He’s in relegation dogfight
WHAT if hell had songs, what would they sound like, and would you want to hear them?
Well, probably like what we heard during the Shame of Sofia on Monday night, those sickening monkey chants, a cacophony of disgrace, a hymn of hate, a tune of hostility.
Or what if hell had sights, what would they look like, and would you want to see them?
Well, probably something like what we saw in Sofia on Monday night — shameless grown-up men, like vampires coming from an overnight drinking binge, dressed in black and hoods, displaying the Nazi salute.
Converting a football stadium into a cathedral of shame with their disgusting chants, their vile language, their impersonation of the devil and their outrageous expression of stupidity.
Trying to send a message Hitler was right, the blacks in the England team were an inferior lot simply because of the colour of their skin, just because they were not white.
That it had taken a black man, Eliud Kipchoge, a simple farmer from Kenya’s Rift Valley, to break the barrier that a human being couldn’t run a marathon under two hours didn’t mean anything to the thugs.
And that it had happened just two days before this night when football collided with shame disguised as fanatical support didn’t mean a thing to those fools.
That a 15-year-old black star Coco Gauff had just become the youngest tennis player on the WTA tour to win a singles tournament in 15 years didn’t mean anything to those hoodlums.
And that it had happened just a day, before this night when they paraded their ignorance to the world, didn’t matter to these dunderheads.
That 22-year-old black star Simona Biles had written another glorious chapter in her incredible story of excellence, becoming the most decorated gymnast in World Championship history on Sunday didn’t mean a thing to these imbeciles.
And that she continues to do all this despite carrying the scars of having been sexually abused by her coach, somehow surviving all that to become the world’s best didn’t even matter to these buffoons.
All they were prepared for was to shatter the symphony of tolerance with their stereotypical view, the madness of their poisoned world where white means great and black means inferior.
A people still trapped in a horrible past, where their hero Hitler, who as if being punished by God, had to endure the ultimate nightmare of seeing the greatness of black American sprinter Jesse Owens play out before him in Berlin, of all places.
That was at the Olympics in 1938, where he won four gold medals.
The remnants of the empire Hitler and the Third Reich tried and failed to build, with the forces of good finally prevailing over evil in 1945 in World War II, are still found around the globe.
They live in a fantasy world where they imagine what it would have been like had evil prevailed, unmoved by the horror of
Auschwitz and the millions who perished in those gas chambers.
On Monday, in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, we saw them parade their shameless ideology, sing their abhorrent songs and display their repulsive signs.
Thank God it was a 6-0 thrashing for the team they had come to support, the one with players they felt were superior, simply because they are white.
And, just as well, half of the six goals scored by the Three Lions came from the same black players they were targeting — Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford.
AMAZING KIPCHOGE SHOWS THE WORLD WE AREN’T A BUNCH OF LATTER-DAY MONKEYS
How different and beautiful things had been just 48 hours earlier in Vienna.
The Austrian city where the blood-splattered shirt which Archduke Franz Ferdinand wore on the day he was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914 and triggered World War I, went on display six years ago, as if to provide us with an eternal reminder of the horror we can inflict upon ourselves when we lose our passion to love and replace it with the desire to hate.
The man who put up a US$10 million bounty for Kipchoge to try and run the marathon in less than two hours on Saturday was a white man.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the British billionaire worth a staggering US$11 billion, his country’s richest man.
The lead strategist on the team of cyclists was also a white man. There were a number of white runners among the pacemakers while the crowd, on the streets of Vienna, was predominantly white.
Many of them had come from the United States and Australia just for this race.
I was one of the millions who watched the race on television and was impressed with the way the lead commentator, a white man, appeared so excited in his voice to see Kipchoge succeed.
“He’s sprinting to history, 400m to go, let’s bring him home, this is history unfolding on the streets of Vienna this morning, it’s a Saturday run like we have never seen before, listen to the noise, the crowd getting behind him, he can see the finish line,’’ thundered the commentator.
