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John Terry, captain of England’s national soccer team and the powerful club Chelsea, faces a criminal charge over accusations that he made a racial slur during an October match, apparently becoming the first player to be prosecuted for remarks said on the field.

The accusation against Terry, which he denied, represents an escalation in the attempt to stem the persistent and widespread problem of racism in European soccer.

On Tuesday, the Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez, who plays for Liverpool of the English Premier League, was suspended for eight matches and fined about $63,000 for making abusive remarks in an October game toward Patrice Evra, a black defender from France who plays for Manchester United.

On Wednesday, the Crown Prosecution Service, the agency responsible for laying criminal charges, said it had charged Terry.

Antiracism officials said they were encouraged by the actions taken against Terry and Suárez. But they cautioned that international soccer had lately sent mixed messages about discrimination despite a campaign over the past five years to reduce racial smears made on the field and in the stands. Fans in some European countries have been known to throw bananas and peanuts, and direct monkey chants, toward black players.

Sepp Blatter, the embattled president of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, was widely criticized last month after trying to minimize the extent of racism on the field and suggesting that any player who felt affronted should settle the matter with a postgame handshake.

The Terry and Suárez cases represent “a very important step that sends two messages,” said Lord Herman Ouseley, chairman of the London-based antidiscrimination organization called Kick It Out. “If you are inclined to behave like that, you are not going to get away with it,” he said. “And it’s encouraging to black players, who have often felt, ‘Why bother, it’s a waste of time.’ Most thought nothing would come out of these allegations.”

At the same time, Ouseley said in a telephone interview that he would withhold judgment on English soccer’s long-term determination to stamp out racism until Terry’s case played out through the judiciary and Suárez decided whether to appeal his ban by England’s soccer federation, known as the Football Association. He has 14 days to file an appeal.

“We will have to wait and see whether there is consistency and durability in application of a high standard of conduct, backed by strong investigation and discipline with penalties, or whether this is a one-off, and we go back to leniency and complacency,” Ouseley said.

The English Premier League is considered the world’s best club competition and features many of the top international players. Two-thirds are foreign-born. Racial sensitivity in the league has increased substantially in recent years, and the atmosphere is considered far more embracing than leagues in Spain and Italy. Yet, the Terry and Suárez cases indicate that English officials are still troubled by some abusive on-the-field behavior.

Terry, who is 31, appears to be the first player to face a criminal charge of racism, said Ouseley and Howard Holmes, founder of another London-based antidiscrimination group called Football Unites, Racism Divides.

“I can’t find any other case where the police were involved,” Holmes said in a telephone interview. “There have been a number of instances that have gone to court, but they’ve been fan-based.”

Terry, who is white, is accused of making a racist remark during an October match toward Anton Ferdinand, a black defender who plays for Queens Park Rangers, a London rival of Chelsea.

A hearing for Terry is scheduled for Feb. 1. He is charged with violating Britain’s Crime and Disorder Act (of) 1998, which focuses on antisocial behavior. If found guilty, the maximum fine he faces is about $4,000, but a conviction could cost Terry the captaincy of his club and national team, his reputation and his ability to earn endorsement money.

“I am satisfied there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute this case,” Alison Saunders, London’s chief crown prosecutor, said in a statement.

Terry has denied the charge, saying the context of his remarks was misunderstood. He said in a statement Wednesday, “I have never aimed a racist remark at anyone and count people from all races and creeds among my closest friends.”

According to The Guardian newspaper of London, Ferdinand did not immediately realize what Terry had said to him during the October match. Rather, Ferdinand grew concerned later when the encounter between the two players drew widespread attention on social media sites. He later saw footage of the confrontation that had been posted on the Internet.

Terry has said that he thought Ferdinand was accusing him of making a racial slur during their encounter and responded to Ferdinand by saying he would never use such a term.

