Racism In Football - Is There A Problem?

[theacademic]

I have just started a research project looking at the perspectives of fans on the recent scandals involving racism in football. The questionnaire has just gone live at http://www.topfan.co.uk and as you know is very current with incidents both on and off the pitch. Are the players to blame for the recent upsurge or has it never really been eradicated from the British game? You might even think that football has not got a problem. Have your say in my two-minute survey and thanks in advance for your time.

[Droy was my hero]

I have just started a research project looking at the perspectives of fans on the recent scandals involving racism in football. The questionnaire has just gone live at http://www.topfan.co.uk and as you know is very current with incidents both on and off the pitch. Are the players to blame for the recent upsurge or has it never really been eradicated from the British game? You might even think that football has not got a problem. Have your say in my two-minute survey and thanks in advance for your time.

What upsurge? Surely you mean an upsurge in reporting. 2 reports in half a season is no indication that there is any increase in racist incidents.

Perhaps it is like rape reporting. The less there is, the more gets reported.

And a pretty useless survey if you want to draw any conclusions from it.

Exhibit A

4) Racism has been present in British football for years, if not decades. It's been ignored only because black players have not reported it. So it only appears to have surfaced recently.

Agree Disagree

Well that is 3 different statements all to be disagreed or agreed with in a single click. You could agree with anyone of them and still click disagree. Or the reverse.

I regularly get told off here for slagging off the polls put up on our site. But I don't think you have sat down with a few test cases and talked through how people would answer the questions and whether you can draw any conclusions from raw agree/disagree data.

If the questions aren't straightforward to answer and the data can't be used to draw conclusions, then I think to put this poll request up on our forum is showing disrespect.

Having said that - this poll isn't nearly as bad as some of the stuff I have seen posted on this site (are the mods filtering them?). And racism is a hell of a tough subject to tackle - because there are so many differing opinions about what is acceptable. After all, the one thing we all agree about is that "none of us are racists."

[Sciatika]

I don't particularly like filling in surveys unless I know a little more about the intentions of the author. For instance, I'd hate to be in a situation where my responses to a survey were used to justify the activities of a political party. So, could you be more explicit.

Which formal institutions are sponsoring your research?

Who is helping you construct your survey questions (to me, it looks like you need help)?

What is your testing strategy for your survey?

How are you intending to use the results of this survey?

Where are you going to publish your results?

Are you planning to publish the raw data for your survey?

[thevelourfog]

Sorry, really struggled with your poll but only because I really struggle with how this subject is approached.

There isn't a racism 'problem' in football- there's a racism problem among white, working/middle class men.

[Sciatika]

I bought some "Black Farmer" sausages today. I buy this brand of sausages because it is one of the few commercially available that have natural skins (I.e. skins made out of pig's intestine) that are sold in my local supermarket. However, when you think about it, what is the brand name trying to say? Is it saying there is something beneficial about sausages produced by a black farmer as opposed to a white one? I wouldn't feel particularly offended by a particular black person (assuming it is a black person) making the claim that their sausages are superior to those produced by some white people. I might even agree because of the sausage skin issue. A black person making the claim that sausages produced by black people are innnately superior to sausages produced by white because of the colour of the famer's skin I would see as being a bit foolish but, again, I would not be offended by it. But then again, I'm not a white farmer.

[r.bartlett]

Sorry, really struggled with your poll but only because I really struggle with how this subject is approached.

There isn't a racism 'problem' in football- there's a racism problem among white, working/middle class men.

Racism is universal. To say it''s a white problem is inherently racist in itself..

[r.bartlett]

I bought some "Black Farmer" sausages today. I buy this brand of sausages because it is one of the few commercially available that have natural skins (I.e. skins made out of pig's intestine) that are sold in my local supermarket. However, when you think about it, what is the brand name trying to say? Is it saying there is something beneficial about sausages produced by a black farmer as opposed to a white one? I wouldn't feel particularly offended by a particular black person (assuming it is a black person) making the claim that their sausages are superior to those produced by some white people. I might even agree because of the sausage skin issue. A black person making the claim that sausages produced by black people are innnately superior to sausages produced by white because of the colour of the famer's skin I would see as being a bit foolish but, again, I would not be offended by it. But then again, I'm not a white farmer.

To go down this route is to suggest he is racist. If his colour made him better rather than his skill as a farmer then that can only be deemed as a racist remark

Best way to test "White farmer sausages - better than a black farmer"

How does that sound?

Racism isn't a white on black issue.

[Sciatika]

To go down this route is to suggest he is racist. If his colour made him better rather than his skill as a farmer then that can only be deemed as a racist remark

Best way to test "White farmer sausages - better than a black farmer"

How does that sound?

Racism isn't a white on black issue.

To me it's an unnecessary test. The man is just trying to sell some sausages. Is anyone actually offended by it?

[r.bartlett]

To me it's an unnecessary test. The man is just trying to sell some sausages. Is anyone actually offended by it?

If he is suggesting that black is better than white you should be offended, otherwise you are being racist or condoning racism. If White farmer sound suspect then Black farmer is equally so. I hate racism but I equally hate white apologists..

[Sciatika]

Sorry, but I can't pretend to be offended just to suit other people. I simply raised the example to show how foolish some of this stuff is. I can't really believe you are accusing me of being a racist on the basis of it. Come to think of it, I find that a bit sad.