With the fall-out of the John Terry saga threatening a major setback for the game I thought I'd share with you a true story from 1980 which, I hope, will tell you how far we've progressed since then. At that time I was working as a milkman operating from the Express Dairy in Rosendale Road, Herne Hill. My round was the affluent Poet's Roads alongside Brockwell Park and Railton & Atlantic Roads in Brixton, also known locally as the 'Front Line', a bigger contrast would be hard to imagine. In late 1980 a new manager took over from a brilliant young manager who was promoted from our depot. To say this new manager was useless and over-promoted would be serious understatement. His idea of solving a problem would be to create two or three other problems. If questioned on a decision the response was always the same, "I'm the manager and I'm paid to make decisions, if you don't like it go and work for Unigate!" Suffice to say, quite a few did. This background information will colour this story as it unfolds. One evening I stopped off at the Prince Regent, a pub that was on my round, for a game of pool or two. Whilst at the bar I saw across in the saloon bar a familiar figure, my manager, suited and booted with two others dressed similarly. They got their drinks and departed upstairs to the functions room. Intrigued, I asked the barman what was going on upstairs, "That lot are the local FA, they meet here every month, they do fines and suspensions and the like" was the reply. I thought bloody hell, I'd hate to be up in front of that idiot. About an hour later I saw a face I hadn't seen since I was at school, a young black guy called Donald Danvers. You really couldn't meet a nicer more friendly bloke. He was big, about 6 foot 3 and powerfully built. After exchanging our 'How are you's?' he said he had to go upstairs but would catch me on the way out. He was up there for about 20 minutes and when he came down he was clearly seriously upset. The bottom line of this was that he had been playing centre-forward for a local Sunday League team, in this particular match he'd been kicked from pillar to post by all the opposing defenders as well as being called every demeaning name you could think of and then a few. The most demeaning ones being variations of 'Kunte Kinte' as it was not too long after 'Roots' had been on TV. In the last minute of the game, despite all the fouls, none of the opposition had been booked and his team had a corner. As the ball came over Donald moved in to head it and was blatantly body-checked by his marker who also grabbed his shirt, Donald finally lost it and laid his marker out with one punch. Following the ensuing melee he was sent off hence his disciplinary appearance. None of the opponents who laid into him and others of his team were even booked. Having explained all this at the hearing including all the racist insults he'd had to put up with, Ron, my manager, who was chairing the panel said to him, "You should be used to all that, it's part of the game, if you can't take it don't play". He was fined £50 (My takehome at that time was about £75 a week) and banned for 168 days (the rest of the season). On the way out Donald said to me "That's that then, I won't pay and I won't play anymore it's just not worth it". I don't know whether he did keep his word but it struck me then just how flawed our game was when useless time-servers such as my manager were running our game. My contacts that coach at Dulwich Hamlet say many of the hierarchy in the FA are pensioners who won't relinquish their perks till they die and although racism is now not tolerated the skewed system is loaded against amateur players who often get massive bans in relation to the pros. The game has moved on with racism despite what happened last week and for that we should be thankful...
That's shocking injustice and a complete attempt to eliminate someone from the game. Such a disproportionate fine and suspension too. We may not be there yet but at least progress has been made (albeit abated a bit by events last week). Oh and your old boss sounds like a power crazed tosspot.
Yeah, I left the following year and a couple of years later they closed the depot. I always wondered what became of him...
I think this is not a rare occurance in regards to racism. I know the bans are totally different to the leagues to the amateur circuit due a young lad who was banned for 8 months for headbutting an opposition after he had stamped on his brothers head on purpose. The only reason he nutted him was the oppo players had him by his arms and the ref had waved play on as he had not seen the incident or the player laying on the floor covered in claret. So when Barton was banned for the same thing he had a laugh about it and made just as much contact with the oppo as Barton did. The local FA have been in position since I was a teenager and they are dinosaurs who just read verse and scripture from the rule book with no room for manoeuvre.
thats one of the best and as a reflection of football at that time the truest because on sunday mornings down at my local rek playing ground thats the kind of lanuage that was used by each team and the ref never did a thing so that just about sums things up
In the 80s I was once not allowed into the QPR end by the police who suspected I was Chelsea 'in disguise'. I end up standing on the old shed end. I see a teenage black chelsea fan - scarf on etc - get a cup of coffee poured on his head and cigarettes stubbed out by the chelsea fans around him. He cries but stands there until half time. He does not come back after half time. The National Front used to sell their papers all around the Chelsea ground and would have posters up on lampposts around the ground. I have never seen anything similar or the NF or BNP at QPR back then or ever.
I do as well, Sooper. I was born in Herne Hill, a place called Dorchester Court. We moved when I was four, but I remember a wonderful park with a pond and swans on. That's my abiding memory, oh, and getting lost in Brixton market had having someone lift me above their head so my mum could find me