The situation is complicated because Ferdinand’s brother, Rio, is a partner of Terry’s in central defense for England’s national team. And it was Rio Ferdinand who scathingly challenged Blatter’s suggestions last month that players should resolve racial tensions with handshakes. Via Twitter, Rio Ferdinand, who plays with Evra for Manchester United, called Blatter’s remarks “condescending” and “almost laughable.”

Blatter was widely ridiculed and Hugh Robertson, the British sports minister, urged him to resign. Blatter declined to step down but said he regretted his remarks and promised “zero tolerance” of racist behavior in soccer. A FIFA campaign against racism began at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The widespread reaction against Blatter’s remarks in England, as well as the social media response to the Terry incident, undoubtedly influenced the Suárez suspension and the decision to prosecute Terry, said Holmes, the antidiscrimination official.

“We can’t adopt a holier-than-thou attitude and, when it’s in our backyard, wash our hands of it,” Holmes said.

Suárez, the Liverpool forward, was accused of using a racial term 10 times against Evra in an October match against Manchester United. Suárez has said that he did not realize that language that was acceptable in his native Uruguay was considered racist in England.

“I understand the point about cultural differences,” Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the union for England’s professional soccer players, told British reporters Wednesday. “But if you come to this country, all players have to abide by not just the laws of the game, but the laws of the land as well.”

Liverpool has vigorously defended Suárez. During warm-ups for their match against Wigan on Wednesday, his teammates wore white T-shirts with an image of Suárez on the front and his name and his number, 7, on the back.

Rob Hughes contributed reporting from London.

Racism Charges Put a Sport on Edge,
NYT,
21.12.2011,
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/
sports/soccer/in-england-star-players-accused-of-racist-comments.html

Gary Speed obituary

Manager of the Wales football team
and versatile midfielder

in the Premier League

Sunday 27 November 2011
18.38 GMT
Guardian.co.uk
Nick Szczepanik
This article was published on guardian.co.uk
at 18.38 GMT on Sunday 27 November 2011.
A version appeared on p36
of the Main section section of the Guardian
on Monday 28 November 2011.
It was last modified at 00.06 GMT
on Monday 28 November 2011.

The Wales football manager Gary Speed, who has died at the age of 42 after apparently taking his own life, was an outstanding footballer and promised to be equally successful in this new phase of his career. But while he had been in charge of the national side for only 10 games, his playing career was long and distinguished.

A skilful, athletic and versatile left-sided attacking midfield player, Speed was also an exceptional header of the ball and had a healthy knack of scoring goals. He represented Wales and four different Premier League clubs – Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers – during a 22-year club career.

His longevity at the top level of the game was underpinned by a remarkable dedication to his profession. One of the first British players fully to embrace new ideas about fitness and nutrition, his success can be judged by the fact that only two players, Ryan Giggs and David James, have surpassed his total of 535 Premier League appearances, while he holds the record for the most appearances for Wales by an outfield player – 85 – made over 14 years.

He won the only major honour of his career, the Football League championship, early in his career, with Leeds in 1991-92, the last season before the formation of the Premier League, but appeared in two FA Cup finals with Newcastle, and acquired a reputation as a leader and model for other players. He captained most of the teams he played for at some time, including Everton, the club he supported as a boy. He was appointed MBE in 2010 for his services to football.

Born in Mancot, Flintshire, Speed was the only Welshman in his family, his parents, sister and children all being born in Chester. He went to Hawarden high school and played regularly for Flintshire Schoolboys and Aston Park Rangers before joining Leeds straight from school in June 1988.

He made his first-team debut at 19 for the club then in the second division, helping win promotion for Howard Wilkinson's team in 1989-90, his second full season, and winning his first Welsh cap against Costa Rica in May 1990. Although he also played as a defender and forward – "I think I played him in every position," Wilkinson said – he became a regular on the left of a midfield that also included Gary McAllister, David Batty and Gordon Strachan, a formidable quartet that would help the team to win the championship in 1992, ahead of Manchester United.

However, Leeds failed to build on that success, and after 312 games and 57 goals for his first club Speed jumped at the chance to join Everton in 1996, for £3.5m. He signed a five-year contract and finished his first season as the Toffees' player of the year, being made captain of his club, as he was for his country, at the beginning of the 1997-98 season.

