Cold in Carlisle and why John Barnes is wrong

Alex, me and Wolves (and England) hero Steve Bull.

So this blog entry has an overtly footballing theme. For those who don't wish to read on any further then please feel free to return at a later date.

Yesterday I underwent what I would consider my rite of passage. It's generally seen as a ceremony which marks the transition from one phase of life to another. In Jewish culture for example it's a Bar Mitzvah - in the life of a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan, it's a League One, Tuesday-night trip to Carlisle in November.
Brunton Park was the setting and in some ways the fact we didn't lose disappoints me slightly. For the next thirty years I can say 'I was there on a Tuesday night in Carlisle when we were in the third tier of English football'. 

The only thing which would make that statement sound more painful and therefore demonstrate my commitment and love for the club more, would be to say 'I was there on a Tuesday night in Carlisle when we were in the third tier of English football - and we lost".

That's three down - seven to go

Nonetheless, I can lord it over future generations of Wolves fans until I die. In fact, I expect my obituary to say 'He loved his hometown team so much, he even went to Carlisle on a Tuesday night in November' and so on.

The football was forgettable, the ground was old school and getting my photo taken with my boyhood idol, Steve Bull, made the biting Cumbrian wind worthwhile.

#28 on my list is to visit 10 new football grounds. Alongside Brighton and Stafford Rangers that's three down, seven to go.

John Barnes

To some he was a wing wizard, a pioneering black footballer who set the game alight at Vicarage Road, Anfield and the Maracana; scoring arguably England's greatest goal against Brazil in the year I was born.

Barnes in his Liverpool heyday

For me - he was the slightly overweight, coming-to-the-end-of-his-career journeyman who I remembered most for his contribution to England's 1990 World Cup song; New Order's 'World In Motion'.

He was also the man responsible for one of the finest newspaper headlines of all time: “Super Caley go ballistic, Celtic are atrocious.” His ill-fated managerial tenure at one the biggest clubs in Europe, and his later failure at Tranmere Rovers has arguably tarnished what was an outstanding career. 

Barnes was an unmitigated failure at Celtic then later Tranmere

To some, his failure to get other managerial posts has been linked to the fact he's black and an endemic racist culture which exists in English football. Or perhaps it's simply that Barnes now joins a long and illustrious list of former great players who simply weren't cut out for management; and I include the likes of Billy Wright and Bobby Moore on that list.

Yesterday Barnes published a lengthy piece in the Guardian about racism - albeit "unconscious racism" in the English game.

It's a serious issue - one which needs to be dealt with and one which, in my opinion, has come on in leaps and bounds over the past twenty years. But it's an emotive issue - which I often feel is hampered by articles like the one Barnes has penned - and like the self-anointed spokespeople on race issues in football - 'The Society of Black Lawyers' who castigated England manager Roy Hodgson recently for a NASA-based team talk which quite clearly wasn't racist. It's instances like this which derail the legitimate cause of eliminating racism from our national game.

Barnes starts his article by saying "I'm not interested in what happened to Yaya Touré at CSKA Moscow". Well I am John. Russia has been selected to host the World Cup in 2018 - and with the prominent international coverage of homophobia and hate crimes in that country ahead of next year's Winter Olympics, I think we have a duty to expose the intolerant underbelly of nations like this and use international public opinion to try and instigate societal change.

I'm no fan of Peter Odemwingie -
but his treatment from fans in Moscow was appalling. 

That said, I understand what Barnes is trying to say - let's get our own house in order first. I agree - but he fails to recognise the strides made to eliminate racism in grounds across the country which was so prevalent in years gone by. Black players in the 1980s were victims of horrific racist abuse - abuse which is fortunately seldom heard nowadays. It's no longer deemed the norm by society. Yes, some fans will harbour those unsavoury and bilious opinions, of course they will, but they won't air them so freely as popular opinion has marginalised them.

Barnes then goes on to say that "any black person who has been successful, particularly Obama, has been lifted out of blackness and stands as the exception." To undermine, and in one sentence dismiss, one of the greatest and most progressive steps forward for black rights across the globe seems to me to be both foolish and ill-advised. When it comes to role models for young members of the black community surely Obama, leader of the free-world, should be heralded as a hero and someone to which all black youngsters should aspire to emulate?

Barnes then goes on to say that "there is nothing racist about an open, honest dialogue" - couldn't agree more John. But what he then went on to say astounds me: "it is certainly more productive then pointing the finger at the CSKA Moscow fans, or at Luis Suárez or John Terry, and demanding they are punished." Wrong John, just plain wrong.

Could you imagine the outcry (and rightly so) had the FA come out and chosen not to ban Terry and Suarez but instead send them on a cultural diversity awareness course."It would be far better if instead of banning them and demonising them, the Football Association aimed to educate them...". In this ill-thought out statement, Barnes appears to have absolved Terry and Suarez from any personal responsibility. Blaming society for their abhorrent ignorance is a cop-out John - and I hope our judiciary don't take a similar line the next time an EDL activist or an Islamic extremist is up in the dock for inciting racial hatred and intolerance.

The press were rightly outraged at Toure's treatment in Russia

Barnes is spot-on when he says "tackling racism is a long and complicated process" but he dismisses Toure's abuse in Moscow as "one-off incidents". But they're not John. Black players have been racially abused in Eastern Europe for years and UEFA and FIFA have failed to exert enough pressure on these countries, by either sufficiently fining them or throwing them out of competitions. If I remember, expelling English teams from European competitions in the 1980s had the desired effect of drastically reducing hooliganism abroad. 

Yes perceptions need to change - yes more needs to be done. Yes, education from a young age is key. We haven't eradicated racism from our society and from the response of clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea in the wake of the Terry and Suarez sagas, we haven't fully eradicated it from our national game. But maintaining a balanced, mainstream dialogue is just as important. If former players like Barnes want to really make a difference then condemn those who jump on the bandwagon and who undermine the legitimate cause to grab a few sound bites and few sensationalist headlines. They are doing more harm than good.
In my next blog I put forward my plan for world peace and give my insight to the whereabouts of Lord Lucan.

A light-hearted return next time I promise.

Here's a great song by a great Wulfrunian and former Highfields student...