young lad racially abused down in Carlow

[his holiness nb]

Well someone had to start a thread, its all over the radio and on some front pages.

From what I gather the guy was playing in an under 14 game in Dr Cullen park and was racially abused by a gang of teenagers at the game.

I do hate this shite and the young lads should be fecked out of the club for a while at least, no place for that shite in our games.

That said, the front page of todays daily star leaves a lot to be desired. Yes report it, but young lads are REGULARLY racially abused in soccer games up and down the country and it wouldnt make the paper, never mind the front page.
Even Newstalk threw in the comment that the young lads throwing the abuse "may have been egged on by several adults".

May have been? Did it happen or not?
I'm not saying it didnt, but unless you are sure, dont go throwing out the impression that it did.

Thats my rant over, theres no need for racism ANYWHERE in our society, and it should be highlighted if it happens in the GAA.

This is why I started the thread, heads in the sand attitudes arent healthy either.

But the media need to balance this up and prove that they arent just out to get the GAA.
This happens all the time in soccer.

[AZOffaly]

It's a disgrace if it happened, and I am disappointed that others at the game didn't tell them to cop on, if so.

[orangeman]

Well someone had to start a thread, its all over the radio and on some front pages.

From what I gather the guy was playing in an under 14 game in Dr Cullen park and was racially abused by a gang of teenagers at the game.

I do hate this shite and the young lads should be fecked out of the club for a while at least, no place for that shite in our games.

That said, the front page of todays daily star leaves a lot to be desired. Yes report it, but young lads are REGULARLY racially abused in soccer games up and down the country and it wouldnt make the paper, never mind the front page.
Even Newstalk threw in the comment that the young lads throwing the abuse "may have been egged on by several adults".

May have been? Did it happen or not?
I'm not saying it didnt, but unless you are sure, dont go throwing out the impression that it did.

Thats my rant over, theres no need for racism ANYWHERE in our society, and it should be highlighted if it happens in the GAA.

This is why I started the thread, heads in the sand attitudes arent healthy either.

But the media need to balance this up and prove that they arent just out to get the GAA.
This happens all the time in soccer.

Which doesn't make it right under any circumstances. But I do appreciate what you're saying.

[the Deel Rover]

I used to play underage football with a member of the travelling community he was a brilliant footballer however some of the abuse he used to receive from the opposition ( players and especially management) was unreal and this was under 12's to 16's , i remember at one match the managements shouted hit the f**king t****r  our manager went up and grabbed him by the neck (he should have choked the fcuker) and got him to apologise ,and that wasn't today or yesterday. 

[his holiness nb]

dont get me wrong Orangeman, it shouldnt happen full stop.
I am happy for it to make the papers too. Just annoyed that similar and worse indicents in soccer games dont make the paper.

It makes it look like the paper doesnt give a feck about the racism and is just anti one sport or pro the other.

[GalwayBayBoy]

It's a disgrace if it happened, and I am disappointed that others at the game didn't tell them to cop on, if so.

Some fella and his wife did and were told to eff off bascially.

CLAIMS that a young Nigerian footballer had to endure a torrent of racist abuse from spectators at an underage game in Carlow have prompted strong criticism from the state's racism watchdog.

Teboga Sebala, who moved to Carlow town with his family six years ago, was allegedly subjected to racist comments as he played for the Éire Óg club in an U14 semi-final against O'Hanrahans last Monday night.

A complaint by the father of one of his teammates is set to be investigated by the county's underage GAA board.



The claims have also prompted an angry response from the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI).

Adrian Tomlin and his wife were watching their son, Joe, play in goal for Éire Óg from the stand at Dr Cullen Park and he described how a group of young girls, encouraged by a group of adults nearby, shouted obscene and racial abuse at Teboga throughout the game.

"There were obscene racial comments like 'kill the f***ing n***er' and the like. It was ongoing throughout the match and Teboga was visibly upset," said Mr Tomlin.

