The Y-word is as racist as the N-word but Cameron labels it as the A-word- Acceptable

WARNING: This blog may contain some words that offends readers.

This week the Prime Minister took time out to wade in on the continued debate over the use of the word Yid, from Tottenham Hotspur fans and opposition fans that may still use the racist term.

The word Yid originates from a time when racism was accepted, a time when black people were used as slaves and the N word was used at its most frequent. Time has changed many things but mostly, and rightly so it has changed the attitude towards racism. No longer is it acceptable to use any racist language towards anyone.....or is it?

Tottenham adopted the term Yid Army as a defence mechanism after opposition fans regularly mocked the club for it's Jewish following. Around 5% of all Tottenham fans today have Jewish roots, but yet the clubs fans see themselves as the Yid Army.

In the past week the debate has become quite heated after the Football Association commented any fans using the racist term, whether a Tottenham fan or not should be prosecuted, this was after the continued battle from Jewish, Chelsea fan David Baddiel who continues to fight for the Y-word to be banned.

The debate however has taken an unusual twist this week after David Cameron, yes the Prime Minister of England, declared that the use of the word from Tottenham fans was acceptable, as they were not 'motivated by hate'.

So this opens a scenario where the FA are fighting for the banning of the word, while the Prime Minister says it's ok. So who is going to win this battle that no one really wants to have?

The answer? Nobody. The lobbying for the banning of the word is frankly pointless as Tottenham fans class themselves as the Yid Army and that will never change, but what about the Jewish section of the Tottenham fans that find the term offensive? Where do they stand in this debate? Is the Tottenham fans chanting the word offensive to them, and is it 'motivated by hate'

The fact Cameron even got involved is a baffling one, the fact he said what he said, was even more strange. As a politician, we would have expected him to sit on the fence and let others deal with it. He spoke openly about the term and even went as far as almost giving Tottenham fans the green light to continue using it. So debate over? Again, maybe not.

With black friends myself, I ask the question if I was to walk up to one and use the N word, would it be welcomed by them, or would they view it as 'motivated by hate'? Of course this scenario wouldn't happen amongst my group of friends but up and down the country we regularly hear stories of racism in society.

We don't have to stray too far from the football field to find cases of racism either, both John Terry and Luis Suarez were recently handed bans after being found guilty, yet no legal prosecution. Both cases were condemned by football fans up and down the country, even by some that still use the racist Y-word to either describe themselves, or another person.

Rapper Jay Z recently released a new song in the charts with the N word featured several times, some listeners, white and black will take offence to that, however it appears to be fine as it is not 'motivated by hate', yet some people that are offended by the word, myself included are just left to deal with it as it apparently is acceptable in the context of his song.

My final point is that a racist term is a racist term and that nobody can say otherwise. What can be argued is the motivation behind the use of the word. Tottenham fans don't use the word to abuse others, in fact they use it to endear themselves. Does it make it right? Unfortunately not in my view.

What may offend you, may not offend others, that is the world we live in today, however, we would all agree there is no room for racism in society, let alone football. As mentioned previously, if a group of people branded themselves with the N word, it certainly wouldn't be accepted, and even more certainly, David Cameron would not be defending them in his weekly parliament speech.

Do you think the word Yid is still a racist term? Are the FA right to try and force the banning of the word, or is Cameron right, should Tottenham fans be allowed to continue to use the word?

Let us know your thoughts.

Carroll exit could be the only way forward for Liverpool

Five goals in 28 appearances simply isn’t good enough for any striker, especially when they cost £35 million. So is it time Liverpool cut their losses and sell Andy Carroll in the summer?

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish continues to throw his full support behind the former Newcastle striker, however, there is no doubt that the Scotsman is becoming fed up with his striker, not that Dalglish would admit that in the media.

With the return of Luis Suarez to first team after serving his eight game suspension for being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, Carroll could find himself on the bench in the coming weeks especially with the continued success of Craig Bellamy in the absence of Suarez.

People argue that Carroll brings to the side so much more than goals, however, at the moment he isn’t even bring assists to the team as Liverpool continue to struggle to find the net. Liverpool’s performance against Tottenham on Monday evening was frightfully poor in an attacking sense for the Liverpool fans at Anfield and those watching at home on TV. Despite having Carroll up top Liverpool still looked inept to understand that balls floated on to the 6’3 strikers head is the best way to use the 23 year old.  Instead Liverpool still insist on playing beautiful football on the floor while trying to zip balls into the middle, all very well if you have a striker that is quick and has good movement, the problem is Carroll is anything but.

