If Serbia get banned, then if they've been in the UK long enough maybe have Vidic/Kolarov/Ivanovic play for us?
"Manchester City were fined £24,740 by Uefa for returning to the field less than a minute late against Porto in Match - a fine 50% greater than the one issued to Porto over the racial abuse of Mario Balotelli " "A match between England and Serbia in the 2007 Under-21 European Championship in the Netherlands saw England defender Nedum Onuoha racially abused. Serbia were fined £16,000 by Uefa " I expect Uefa/Fifa to do barely anything about this as they are a disgrace.
Welcome to Serbia: Where the young mother working in the shop opposite my house earns £100 a month and her husband can’t find a job. Where my friend got a job in a printing firm and worked 4 months without getting paid so left. Where the graduate Engineer got a job grave digging because at least he would be paid. Where the accident and emergency Doctor doesn’t earn enough to buy a car. Where unemployment is about 30%. Where 50% of the economy is on the black market. Where the whole population is judged by bad politicians and football hooligans. Is England only known for the Falklands war and Jimmy Savile? So how did this happen? What happened at the end of the Balkan War? NATO bombed the crap out of the place (where all the good honest citizens cowered in their flats wondering if one stray bomb aimed at the bridge would hit them instead) and imposed economic sanctions. When the war ended what was left? A country with no economy, no industry no jobs. Cue the rise of the Mafia and gangs and the black market. Of course under those conditions how does a country re-build? It’s trying now by raising the taxes on the few people with jobs earning $100 per month. The EU doesn’t want Serbia because of its’ poor economy, Mafia and gangs and because it won’t recognise Kosovo as an independent country. (Kosovo is/was the southern part of Serbia north of Albania. When the land and houses were bought by Albanians it declared independence and the EU said yep ok fair enough the majority is Albanian. Let’s say all the houses in Kent are bought by the Chinese and it declares independence as the Chinese Republic of Kent – anyone be upset?) OK so still lots of football gangs and I’m certainly not defending them but I know why - I can’t remember anyone trying to ban England in the 1970s with the same gangs and the same racist idiots? If you want countries to improve you don’t exclude them and beat them into the ground you include them and help re-build them. Just learn a bit before “nuke the Serbs” passes your lips again. John (born Southampton General 1960)
It's good to hear from someone who actually knows what it's like in Serbia. The only country in that region I've visited is Croatia and I didn't notice any problems there, but then again it is probably the most progressive/liberal part of former Yugoslavia. I've done some rooting around the internet for more opinions of people from that general area and have found some interesting points. This is a quote from a Bosnian: This is from a Serbian: Sounds like there might be a little bit of a problem. It's obviously not right to make a sweeping generalisation of all Serbs (that's exactly the problem we're trying to deal with), but there does seem to be more of a problem of racism in Serbia than in most other European countries.
You may live in Serbia but if you don't mind me saying, that's a very Serb-centric view of Kosovo. Kosovo has been demographically Albanian since the Ottoman Empire, and considering Serbia itself has only existed as an independent state since 2006 it's a bit simplistic (at best) to state flatly that Kosovo is simply "a part of Serbia". That's undoubtedly true.
and the aborigines and Irish and eskimos and Welsh and Scottish and Africans and everyone else who had their countries nicked
Both the Serbia FA and English FA have been charged. Serbian FA charged with alleged racist chanting by fans and both associations over the behaviour of players at the end of the game.
It's good to have some balance in any debate, and it's a shame that international football is so politicized, although it would be naive to expect anything else. There are however conditions for inclusiveness and therefore possible help with re-building, and the statement of the Serbian FA not only beggars belief but, in my view, unfortunately reflects a 'Serbian Establishment View' that in the face of all reasonable evidence is a travesty. A straight forward apology would have led to more chance of a climate in which 'inclusiveness and re-building' might thrive. International Sport is an opportunity for diplomacy to develop at a political with a small 'p' level. In this case it is a opportunity missed by the Serbian FA.
Well yes they did before they got used to people of different colours living amongst them - in Novi Sad where I live there are probably 3 black people and 10 Englishmen (including me) in a town of 400,000
Fair enough. Racism was rife in England in the 1970s, and black players regularly got dogs abuse. BUT the authorities didn't ignore it, or deny there was a problem, they confronted it, and introduced laws and sanctions to deal with overt displays of racial hatred. As a result, the use of racist language is no longer socially acceptable in England (or Scotland or Wales). Are the Serbian authorities, sporting and political, likely to take a similar line?
Hi SiS. Short question which is do you think that football in Serbia is the popular working man's game that it is over here, or is it largely dominated by hooligans, racist groups and other bad guys? Big problem from UEFA's point of view once they pick the bones out of it all is that they can fine the Serbian FA anything they like, but it's not going to make any difference to the people in the stands throwing flares and coins. Those people need to get out of the game, and to do that the Serbs are going to have to spend money on things like policing/stewarding and make sure that offenders are punished. But when you are in a society where those kind of things are more widespread, it's not going to be easy.
