US Player hit by racist taunts abroad (US soccer player in Norway)

Soccernet ^ | Monday, May 10, 2004

[Michael2001]

OSLO, Norway -- An American soccer player in Norway was subjected to racial taunts and spit on by fans during a game. Robbie Russel, who is black and was born in Amherst, Mass., plays for the Norwegian club Sogndal.

"I've experienced racism, but never anything like this," the 24-year-old player told the state radio network NRK.

He said four or five Brann fans on Sunday grabbed his jersey through the fence about 27 minutes into the game.

"A woman spit in my face," he said. "The entire time a group of supporters were yelling racist things at me."

Russel was not injured and declined to file a police complaint, choosing to let soccer organizations deal with the matter.

There was an outpouring of support for Russel and condemnation of his attackers in the national news media Monday.

The Bergen-based Brann club promised to identify the culprits using TV footage and threatened to permanently ban them from Brann events.

Russel supported such a move, saying "nothing entitles them to do that sort of thing to you."

"We condemn all forms of racism in Norwegian soccer," said Karen Espelund, secretary-general of the Norwegian Soccer Federation. "Such behavior goes against everything we stand for."

Russel joined Sogndal in May 2001, and the club beat Brann 3-1 for its first elite division victory of the season.

[Michael2001]

Racist chants are quite common in European sports. On the other hand, something like this would never happen in the US.

Think about that the next time some European says that the US is a racist nation.

[Michael2001]

Ping

[dfwgator]

Lord knows the US isn't perfect, but it is the least racist country on Earth.

[theDentist]

How can this be? I thought only American Right Wingers were racist. Do we have that many people watching soccer over there?

[mtbopfuyn]

This isn't the first sneer at the US from Scandinavia in the past few weeks. I always had such high respect for them, and am very surprised at this.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

I don't want to stereotype a particular group of people, but soccer fans seem to be the most boorish bunch of lunkheads on God's green Earth.

I know we have plenty of morons attending hockey games in the U.S. (Rangers fans immediately spring to mind) and some football fans that act like imbeciles-I'm thinking of Philadelphia at the moment-but I don't believe that even the most atrocious sports fans in America approach the high-water mark of despicable behavior set by European soccer fans.

"Scottish Soccer Hooligans" was a pretty funny skit on SNL, but these people really are retards.

[jwalburg]

Norway. Wasn't this where, after seeing the Passion, a neonazi confessed to bombing an anarchist's headquarters or the other way around? Sounds like a crazy place there.

[Righty1]

The french disease seems to be spreading in euro-trash land.

[The KG9 Kid]

They oughtta send these epithet hurlers to an American NBA game sometime to see how amusing they are.

I'm thinking the LA Staples Center.

[Eurotwit]

Yes,

But, now he has apparently retracted his confession.

Perhaps, the police should buy him tickets for a second showing.

[Eurotwit]

I have seen the clip several times. Disgusting.

Being Norwegian I have heard several disturbing stories about Brann Bergen fans.

There are quite a few American soccer players plying their trade in the Norwegian soccer league at the moment. Brian West in FFK is a favourite of mine. Lightening speed.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Right on. These people are only tough when they're surrounded by other, like-minded airheads. If you've never seen a group of English soccer hooligans, then you've never witnessed how group-think can lead to spontaneous insanity.

[aculeus]

Racist chants are quite common in European sports. On the other hand, something like this would never happen in the US.

Think about that the next time some European says that the US is a racist nation. European soccer crowds throw bananas on the field when a black player enters the game. (Explanation for us Americans: gorillas eat bananas and blacks are semi-gorillas).

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Sorry, but who's Brann Bergen? The only soccer player I'm familiar with is Brian Beckham and the only thing I really know about him is that he's basically a pretty-boy with no tangible skills when it comes time to playing an actual soccer game; or so I've heard.

[Eurotwit]

Robbie Russel

[aculeus]

Correcting my last:

Racist chants are quite common in European sports. On the other hand, something like this would never happen in the US.

Think about that the next time some European says that the US is a racist nation.

European soccer crowds throw bananas on the field when a black player enters the game. (Explanation for us Americans: gorillas eat bananas and blacks are semi-gorillas).

