Swansea City FC Event

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.

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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!!

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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 1^st 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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