He said he pulled his wife away when she asked them to stop, because the group turned on her and she was in tears.

"I am beside myself, I am thinking of pulling my son from the sport," he said, adding: "I come from the north of England where racial tension is a big problem and I bring up my children to be against this kind of behaviour."

Teboga's team manager Willie Quinlan said the player and his family did not want to talk about the matter, but revealed he had heard a lot of it on Monday night.

"When I asked him [Teboga] about it, he said 'it's just the usual, people are racist against my colour'. He knew where it was coming from but he doesn't know who was saying it, he just said 'it happens'."

[Zapatista]

This happens day in day out. It happens at sports at school and at work. It is a disgrace.

It is true that it is highlighted in the GAA. Not against the GAA itself but the entire community. Many (outside ansd inside) see the GAA as a true repersentation of Irish society so when something like this happens the media use the GAA to say "look at what you Irish people are doing". Add the GAA to something like this and people start to get more emotional about it as it's close to home.

[Sky Blue]

I heard this story of the wireless this morning and i have to say I've never wittnessed anything of the sort myself. This racist bullying of a 14 year old by adults is an awful disgrace to the country. The O'Hannrahan's club should provide the names of those responsible or face a long ban from all GAA activity.

If a ref was assualted they would be expected to name the individual responsible. They should be asked to do the same in this situation.

I always thought we were more civilized than English soccer fans but it appears we're not.

[brokencrossbar1]

If it happened then it is to be condemned outright.  It happens I am sure, like Deel Rover has said in other places but I would imagine it is small level stuff.  It happened in Cork a few years back when a set of club fans abused Sean Og, but it was an isolated incident.  This does not in anyway make light of the accusation, it simply puts it into the context of the overall organisation.

As Zapatista said it is a societal thing as opposed to a GAA thing as was seen in the incident in Dublin were a family forced to leave their home due to racial abuse.  The notion that this is associated with him plying the game is said and the parents should realise that racism is something that is wider than the confines of a sport.  If this was a continuing problem like it was/is in soccer you could see thier argument but it is not.  

[bingobus]

It may be a society problem but the GAA is responsible for keeping it off the GAA field and off the GAA terraces. Has to be stopped or we will end up where it is acceptable and not headline news i.e soccer.

It will drive a whole talented pool of youngsters from the game and drag the GAA into the dark ages. I would have no problem with banning any parent or child from GAA grounds if they found racially abusing anyone. Its a cheap, nasty and dirty thing to stoop to.

The lad himself is an outstanding talent and a few from our club have seen him play at the Feile Peil international in Birmingham this year and last.

The Star may be looking for the sensationlist headline but if its highlighted now and acted on, it could save the GAA face down the lines. It is only a matter of time before we regularly see non-nationals playing at Intercounty level and if it happens then, we are in trouble.

[Guillem2]

I think it's worse that they are picking on a child.

[Hardy]

Strong action required immediately. I said here before that we should not be waiting for this to happen in order to react to it. As has been said above, the GAA reflects society, good and bad. Therefore, whatever level of racism exists in our society was bound to arise in our sport and so we should have been moving to head it off and make sure we had rules and procedures in place to deter it and to punish it if it happened. Now it has and already we're too late. What are we going to do about it?

[heffo]

I sat on a disciplinary hearing for a similar case in Dublin - the issue we had at the time is that there is no specific rule to sanction members of the GAA for racism

There is going to be more and more of these kind of cases as the number of non-nationals take up our games - I have a Nigerian, a Ugandan and a Lithuanian on my juvenile team and they are all naturals..

[heffo]

The Star may be looking for the sensationlist headline but if its highlighted now and acted on, it could save the GAA face down the lines. It is only a matter of time before we regularly see non-nationals playing at Intercounty level and if it happens then, we are in trouble.

A similar case was reported in the Sunday Indo last year by a journalist who was also a parent involved with the team..

[Croí na hÉireann]

You're on a disciplinary committee  Talk about lunatics running the asylum