Chelsea still struggling to shed racism from the terraces - a black fan speaks out about the club he supports - Goal.com COMMENT By Ron Shillingford As I watched on TV and heard more than 1,000 travelling Chelsea supporters sing "Anton Ferdinand, you know what you are" just days after the QPR defender had formally complained to the FA that John Terry had racially abused him, I wish I could say I was shocked. The reality is, that as a black man and Chelsea supporter of more than four decades it all seemed depressingly familiar. As a 15-year-old I attended most of Chelseaâs home matches. The fans of Stamford Bridge's famous Shed knew me as âCrombie Ronâ in reference to the smart coat I wore in the winter. Crombies used to be uniform wear for self-respecting skinheads but for me, the thick, warm coat was mainly for practical purposes on the freezing terraces. 
 The Shed dedicated a song to me: âOh Crombie Ron is colourful, Oh Crombie Ron is colourful. Heâs a coon, heâs a wog, heâs a ******. Oh Crombie Ron is colourful.â It was the early 1970s and racism on the terraces was as normal as a half-time cup of tea. I remember one day, around this time, an hour or so before kick-off, someone near me had an epileptic fit. The police moved in. One massive police officer saw little me (I'm around Lionel Messi's height) amongst a sea of white faces and deliberately pushed me roughly aside insisting I got out the way although I was not obstructing him in any way. As I glared at the copper who was waiting to see if I said or did anything in retaliation, someone shouted: âForget the ****** and get the sick man out of here.â It sparked peals of laughter. Why did I put myself through this gauntlet of abuse each week? Chelsea was the club I chose to follow and once you choose a club you don't go back. Back when I was growing up you supported your local club plus a big one. So for me it was Brentford and in west London a choice of Fulham, QPR or Chelsea. In the late sixties Chelsea, were the most appealing with players like Osgood, Harris, Cooke and Bonetti. They played with a swagger and style that appealed to me. But something changed in me that day. I never went to a Chelsea match for years after, although my work as a sports journalist meant I did cover games elsewhere. As the seventies became the eighties, those kind of racist incidents were commonplace. Black players emerging in the game were getting abuse from racist fans and nothing was being done. The âKick Racism Out of Footballâ campaign started two decades too late. The National Front had a strong presence at football matches then and Chelsea had a high quota of skinheads. The notorious Chelsea Headhunters looked at the teamsheet and if there was a black player named for the Blues, they would boycott the game. In clashes with opposing teams such as Leeds and Millwall, the ugly hooligan underbelly that exists at Stamford Bridge was revealed as violent clashes broke out. But Chelsea today are a completely different proposition, no? Owned by a Russian billionaire, managed by a Portuguese coach and featuring stars from all over the globe including black heroes such as Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Florent Malouda. "If he is guilty then he should be severely punished â and is not fit to lead a major multicultural nation such as England." The Premier League boom and Roman Abramovich's vast investment means that Chelsea fans support the team and are located all over the globe from Los Angeles to Laos. The fact is that racism on the terraces of clubs like Chelsea hasn't been banished completely - it's just suppressed. Terry, Chelsea and England captain, faces a serious accusation of racism and from what I've seen on YouTube he has a case to answer. If he is guilty then he should be severely punished - and is not fit to lead a major multicultural football club and skipper a multicultural nation such as England. While I have appreciated the footballing effort he puts in for the club I support, it's not the first time, frankly, that his behaviour has brought shame onto the club. And for Terry to be accused of such a thing and for such a sizeable group of Chelsea fans to follow up with that blatantly racist chant at Genk last week says to me that the club - and English football - has not done enough. Considering at least a fifth of footballers in the professional game in England are black, it is also a sad reflection of the pervasive feeling that even though it is over 60 years since black people started arriving in Britain en masse, second, third and even fourth generations are still not wholly accepted by sections of white society. The last time I went to Stamford Bridge was a year ago with my 14-year-old daughter. It was a pleasant, sunny afternoon and Chelsea smacked Blackpool 4-0. The atmosphere had changed for the better. There was no overt racism but I still remembered vividly the nasty incidents from my youth. The cost rather than the atmosphere is far more prohibitive now. Following Chelsea from a distance is easier, cheaper and less hurtful it would seem. Ron Shillingford is a former sports editor of The Voice newspaper and also author of 'From Prison to the Premiership - the Jamie Lawrence story'. He has supported Chelsea since 1968. How do you stay up to date with football when on the move? With http://m.goal.com â your best source for mobile coverage of the beautiful game. iReader http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896...struggling-to-shed-racism-from-the-terraces-a
Good article NQ, although it IS only a minority of people IMO, the hooligan wannabes. Agree with the bloke about everything there, can't have been nice to experience, can only imagine how awful it was back then for a coloured lad on the terraces and do not blame him for boycotting games.
This phenomenon was not exclusive to Chelsea football club at that time with most clubs up and down the country reporting problems. IMO NQ seems to relish reporting anything to do with racism and Chelsea because it suits his purpose.
It is a good piece, brave or foolish to keep going, he was one or the other. No it was rife at QPR as well at the time, and the highlighted bit is unfair, posted just cos it's interesting, don't be so touchy!
There will always be a minority who will never accept people from different backgrounds, never mind different ethnicity. My old man would never take me to the match when I grew up in the 80's because of all the trouble and ****e that surrounded it...maybe a touch dramatic, but I guess he just wanted to distance himself from it and not put either of us in harms way. You will never guarantee that in a crowd of thousands there isn't a representative element of times gone by, but fortunately it isn't as prevalent as it was back then, it's just a shame that football is a catalyst for these arseholes to gather in public and en masse.
Interesting article, although racism was rife at pretty much every club those days, it was just one of those things. I'm glad things have changed now. I have never heard of a racist incident at any ground I've been too, I think these days most fans would condemn it and rightly so
Yes a good read and a good insight into what went on through the 60, 70 and 80's. However football stadiums are nothing like that anymore thank god and one alleged comment from John Terry doesn't mean we are back to them days again even remotely. But one thing I didn't agree on is that I still dont accept that the chants at Genk were meant to be racist. Offensive yes (they were calling him a ****), but not racist.
Another point, regardless of whether JT is guilty or not, one good thing to come out of this is that it further underlines how unacceptable racist behaviour is and perhaps a high profile case like this may focus the minds a little.
Impossible to prove it's racist. If they were singing 'you know you're a black ****', fair enough it would have been.
To be honest Northolt has made his point pretty well, and also acknowledged QPR's past in the same light...not really much to complain about really.
No. I am nasty to you for being a ratchety old git, because you are nasty to me for being a piss soaked alchy. But I love you really Comrade