However, what should have been a dream for the boyhood Evertonian began to turn sour. There were rumours, never fully substantiated, of fallings-out behind the scenes, and Speed moved to Newcastle for £5.5m in 1998 after only 65 games and 17 goals.

He was to play 284 times for the Magpies, including defeats in the FA Cup finals of 1998, by Arsenal, and 1999, by Manchester United. However, although titles eluded him, he also played in the Champions League while on Tyneside and kept up his scoring record, netting 40 times. In July 2004 he moved on to Bolton for £750,000, and it was while at the Reebok Stadium that he became the first player to make 500 Premier League appearances, in a 4–0 victory over West Ham. He also, in May 2007, took his first steps into coaching. The following October he decided to concentrate solely on playing again, but in the new year he left the top flight, signing for Sheffield United. A back injury suffered in November 2008 prompted Kevin Blackwell, the manager, to suggest a permanent move to a coaching role, an opportunity that Speed grasped with relish.

Three games into the 2010-11 season, Blackwell was sacked and Speed promoted into his first managerial post, but he was not to stay long in the Bramall Lane chair. In December 2010, he was named as the successor to John Toshack as Wales manager, the Welsh FA paying compensation to United.

Although Speed had presided over five victories and five defeats in his 10 matches in charge of the principality, there were plenty of encouraging signs in Speed's stewardship, not least that four of the wins came in the past five games, with an unlucky 1-0 defeat by England at Wembley the only blemish.

"He completely transformed the Welsh situation from one of despair to one of hope and expectation," his former Wales teammate Mark Bowen said. "The players liked him and had a real bond with him that showed in games. Everyone was really excited."

Speed is survived by his wife, Louise, and two sons.

• Gary Andrew Speed, footballer and manager,

born 8 September 1969; died 27 November 2011

Gary Speed obituary,
G,
27.11.2011,
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/
nov/27/gary-speed

Aftermath of the Bradford football stadium fire

Hideous images linger

after carnage of 'celebration' day

Monday May 13, 1985
Guardian
Malcolm Pithers

The horrific scenes of people burning alive seemed to live on in an eerie silence as daylight broke over the remains of Bradford City Football Club's ground yesterday. All that was left of the main stand were rows of bare steel and stone, with blackened timbers hanging from the few remaining roof supports. The intensity of the blaze which spread 'quicker than people could walk' destroyed the main stand area, leaving a skeleton of burned seats, lamps and fences.
People were wandering around outside the ground in disbelief, reminiscent of an air disaster, at what had happened the day before.

Only one person had been positively identified by police by early last night. The 51 other bodies of children, women and men were so badly burned that identification will take many days.

Police removed the last body from the ground at 4 am yesterday, working under arc lights. It was a gruesome sight to see bodies still sitting upright in their seats, covered in tarpaulin.

Saturday began for the fans in a carnival atmosphere at Bradford 's Valley Parade ground a short walk from the city centre.

Parents and children were laughing and joking with the police as the preliminaries to the game began. The match, Bradford against Lincoln, was to have been a joyous climax to the club winning the Third Division championship and being promoted to the Second Division.

Bradford city council officials, off-duty policemen and guests from Bradford 's twin town, Munchengladbach, were there to celebrate. Ironically, off-duty firemen were at the ground selling raffle tickets for a charity football match which should have been held yesterday. Soon they were all running for their lives.

Disaster struck at 3.43 pm. It is impossible so far to be accurate about the precise cause of the fire, with grossly conflicting reports from witnesses.

There was some kind of disturbance near the edge of a block of seats in the G section of the main stand. It is not thought that there was any crowd trouble in this section but one theory the police are investigating is that a flare or smoke-bomb was thrown or was accidentally dropped.

Smoke was seen coming from the third row in the section but people are apparently used to seeing smoke flares on the Bradford ground.

