Not much flak coming Sagbo's way on this one. Perhaps if he'd tweeted that Paolo di Canio is a legend, it might have aroused more interest?
There is from me. He's an idiot, a complete and utter idiot like his friend Anelka. If Sagbo feels tempted to mimic him out of some misplaced idea of loyalty then I hope our club takes action, as well as the FA. There's no place for it in our game.
Without doubt many of them are as thick as a whale sandwich, but that doesn't excuse it. A friend who is a local referee and officiates up to conference level told me he saw a couple of under 15 players copying the gesture because they thought it was 'cool'. Very sad.
Just as well they have no idea what it might mean then and were not corrupted. They wouldn't have copied had it not been sensationalised by the hypocritical "Who us?" media. Are they kissing their wrists yet?
I think that Jewish bloke is talking bollocks. Di Canio and the club received plenty of **** when he joined Sunderland over his facist beliefs, and the way things were reported in his time there it was almost like he'd changed his name to Facist Manager Paolo di Canio. Anelka is up on an FA charge the same way other people (Terry and Suarez) have been. The only reason it's not in the press so much is because it's a lot easier to print what they said than it is to explain what Anelka did to a nation of people who haven't got a clue what it means, especially when the people doing the reporting don't even know what exactly it means.
Sightly OT, but apparently Zoopla are paying WBA £3m a year. If we stay up that's the sort deal we need to looking at.
For those of you who are not aware: Firstly, there is audio evidence of Dieudonné recorded in France as saying of a Jewish TV presenter "Oh Patrick Cohen, shame about those gas chambers" Secondly his live show which has been banned is called "The Wall". During the show, a line of men are portrayed as urinating against a wall. Dieudonné explained that the wall represents the Western Wall (often referred to as the Wailing wall), the only surviving side of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Satire or racism? Thirdly, fans of his shows have taken in pineapples and thrown them on stage, pineapple in French is "ananas", the Hebrew word for Holocaust is "Shoananas", make of that what you will. Finally, people mostly of North African descent have been photographed outside synagogues and repeating the "Quenelle" gesture, which has been interpreted here as an 'underground' sign of Holocaust denial. I think these points help to sum up what Dieudonné's views are. Whether Anelka and co are aware of this, agree with his views or merely have used the gesture as an 'anti-establishment' symbol, I don't know.
You don't think it's important to most people in this country? Remind me what this country stands for. Remind me how many people died in the Second World War standing against fascism/anti semitism etc. Why don't you go and tell the WW2 veterans it's not important and that they fought and their friends and family died for something that isn't really important. Engage brain before you drool your bullshit all over the place.
Cat amongst the pigeons time: French Jewish leader (and vice President of the World Jewish Congress) defends Anelka, says he wasn't being racist, and thinks the potential punishment is too harsh. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25837998 Further to my earlier point about this not being hidden away as it's anti-semitic, the BBC are doing a good job of hiding the strength of the actual defence by saying it's Anelka defending the gesture in the headline rather than the person who actually is.
French political culture is - and since the late 18th century has been - more radical and polarised than our own. Their society is more divided in general, and their political discourse is a lot more...well, French (a bit irrational and reactionary). This Dieudonne chap seems to be all over the place with his politics - started out as an anti-racist left wing activist, then started cosying up with Le Pen and the far right. His views are definitely anti-Establishment, insofar as he opposes "globalisation" and the Israeli settler movement, but that's where any reasonable socialist/leftist should stop agreeing with him. He's a bit of a ****, basically. Having said that, it's easy to mix up anti-Zionism with antisemitism. But it is possible to have one without the other, as many non-Israeli Jews oppose the settler policy (as do many Israeli Jews). It's just a shame that the only people who seem to get a voice in the media are incendiary ****wits on both side of the political debate (fancy that). I don't think Anelka should be punished - I think we should have a proper debate about politics in football - like this forum, you either keep it out entirely or allow it. Even the name change has political overtones - it's essentially an old fashioned debate between the factory owner (Allam) and the workers (supporters).
Actually, Britain didn't go to war with Germany because they were fascists - quite a few of the Prime Ministers in the 1930s and 1940s expressed support for fascists (particularly Churchill with Mussolini) and remained neutral in the Spanish Civil War - primarily because they saw Communism as a greater threat to British interests. We went to war with Germany because they invaded Poland (with which we had a treaty) and for reasons of imperial balance of power. The whole fighting the evils of fascism / antisemitism mantra was just war-time propaganda once the Nazis had overrun France from 1940 onwards. Most vets probably would say they fought the Nazis to stop them dropping bombs on their houses or for King and Country in general, I reckon.
Agreed. Brown Hat must be perplexed that the British Legion and the various ex-servicemen's organisation are not rioting in the streets after Anelka's silly little routine.