The striker enjoyed his time at St James Park because the Toon knew how to use him and they played to their strengths, however Liverpool continue to remain stubborn and cling onto the belief that they are a top four club and playing beautiful football along the floor is the only way to win games, unfortunately with Carroll in the team, playing ugly and playing to their strengths is the only way they will win some games.

Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish may well decide to keep Carroll on the books although that would mean altering the way the team play and no one at Liverpool seems ready to admit to that meaning it is more than likely the club will sell the 23 year old in the summer.

Should Liverpool sell Carroll? Would Newcastle take him back?

Capello comment's couldn't have come at a worse time.

“I absolutely disagree with the decision to remove John Terry as the captain”. These were the comments made by England manager Fabio Capello yesterday on Italian TV which has caused fury at the FA headquarters this morning.

Last week the decision was made by the FA committee at their Wembley headquarters to remove the prestigious armband from the Chelsea defender after his trial for allegations of racial abuse against Anton Ferdinand was delayed until the 9^th July 2012, one week after the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

With the hearing delayed, FA bosses believed they couldn’t allow a player who is up against such allegations lead the country in a major competition, however, strangely it emerged afterwards that England manager Fabio Capello was not involved in discussions whether to remove the armband from Terry. After the announcement, it was made clear that Capello supported the FA’s decision and would begin the search for his new captain who would hopefully lift the European Championship trophy on July 1^st; however, comments on Italian TV from Capello have since indicated he is not supportive of the decision.

Capello could have landed himself in huge trouble after the remarks with former FA chairman David Davies saying he might have ‘breached his contract’, the punishment for that obviously being dismissal. It is unlikely the FA will dismiss Capello, in fact they should be moving heaven and earth to avoid that situation as a calm build up to a competition would be what the Association hope for. Capello’s argument is that Terry as not yet been found guilty and until he is so then he should remain as captain.

One argument that continues to show its face against the boss is that Capello is undermining whoever is asked to take over the role. While it is true Capello stripped the armband from Terry before over the incident of the player sleeping with team mate Wayne Bridge girlfriend, Capello clearly supports his skipper in this bitter row which could cause dressing room unrest, particularly as Terry’s central defender partner at the Euros could be Anton Ferdinand’s brother Rio.

While it is highly unlikely Capello will get the sack over his comments, it is something the FA bosses will take extremely seriously as again it shows a lack of unity in the run up to another major tournament and Capello can expect some punishment, however nothing more than a quiet word from David Bernstein along the lines of ‘Just focus on winning Euro 2012’ is expected.

Was Capello right to say what he did? Should the Italian be sacked?

As always let me know your thoughts?

Has racism been shown the red card yet?

‘Let’s kick racism out of football’ was set up in 1993 to do exactly that, but in this blog I pose the question, has racism been kicked out of English football?

The Premier League is currently investigating two cases of racism after Manchester United defender Patrice Evra accused Liverpool striker Luis Suarez of abusing him in their 1-1 clash at Anfield two weeks ago. Last week saw Chelsea defender John Terry also accused of racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.

It would be wrong for me to suggest that either of the two alleged players are racists until the full reports are published, but quite frankly I find the fact that allegations like this are even being made in 2011 is sickening.  The Premier League currently has its highest percentage of foreign and black players in its 10 year history and it brands itself as the world’s biggest league, if that’s the case then any proof of racism should be met with the heaviest sanctions.

But are we right to assume that eradicating racism from football is possible? Bearing in mind we live in a society where people are quick to judge and mindless thugs continue to wander the streets of our ‘Great Britain’. John Barnes, racially abused while playing for England in the 80’s said recently that we were silly to believe that racism had been kicked out of football and he himself questioned whether it ever would be.

Contradicting that view though was manager of Manchester United now for 25 years, Sir Alex Ferguson. Sir Alex said he was ‘surprised’ that there were two cases being investigated, and ‘hoped’ there would never be a third.

It is clear that some western European countries still struggle at large with racism in football. Spain and Russia have received heavy sanctions from FIFA in years gone by as ‘punishment’ for their part in racist taunts, but is England in danger of slipping back to the dark days of the 80’s when black England players were abused by their own fans?

Thankfully I think we are not set to slip back to them ways. We are a nation that has currently possess some great black footballers, as well as having the most entertaining league in the world that involves some of the greatest foreign players of the modern era, and losing that over racism would be ridiculous, suicidal and damn right pathetic.

I hope that in both cases being investigated that both alleged offenders are found not guilty for the sake of the image of English football. It is true that England leads the way in the fight against racism; however, I fear that if Terry or Suarez are found guilty then our image as a nation is tarnished.

Do you agree? Is racism still happening in our game today or do you think we have ‘kicked it out’? If found guilty, how should Terry or Suarez be dealt with?

As always let me know.