Below are articles about racism that young people have produced and written in school after attending our event with Swansea City FC.
THE TRAETHMELYN
DAILY SPORT
GET
RID OF RACISM FOR REAL!
By Matthew Lewis - Traethmelyn Primary School
Do you believe that racism should go away
forever? Do you know that racism has been around for centuries? Why has racism disappeared
from Cricket and Rugby, but not Football? How
would you feel if you were being bullied in a racist way?
Racism
was much worse in the past than it is now. An example of this is Nelson
Mandela. He was the first black president of South Africa. However, he was put
in jail between 1962 and 1990 for possession of a gun even though this would
never have happened to a white person. After his release on 11 February 1990,
Mandela led his own party until he was elected in 1994.
Above: Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was another person who fought
against black discrimination. On December 1 1955, Rosa Parks sat on a bus seat
meant for a white person. She was told to move but she refused. Twelve years
before, in 1943, Rosa got on the bus and paid
the fare. James Blake, the driver, told her to get off the bus and go through
the rear door. She did, but while she was going to the rear door, the bus
driver drove away, leaving her in the rain. Oddly enough, James Blake was also
driving the bus in 1955, but this time he could not make her move.
Sport
has had some minor problems with racism in the past. It was banned in Cricket
because when South Africa were
playing England in 1968, South Africa chose only white players to play
against England.
However, England
refused to go there because the South Africans were discriminating against
black players. They lost a lot of money doing this, but now there is no more
racism and discrimination in Cricket.
Rugby has never had a problem
with it. Most sports that have had racism in the past have solved it.
Football, on the other hand has NEVER done anything about it. Could
this be because FIFA has never cared about it? Could it be because the fans
have caused it? Or do the football teams themselves allow too much
discrimination?
Racism is a despicable thing. The Society
of Black Lawyers wants a five year ban on any player who is persistently racist.
They also want all fines paid to go to the anti-racism association; Kick It Out.
Another thing they want is for 20% of all referees, the FA, PFA and football
agents to be black. They want guidance for referees to send off players using
racist abuse and the power to call of games if the crowd is using racial abuse.
Racism has been
around for centuries. Who can do anything about it? Why hasn’t anyone done
anything about it in the past? What can be done in the near future?
Racism
needs to be dealt with soon. We need to act now… before it’s too late. Too
late, that is, for anyone or anything to do anything about it.
________________________________________________________________________
THE
TRAETHMELYN
INJUSTICE
IN RACISM
By Emily Corish - Traethmelyn Primary School
Years ago racism was a huge
issue, but people have eradicated it from most sports, unfortunately racism is
still going on in football, so I went with my class to the Liberty Stadium to
find out why racism is still in football.
There have been lots of black people standing up for their
rights, like Nelson Mandela. He was put into prison for speaking up but 30
years later he became president. There have been black athletes presenting the
Olympics, so there isn’t any problems in other sports so why football.
Football has lots of racism. I think if there were more black
referees there might be less racial abuse. When we were at the liberty I
learned lots of interesting things about racism.
In conclusion there should be more done about racism and soon
it should diminish.
Player’s quotes
Craig Gordon, “everyone has
to be accepted, no matter what country they’re from.”
Neil Taylor, “racism is dying and hopefully will continue to
diminish.”
Give racism the red card!!
________________________________________________________________________
TRAETHMELYN SPORT WEEKLY
Boot Racism Out! It’s Not
Right
By Morgan Davies - Traethmelyn Primary School
Do you know that racism is a form of discrimination? Do you think that racism has to stop? Why is this happening? Would you like it if someone was bulling you in a racist way? Do you think the fans have provoked racism? Is it the football team that are provoking racism instead of the fans or, is it as the fans as well?
Nelson Mandela was the first black president of South Africa. He was also locked up in a prison cell on Robin Island because he spoke out about racism. They also prosecuted him for thirty years because they found he was in possession of a gun. Do you think they would have prosecuted a white person for thirty years, and put them on an isolated island, if they had a gun?
Above: Nelson Mandela (first black president)
Rosa Parks was a very noble woman because on
December 1st 1995 she did not give up her seat to a white person.
This sort of event had already happened to Rosa Parks, in 1943, after paying to
travel on the bus she was asked to enter the bus door on the rear end but, when
she went to enter the rear door, the bus drove away. What she didn’t realize,
is when she did not give up her seat the same bus driver was driving the bus.
Why didn’t she give up her seat? Think why.
Football has been around a very long time but, with
that comes racism and this has happened for years and is still going on.
You may know about the
recent incident about John Terry where he was being racist to Anton Ferdinand,
he was fined but the fine was nothing compared to his salary. Just before the FA
was going to make him redundant of his captaincy, he resigned. Also, something
is happening that SHOULD NOT be happening, but
its called monkey chanting. This is a chant when fans make a monkey sounds and
monkey actions to black players. This is despicable. Why is this despicable?
Think of the players’ point of view.
Cricket hasn’t got a problem with racism now
because in 1968 the England
cricket team did not go to South
Africa as they were not showing the best team
players because they were black. England
lost thousands of pounds doing this but felt that they should play South Africa’s
best players. Do you think that’s why racism has stopped in cricket?
Athletics does not have a problem with racism now.
People such as Denise Lewis and Colin Jackson were in the Olympics and they DID NOT have a problem with racism.
Another sport is boxing and
again that DOESN’T have a problem with racism. No
one was racist against Frank Bruno. So why is racism
still in football?
My opinion is if the players are racist they should
be banned, The society of black lawyers has agreed with me because they are
fighting to put new rules in place so, that if a player is racist, they are
banned for 6 months first and if they are racist, a second or third time they
will be banned for 5 years. They also want 20% of the FA to be represented by
black people.
NOW do you see why
racism is taken as a serious offence?
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