“Neil Armstrong, we had on the moon in 1969, we had Roger Bannister in a mile 65 years ago, Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Everest in 1963, we have one minute to go, Eliud
Kipchoge is on his way here.
“This humble farmer, who used to run two miles to school every day and back, and who used to go to the nearest town with his bike to sell milk at the local market and now, through hard work and dedication, he is pointing.
“Eliud Kipchoge storms into the history books in Vienna, 1hr 59.40 the unofficial time, the first man to run a marathon in under two hours.’’
So beautiful, the narrative, so captivating, the commentary, no innuendos that the course had been selected specifically to favour him, the conditions had been selected to help him and he was running using some specially-designed Nike shoes that could help him.
No comments about him had benefiting from being handed water, from the supporting cast on bicycles, which isn’t allowed by the IAAF in the marathons run under their jurisdiction.
No mentioning the rotating pacemakers who had helped his cause, just the plain appreciation a human being had done it.
“One final lung-busting stride for Kipchoge, one giant leap for human endeavour, Kipchoge was right, no human is limited, now he can celebrate, he has done it,’’ the commentator said.
Hearing all that from a white man, celebrating the heroics of a black man made me feel good.
And, the Shame of Sofia 48 hours later, left me wondering if these shameless racists ever get to see this other beautiful side.
Where everyone, including a mere farmer from the Kenyan Rift Valley, can be treated simply as a human being without mocking the colour of his sick and, crucially, without believing that it represents inferiority?
BUT, FOR THE ENGLISH, CHARITY SHOULD BEGIN AT HOME
But English football also can’t escape censure when it comes to racism because their game still has some racist mobs.
Those, who in recent months have targeted, the likes of Raheem Sterling, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Marvelous Nakamba simply because they happen to be black footballers.
The same English media which has been baying for blood in the wake of the shameful events in Sofia, has also been accused, and rightly so, for abating racism through its negative coverage of black players.
As a Manchester United fan, I could detect there were some English journalists waiting for Pogba to have a bad game.
Curiously, they appeared to turn a blind eye on the failings of Alexio Sanchez simply because, in my judgment, he happened to have a lighter colour of skin.
It appeared there were some English journalists waiting for Romelo Lukaku to fail, while interestingly, they appeared to ignore the failures of someone like Lucas Perez at Arsenal.
And, just as well, the Professional Footballers Association also noted it well when they released that statement in support of Sterling in December last year.
“It is evident that he is often singled out and treated more harshly than his colleagues,” the
union said.
“As such, these stories are fuelling racism within the game, as reports of racist abuse continue to rise.
“While it may be true that no racial slurs have been used in the Press coverage received by Raheem and others, we are in no doubt that the negative narrative influences public opinion and emboldens racist rhetoric.”
Of course, English as a language provides a thin line between what can be deemed offensive and what can be deemed acceptable.
Only this week, I watched some snippets of an exchange between American Old West outlaw, Billy The Kid, who had been thrown into a holding cell after being captured, and a policeman who was guarding him.
“Did you really kill 21 men?’’ the policeman asked Billy The Kid, to which the outlaw answered, “don’t believe everything you read in the papers, I was never a criminal until the law made me one. I had a reason for every man I killed.’’
And, the policeman further asked, “how
many reasons have you had?’’
To which, Billy The Kid replied, “Twenty one.’’
Just like that legislator who once said, in Parliament, “Mr Speaker Sir, half the people in this august House are fools.’’
And, when protests, inevitably erupted from the chamber, and he was forced to withdraw his comments, he said, “I’m sorry Mr Speaker Sir, half the people in this august House are not fools.’’
But, surely, in this age and era, that shouldn’t be allowed to give these racist demagogues refugee.
To God Be The Glory!
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton and all the Chakariboys in the struggle.
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole Ole! Text Feedback — 0772545199 WhatsApp — 0772545199
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