Then flames licked the underside of the seats, which were a combination of wood and plastic. Below the seats were rows of litter which had piled up throughout the season, said witnesses.

The stand itself was engulfed in seconds, almost as if petrol had been ignited throughout the block. The fire brigade said that when heat builds up so quickly it can cause flames to move much quicker than people can walk.

More than 3,500 people were crammed into the main stand area and this prevented people from moving away from the blaze quickly. They were hampered further by the fact that doors at the back of the stand were locked to try to stop people coming in without paying. The stand slopes downwards from the South Parade.

People had walked through turnstiles and along a wooden corridor before descending the steps into their seats. When the game began there was no way out for them, except by going on to the pitch. Some people seem to have run back up the slope, thinking that they could get back through the turnstiles, and were burned alive.

Others ran forward to try to clamber over a fence and a small wall on to the pitch. But the sheer density of numbers coupled with the thick, choking smoke made people collapse. Some of the dead were found at the bottom of these steps.

A call was made on a police radio to the police operations room in Bradford and relayed to the fire brigade at 3.43 pm. It took the firemen four minutes to arrive at the ground but the speed of the fire was such that the blaze also took only four minutes to grip the entire stand.

The firemen who arrived there were met by a wall of flame and dense black smoke. They were not able to use water on the stand immediately because this would have hampered attempts to rescue people being dragged by the police and friends from the stand.

The only fire extinguishers in the ground were in the clubroom, which is also in the main stand. The extinguishers were put there so that they would be out of the way of fans who could use them as missiles, which apparently had happened previously.

The chairman of the football club, Mr Stafford Heginbotham, was near to tears as he explained what had happened. 'The fire just spread along the length of the stand in seconds. The smoke was choking. We couldn't breathe. It was to be our day,' he said.

Superintendent Barry Osborne, divisional commander for the football club area, who was injured in the fire said that many policemen cried when they saw how badly people had been burned.

He saw smoke coming from a small area of the stand and thought that someone had let off a flare. 'The smoke was very, very dense. I ran to the stand and tried to help people escape. The flames suddenly appeared and the whole roof took alight,' he said.

People were clambering over the wall on to the ground with their clothes and hair on fire. The heat inside the stand literally ignited people where they stood.

One elderly man started to walk across the pitch with his clothes and face ablaze. People pushed him to the ground and tried to smother the flames. One man in tears said: 'He looked as if he was just going for a stroll. He was completely on fire and it looked as though he simply did not know what had happened to him.'

Mr Stefan Krolak, a survivor from Bradford , said he saw the smoke start a few seats away from him 'The smoke seemed suddenly to set on fire. People were falling on to each other and screaming.

'They did not have a chance. Tarpaulin fell on them and stuck to their clothes and then ignited. I saw one man lying on the ground, burning from head to foot. There was hardly anything left of him.'

One woman was seen running around the ground with no skin on her arms and face. She was hysterical and trying to find her three children. The team's coach, Mr Terry Yorath, ran on to the pitch to try to help people away from the stand. 'It is the worst day in my life. The whole fire seemed to erupt in seconds,' he said.

Mr Antony Burrows said: 'One man was stood near me with his hair on fire. There were no fire extinguishers. I had to put my jumper over his hair to put the blaze out.'

Sports reporters covering the game also spoke of the disaster. Mr Tony Delahunte, who was presenting a programme from the ground for Pennine Radio, said 'The fire seemed to me to start with a smoke bomb. I saw a group of people around the smoke laughing. Then the flames and smoke were all over the place.'

Mr Delahunte was screaming into his microphone describing the scene until it became impossible to continue broadcasting. His face was burned and his car, which he had parked outside the ground, was destroyed.

People were arriving in a daze outside Bradford police headquarters on Saturday evening and early yesterday. One family was in tears, the mother shaking. They stood outside the headquarters, staring at nothing in particular.

Other parents whose children had not arrived home on Saturday called at the police station or sat in cars outside, waiting for news. Hundreds more telephoned the police to try to trace relatives.

The Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, Mr Colin Sampson, said yesterday that a team of doctors and pathologists had worked throughout the night trying to identify the dead.

He appealed to people to be patient while forensic experts identified bodies. 'I have to tell you that the fire was so intense that identifying people is going to be the great problem we have to face.'

Eighty names were unaccounted for and there were no positive indications about the cause of the fire.

There has been reports of people lighting paper under the seats, and it was important that as many fans as possible who were in the stand or at the Kop end contacted the police. 'This was a dreadful afternoon. I have never had to deal with such a situation before, and this has put the city on its heels.'

The man in charge of investigating the fire, Detective Superintendent Kevin Cooper was at the game. His son Christopher normally watches from the stand but on Saturday he joined other fans elsewhere.

The stories of escapes are legion. Many who had walked out of the fire stood on the pitch looking back in horror as the flames destroyed the stand.

Bradford council introduced its emergency plans procedure yesterday to give aid to many families affected by the disaster.

Police had an official photographer at the game, watching for crowd disturbance. He photographed the blaze from start to finish and the police will use this as evidence when an inquest is held.

The club's success had swollen the crowd to 10,000 and arguments will rage about fire precautions at the ground.

It was clear from what the Chief Fire Officer for West Yorkshire, Mr Graham Karran, said yesterday that the ground was far from safe. He was asked if precautions would have been adequate had the club been in the Second Division. 'I think that is unlikely,' he said.

Representatives from the fire brigade were due to go to the club tomorrow to inspect it and see whether regulations were being observed. Now they will begin another inquiry, into the cause of the Bradford fire.

Hideous images linger after carnage of 'celebration' day,
G,
Monday May 13, 1985,
Republished 11.5.2006,
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1985/may/13/
fromthearchive

April 20 1903

Notes on a 6-0 Cup final:

Bury v Derby

From The Guardian archive

April 20 1903
The Guardian

To account for the poorness of the football — on one side — at the Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon it is necessary to consider the unfortunate circumstances in which the Derby County team found itself on the eve of the final.

The story of accidents which have befallen Derby County players of late reads rather like an account of football in America. Easter-time was a particu larly unfortunate period. Bloomer, who had been absent from the team for a long time nursing an injured knee, made a reappearance on Good Friday at Newcastle and was so badly kicked on the ankle that he could not be chosen for the Cup Final.

Goodall, who did actually play, had a dislocated ankle bone on Easter Monday. Lockie, who might have been chosen, injured his knee, and Morris went to London with a limp caused by a kick at Middlesbrough. Fryer, the goalkeeper, was also in the doctor's hands. It was with doubt that he was chosen to play on Saturday.

But the Cup was won by Bury on merit. There had been much warning that the Derby forward line would be the faster and probably the cleverer. But the Derby forwards were hopelessly beaten. The Bury men were sharper. When it was necessary to take the ball away from a Derby man the Bury players appeared able to achieve their purpose in no time.

There are some interesting points about this second victory of Bury in the competition for the Cup. They have had no goal scored against them in any of the cup ties and they have won the final by the most decisive score yet recorded, beating the record of six goals to one which the Blackburn Rovers made against Sheffield Wednesday some twelve years ago.

The only team that has ever before won the distinction of securing the Cup without having a goal scored against it was the Preston North End team of 1889. In a very different sense the achievements of Derby County are equally remarkable. This is their third failure in the final for the Cup, and six times they have been in semi-finals. It is not a little curious that in both the previous finals their defeat was decisive, although not nearly so heavy as Saturday's.

The attendance at the final on Saturday is officially estimated at 63,102. This is a smaller return than there has been made since 1898, and less by a few thousands than that which saw Bury defeat Southampton by four goals to none in 1900. The aggregate number who saw the first round was 241,323 and the "gates" were worth £9,736.

From The Guardian archive > April 20 1903 >
Notes on a 6-0 Cup final: Bury v Derby, G,
Republished 20.4.2007, p. 38,
http://digital.guardian.co.uk/guardian/2007/04/20/
pages/ber38.shtml

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