We need to up our game!

[LancyTony]

"Vale have a serious image problem" ? Really - amongst who ? Amongst a handful of people who fancy themselves as the intelligentsia of Burslem, maybe.

 

To put the racism in some context (don't confuse this with condoning it), a handful of kids chanted for maybe twenty seconds or less against Bradford and a couple of now-arrested muppets shouted abuse against Chesterfield.

 

Moeen Ali endured merciless taunting over several hours from Indian cricket fans when England played them last week at Edgbaston.

 

No calls for mass arrests, use of CCTV evidence or banning orders against those individuals.

 

Personally, I'd call that a bigger issue but what do I know?

Not much, apparently - racist chanting is racist chanting no matter how long the chanting lasts! It was up to the stewards and authorities at the cricket to clamp down on it - dereliction of duty does not lessen the offence. Incidents of "reverse racism" do not lessen the offence. "Intellegentsia"? Well done for spelling it correctly!

 

We DO have an image problem - ask the Preston fans up here, or the Wolves fans down there how they like going to Vale Park? We used to be known as a friendly, family club - this is being gradually eroded because of the "mentality" of some of those who've attached themselves to our club - like parasites - and the complacency of people like yourself, who see it as a bit of fun being over-exaggerated and hyped-up, and ignore the possibility of this causing damage to our reputation, and to our finances, if we get fined!

 

Sly digs such as "what a badly constructed comment", and "on a Friday night and you're writing that" do nothing but show your lack of understanding of a serious problem.

[sunny boslem]

What a sad website this really is

[Trentham Lakes Valiant]

What a sad website this really is

 

Bob on. Why are people obsessed with spurious 'League Tables' on stuff like this. They only take into account certain elements. Perhaps those Clubs with no arrests/incidents are just better at hiding it? Until about 5 years ago 15% of our City Council chamber were BNP. Of course there is Racism in Stoke on Trent. It's a problem with Society, not Football.

[JOHNNYAITCH]

It may be a joke to you, but when it comes to handing out a punishment for the recent racist stuff against Chesterfield, the fact that Vale have more arrests than anyone as a percentage of home gate (not quoted here but it doesn't take long to work out) may well influence the severity of the punishment. Glad you found it funny in your brain-dead little world though.

 

You should be careful when it comes to criticising people for posting what are intended as jokes..remember your far ar$sed fans comment and your resposne to criticism of it:

 

"It was a light-hearted comment"

 

" It was a joke"

 

people in glass houses and all that...

[Bea Smith]

21:41 on a Friday night and you're writing that....

 

And so.. ? Implication - I am boring because I post on a Friday night rather than being out somewhere ?

Of course, in your tiny mind, the fact that I work shifts would not even occur, or maybe that I went out later than that (I didn't on this occasion but often do). Pretty sad that the time of someone's post is used as a weapon against them, I wonder if anyone is laughing at you for being on the internet at the time on your own post.

And why should it matter anyway whether someone goes out, stays in, uses the internet or whatever (in your case, almost certainly whatever) anyway ?

[Bea Smith]

You should be careful when it comes to criticising people for posting what are intended as jokes..remember your far ar$sed fans comment and your resposne to criticism of it:

 

"It was a light-hearted comment"

 

" It was a joke"

 

people in glass houses and all that...

 

 

Some things are funny, some not. Racism, possible points docking, possible ground closure, big fines, financial trouble and quite a few other things fall into the latter category for me. Especially when it is only a tiny few who are likely the ruin things for the decent majority at Vale.

I agree with TLV that we cant pretend that racism doesn't exist - but what can be done is to make it clear to those who find it ok that they can think what they like (we cant stop that) but they definitely cannot say/chant/do what they like, and if they do they are in serious trouble.

[JOHNNYAITCH]

Some things are funny, some not.

 

Irrelevant to what you posted..you said about your own joke that it was the aim (that it was a light-hearted comment...a joke) that mattered, not the subject matter

 

As I've said before, don't punish the club for this..come down hard on the guilty 'fans'..lifetime bans from all stadiums, lock em up

[Little_Al]

Great post, Bea. I'm afraid there are some Vale fans with whom I'm ashamed to be associated. Fortunately they are a small minority, but they do damage the image of the club and lead to increased costs for policing which we can ill afford and put the club in jeopardy.

[smithie]

Not much, apparently - racist chanting is racist chanting no matter how long the chanting lasts! It was up to the stewards and authorities at the cricket to clamp down on it - dereliction of duty does not lessen the offence. Incidents of "reverse racism" do not lessen the offence. "Intellegentsia"? Well done for spelling it correctly!

 

We DO have an image problem - ask the Preston fans up here, or the Wolves fans down there how they like going to Vale Park? We used to be known as a friendly, family club - this is being gradually eroded because of the "mentality" of some of those who've attached themselves to our club - like parasites - and the complacency of people like yourself, who see it as a bit of fun being over-exaggerated and hyped-up, and ignore the possibility of this causing damage to our reputation, and to our finances, if we get fined!

 

Sly digs such as "what a badly constructed comment", and "on a Friday night and you're writing that" do nothing but show your lack of understanding of a serious problem.

 

Nope....my spelling was spot-on, but whatever gets you excited is fine by me. Arguing the toss about that sort of thing is pretty lame though.

 

There's no such thing as "reverse racism" that I know of - I take it you mean other versions of racism other than white people abusing black people ?

 

I've been going to the Vale for over 40 years as man and boy, and I've never known this "family-friendly" club you speak of.

 

We've always had a "lively" element, and without them the atmosphere would be non-existent....unless you want a MK Dons-type of club. No thanks - I'll take the Vale crowd, warts and all, over that sort of wetness any day.

 

Get rid of the racism, definitely but water down the rest of it and I'd call it a day.

 

Smithie (non-racist, non-hooligan, non-PC drip).

[Trentham Lakes Valiant]

Some things are funny, some not. Racism, possible points docking, possible ground closure, big fines, financial trouble and quite a few other things fall into the latter category for me. Especially when it is only a tiny few who are likely the ruin things for the decent majority at Vale.

I agree with TLV that we cant pretend that racism doesn't exist - but what can be done is to make it clear to those who find it ok that they can think what they like (we cant stop that) but they definitely cannot say/chant/do what they like, and if they do they are in serious trouble.

 

Racists like to hide in big groups. Unfortunately, Football Clubs unwittingly give them the opportunity. I'm not saying that Clubs should do nothing, rather that Clubs should not be held responsible for Society's problems. If there was no Football, there'd still be Racism. How long do you thing it would take for some Right-Wing nutjob to argue successfully that a Banning Order infringes his Civil Liberties and Right to Free Speech?

[JOHNNYAITCH]

We used to be known as a friendly, family club.

 

When was that then? We've always had our share of kn0b$ and i can remember 40 years ago my Dad being reluctant to take me cos there was always trouble the the Vale. Yes the vast majority of fasn have always been friendly and didn't cause any trouble but that's true now.

 

Quite rightly there is more publicity now for incidents such as this to help stop it but they have always happened