Imagine what would happen to a white European who tried that at an NFL or NBA game.

[Colonel_Flagg]

The only soccer player I'm familiar with is Brian Beckham and the only thing I really know about him is that he's basically a pretty-boy with no tangible skills when it comes time to playing an actual soccer game; or so I've heard.

It's David Beckham. He is one of the best free-kick specialists in the world and in a game where scoring actually means something, that counts for a lot.

[Eurotwit]

Robbie Russel

[Eurotwit]

Brann Bergen is the soccer team who played against Russel's team. There was a story a while back when some fans of theirs attacked a mother and her little kid who where supporting the other team.

Beckham is a good player. And the posterboy for Metrosexuals(tm) :-)

[Eurotwit]

I don't think this was a sneer at the US.

[Betis70]

Becks is pretty good, but the Galacticos (aka Real Madrid) really haven't measured up this season, have they? I suspect they will have a bit of a shake-up.

But then again ManU haven't measured up either since he left, though I suspect Rio's suspension has more to do with that.
GO GUNNERS!
Musho Betis!

:)

[monocle]

A number of years ago my wife's cousin visited us on his way to Penn State to work on his masters in chemical engineering. During this visit he had very harsh words for the US and its racial situation. On his way home a year later he stopped again and he sounded like a founder of the KKK.

Last summer my wife's niece stayed with us and was highly critical of the US regarding race and she recounted how all of her teachers never failed to bring up racism. Upon gentle questioning it was quite clear she had no notion of racism and was only armed with slogans.

[Betis70]

Yeah sometimes it just doesn't matter where you are from. Black French or Italian players get pelted with coins in Italy all the time.

[babaloo999]

Also, we should remember we're talking about soccer fans.

[Polybius]

An American soccer player in Norway was subjected to racial taunts......

Norwegian Jokes : Never leave for Norway without them.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Thanks. I kinda' figured that the guy wasn't exactly Lee Marvin when I heard that he uses cosmetics.

What about all these games that take place in Latin American countries? I remember hearing about some game in S. America where a ref. decided to shoot a player who went after him over a call he made.

I know about the "Soccer War" that occurred between Honduras and El Salvador back in the late 60s, which was really caused by underlying diplomatic/political issues. I wonder if anything comparable to that happened in another country over soccer.

[Clemenza]

Lord knows the US isn't perfect, but it is the least racist country on Earth.

I would say we are a close third behind Brazil and the Phillipines. Even that is arguable as 1. Despite the lack of outward racism and intermarriage among the "lower sorts," you will never find a black or mulatto in charge of a major Brazillian company or in senior management and 2. Although Filipinos are highly open to those of all races, they still have a very (racially) homogeneous nation.

[Eurotwit]

That Real Madrid has screwed up is the saving grace for me in this years season ;-)

Barca next year :-)

[Savage Beast]

I must say that I am very much surprised. I knew the Norwegians had problems--who doesn't?--but I didn't know things were this bad there.

Surely it was just the bunch of low-life slobs that occurs in any population.

[Clemenza]

some football fans that act like imbeciles-I'm thinking of Philadelphia at the moment

Eagles and Phillies fans are the nastiest bunch of American Splendor rejects you will find anywhere. Chicago White Sox fans can be the same way when intoxicated. Yankees fans are just a bunch of overbearing snobs, but I have NEVER seen behavior such as described in this article at any American sporting event.

[Conservomax]

He looks like he could rip their puny We only get 6 months of sunlight heads off.

[Eurotwit]

I don't really know.

However, I do remember how the Colombian player who scored an own goal agaisnt the US in the World Cup 94 was shot dead when he came back to Colombia. His own goal led to a US vicory in that game, and the elimination of Colombia.

I think some drug barons lost big on that game.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

I always saw Brazil as a remarkably socially harmonious nation, especially when you consider the endemic poverty and the fact that it was the destination for probably more slave ships then any other place in the Western Hemisphere.

That's why I can't understand the decison of Da Silva's government to institute a programme of noxious, American-style racial quotas. What's to be gained from further dividing people? I just don't understand it.

[Clemenza]

European soccer crowds throw bananas on the field when a black player enters the game.

This happened a few years ago when Milan played Naples. The Napolitani also treated the player (who's name eludes me) with monkey noises.

