Swedes than your average farm field. What's the
Swedish for "traitor", then?
Such accusations are too easily bandied about and applied to sporting
banter. I've seen the rows upon rows of graves in the Terezin ghetto
in the Czech Republic, and I've stood at the moving eternal flame
memorial in Yerevan to the one million Armenians slaughtered by the
Turks during World War I. I've witnessed the eerie, evil silence that
envelops the death camp at Oswiecim - known in German as Auschwitz.
That's what you call racism.
On an admittedly far less bloodthirsty scale, I live in a state where
the laws declare categorically that I don't have the same rights as
those for whom English is their mother tongue.
The unilateral Act of Union of 1536, annexing this country to England
in the same manner as Germany's THE World Cup has certainly succeeded
in stirring up a few emotions. Take reader Bryant Merrick, who calls
himself "a proud Yorkshireman", and who in a letter dubs me a
"racist" because I choose not to support his country's football team.
Get real.
Didn't they knock us out of the World Cup, having booed our anthem
with venom before the teams met at Old Trafford? You surely don't
expect me to support them? I'd rather back Greenland. True, we booed
their anthem in Cardiff too, but that was surely knock for knock in
car insurers' parlance. Wasn't it?
But how ludicrous can you get? It's only a game, for crying out loud.
If through some aberration I was to support England in Sunday's clash
against Ecuador, would I then be accused of racist anti-Ecuadorian
bias? Even a hatred of the entire people of the Andes, duty bound
never to buy an album of pan-pipemusic ever again?
Paul Balsom similarly finds himself under the cosh. The 42-year-old
Englishman, who's worked for the Swedish FA for the last eight years,
was branded a traitor in the London press for preparing a dossier on
England's teamprior to the two teams' clash on Tuesday.
Which was a bit rich considering that England's management team
consists of more Swedes than your average farm field. What's the
Swedish for "traitor", then?
Such accusations are too easily bandied about and applied to sporting
banter. I've seen the rows upon rows of graves in the Terezin ghetto
in the Czech Republic, and I've stood at the moving eternal flame
memorial in Yerevan to the one million Armenians slaughtered by the
Turks during World War I. I've witnessed the eerie, evil silence that
envelops the death camp at Oswiecim - known in German as Auschwitz.
That's what you call racism.
On an admittedly far less bloodthirsty scale, I live in a state where
the laws declare categorically that I don't have the same rights as
those for whom English is their mother tongue.
The unilateral Act of Union of 1536, annexing this country to England
in the same manner as Germany's anschluss or annexation of Austria in
1938, was never repealed. It states that it aims "to extirpate (from
Wales) all and singular the sinister usages and customs differing
from the same (the Kings' realm)" and that "no person or persons that
use the Welsh speech or language shall have or enjoy any manor,
office or fees within the realm of England, Wales or the king's other
dominions."
That, again, is racism. Supporting others at football is a wheeze we
enjoy because our team isn't there - especially when there's a tenner
riding on the winner. Viva Argentina!