[Ciexyz]

Unbelievable.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Yeah, I remember reading about Escobar-the dude with the really wild hair-getting shot by some cocaine overlords because of his screw-up that day.

[Eurotwit]

I think you should not exaggerate the extend of this.

I am a huge soccer fan (and Norwegian), so I might be biased, but it is some drunk slobs who get to carried away during a sporting events.

I remember attending a football game at the University of Colorado where the chearleaders of the opposition team was pelted with lumps of ice. One of them took a big hit to the head and went down. Stupid group behaviour mixed with alcohol, tend to get ugly from time to time.

[aculeus]

Brazil's President seems to have another problemo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/09/international/americas/09lula.html

[The Scourge of Yazid]

Yeah, I'm not really a big fan of Yankee fans, but even the "Bleacher Creatures" don't behave as obnoxiously as some soccer fans. The Eagles fans are by far the worst though; I have no idea what compells them to act like jerks whenever they enter a football stadium.

[Conservomax]

I would have to say that those (North Atlantic) countries are arguably the most racist countries on earth (That is the PC definition of white on anything brown racism).

There has been a new widespread adoption of racist feelings in those places too, due to the countries' widespread lowering of immagation hurdles.

Violent crime and unemployment have been on teh rise, due to these policies and a lot of them are pissed, that is part of the reason there has been a resurgence in right-wing political thinking in those places (by right-wing I mean Nationalist, AntiAmerican, Anti-Immigration, AntiEU, essentially Anti-Anything that isn't based in the white history of the given country). Good old Europe.

[Betis70]

The 'really wild hair' guy is Carlos Valderamma. He is still alive (and played in the US for MLS for quite a while).

The guy who got whacked because of the own goal is someone else. Both guys played for Colombia though.

A bit of searching turned up this:

"Playing for Colombia in the 1994 World Cup, Andres Escobar inadvertently scored a goal into his own net in a 2–1 loss to the U.S. Ridiculed endlessly across his homeland, one night Escobar [tragically] confronted a group of his deriders. As he got into his car to drive away, one of them pulled out a gun and emptied six shots into him, reportedly punctuating each shot by shouting, 'Goal!'"

http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=2993

[Betis70]

Unless Escobar had wild hair too.

Here is Valderrama:

http://www.lacancha.com/Carlos_Valderrama.html

[Sam Cree]

""We condemn all forms of racism in Norwegian soccer," said Karen Espelund, secretary-general of the Norwegian Soccer Federation."

That's mighty white of her!

[Eurotwit]

I think Escobar had a very conservative short hair cut.

[jackbill]

soccer fans seem to be the most boorish bunch of lunkheads on God's green Earth

That's because their game is so dull, they have to find something more exciting to do.

[Tommyjo]

"Brian Beckham and the only thing I really know about him is that he's basically a pretty-boy with no tangible skills when it comes time to playing an actual soccer game"

That would be David Beckham. Have you ever witnessed him bending a ball into the back of a net? The boy has skills and is captain of the national squad.

[Clemenza]

You are correct. I would hate to see American-style racial tensions introduced on, say, your typical Sao Paolo construction site due to "quotas."

Remember that despite being a slave trading nation, Brazillians viewed their slaves and their colonial suspects as "children" of the "family." This was true in both a figurative and literal sense. Portuguese men who had children by their slave mistresses were pressured to acknowledge their children and, at the least, be present at the baptism. This is a contrast to the situation in the English colonies, where "ethnic communities"/subjects were generally segregated (if not by law, than by cultural practice). This had the positive aspects of allowing each group to develop their own culture (and preserve some of their ancestral culture), but resulted in more racial tension than in the Portuguese colonies. The French and the Spanish were somewhere in between the English and the Portuguese in terms of their approach to the races they "managed" in the colonies.

[jwalburg]

lol

[1rudeboy]

They oughtta send these epithet hurlers to an American NBA game sometime to see how amusing they are.

Good grief. How many NBA fans do you wish to see in the hospital?

[bigj00]

When the world cup was in the US and USA vs mexico was in LA the mexican fans, most of who live hear now, threw beer cups of piss on the American team.

Think about that next time you celebrate the 5th of may.