The Atleti Situation: Racism and Death threats by "fans"

[templargirl.livejournal.com]

This is not a post to bash the club or its values, it's a post to show a situation that has many of us fans of other teams tired of in la Liga.



I'm 26 years old and been a fan of Athletic Club since I was born, I have gone to practically all the stadiums in Spain (except Getafe and Tenerife), most of the fans are quite passionate but you can have fun with them, there isn't much bad blood, of course there are matches and matches, RM and BCN tease and pull each other's chain a LOT but at the end of the day things are fine, you didn't see Barcelona rioting for not winning the CL last year or Madrid rioting for lack of titles in a couple of years.

There are several famous rivalries in Spain besides RM and BCN: Espanyol and Barcelona, Atlético and Real Madrid and of course the Basque Derbi: Real Sociedad vs Athletic Club.

I think I'm used to see rival fans sitting together and having a beer while waiting for the match, I've gone to Anoeta decked head to toe in Athletic gear and no one has bashed or insulted me for it.







That's how we roll in Euskadi, you can sit with rivals without any single problem happening.

I've also gone to the two biggest Madrid stadiums: Santiago Bernabeu and Vicente Calderón, the first one is not exactly very friendly but you can work it out there, the Atleti stadium is simply unbearable.

They are known as the worst fanbase in Spain hands down, they scream bad things at players, are racists, kick fans in the stands, throw stuff at the field...

This is what they do to rival players:

One of our captains, Gurpegui, gets called: "eres un yonki" (drug addict) or "pásame un gramo" (pass me a gram of drug) at the Vicente Calderón stadium ¬¬

they also sing: "vascos vascos, hemos venido a fusilaros" (basques, we've come to execute (kill) you")

"Gurpegui muerete" "Die Gurpegui die"

They have black/latinamerican players in their club but still chant this kind of shit to rival players:

"Mourinho son of a bitch" "Mourinho die" "That Portuguese is suck a motherfucker" "Marcelo you are a Monkey" "Die Pepe Die"

The Atletic gang throwing Flares to Sevilla fans.

You can find tons and tons of related issues about this fanatism, the LFP does nothing, the Spanish Football Federation does nothing, UEFA does nothing, the referees look the other way...

It's really tiresome and annoying that this situation is still allowed to happen in our stadiums, I hope something can be done but I don't count on it ¬¬

Comments

[xevochic.livejournal.com]

I can't

[darkensunrise.livejournal.com]

this is terrible.

[missalonso.livejournal.com]

I am shocked...

[masterofhentzau.livejournal.com]

SO. MUCH DAMN. HATE.

The reffs ignoring it is what really pisses me off. I can hear atleti fans chanting racist abuse over a crappy internet stream that dies every five minutes and yet you can't hear it in the stadium and note it down like you are fucking paid to?

[yukimeru.livejournal.com]

man, this is sick :/

[pinpinery.livejournal.com]

Such an embarrassment. I wish Cerezo or whoever would actually do something and fix it themselves without being forced, but they won't because they'd lose ~€$£.

[raichelisic.livejournal.com]

Oh there you are xD

OT: Has Falcao renewed yet? I saw they upped James' clause.. the highest now next to Hulk. xD

[http://users.livejournal.com/_almagitana/]

I honestly don't see the point in this point other than stirring up shit. I bet I can find examples of similar stuff happening at other clubs and I'm not making "Let's all hate on [insert club I don't like here]" posts.

[templargirl.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you think that, but the situation has become unbearable for fans of other teams, even in their own fields when they play against Atleti, the Frente Atlético has become a menace and some of us have filed complaints everywhere but so far nothing.

I have nothing against Atletico as an institution, the club and its history, not even against their players; but the way some of their fans have been behaving for a while is simply disgraceful and its hands down the most racist/dangerous in all of Spain.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_almagitana/]

And I am in no way whatsoever saying this behavior is acceptable, I used to live in the Atleti side of town and I've seen things happen but I still don't get the point of this.

[piratesswoop.livejournal.com]

Well, honestly I don't get the point of racism but it still happens.

[narusaku4vr.livejournal.com]

This is just digusting!

[icannotthink.livejournal.com]

ive seen this before, and goddammit id rather not see them again :(

[kindofshy.livejournal.com]

I remember a couple of seasons ago we (Liverpool) were in the same Champions League group as Atletico and there was an incident at the Calderon against one of the other teams in the group (either PSV or Olympic Marseille). I think it had something to do with the Atleti fans making monkey noises at the black players that were on the opponent's team. Atleti fans defended themselves claiming that they were chanting 'Kun, Kun, Kun', but UEFA punished them regardless. I think they were fined and had to play one of their home matches in an empty stadium. So they have been punished once, but maybe not since then?

[kindofshy.livejournal.com]

It was against Olympic Marseille I think. I also recall a report on a French website which recounted how the police there and around the stadium had also been really rough on the visiting Marseille fans, even though those fans hadn't really done anything to provoke them.

[lilsuperstar19.livejournal.com]

Those videos. I really don't how some people have so much hate in their hearts. Then again, practically growing up in Celtic Park as a kid, I know it happens everywhere and nobody is doing anything to stop such vile chants. It's really sad :(

[ayres-4.livejournal.com]

It's so interesting to me that the fans of a particular club are specifically racist/aggresive/etc. I guess I've always seen it here, where it's like that no matter what club you're from.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_almagitana/]

there are a lot more fans that behave like this in Spain, it's not exclusive to atleti AT ALL.

[vitamaligna.livejournal.com]

c/p my earlier comment from the CRon post:

It doesn't matter if it's one person or an entire stadium, if they're drunk or joking. It is not okay. At least some portion of those people are adults who are capable of better judgement and the fact that they don't exercise it really pisses me off. Then the children see it and begin to do the same thing. It's a vicious cycle. Nobody needs to say it and nobody need to hear it.

And I'm not just saying this about Atleti, I'm saying this about the obnoxious assholes that support clubs across Spain (even Barcelona), Italy, and all over the world.

[marsyke.livejournal.com]

Talking about adults and children. My aunt went to a football game of my nephew once and she came back totally in shock because of what parents yell during a game of 11-year-olds playing football. There are even stories about parents attacking refs after children's games.

[lexia269.livejournal.com]

Those chants are pretty despicable, but they're not the only ones. The trouble Neil Lennon has had lately is a perfect example of how no league can deny this kind of problem still exists.

UEFA, FIFA and and all the individual FAs need to start tackling this properly. Banning troublesome fans, inflincting fines and penalties on clubs such as playing matches behind closed doors. This needs to stop, and it's not going to until the powers that be stop bickering amongst themselves and sort it out properly.

I can't believe its 2011 and we're still discussing this, it should have been cleared out of the game years ago. I know it'll never truly die away; there will always be those who are more trouble than they're worth, but letting it continue at the level where death threats and postal bombs are becoming more and more frequent is unforgivable.

How much more incompetent can FIFA/UEFA become???

[x-butterfly19-x.livejournal.com]

The Neil Lennon thing and all the tangential problems are awful.

IA, FIFA/UEFA need to look at ways of dealing with such behaviour in an effective manner.

[fakevoices.livejournal.com]

this is just disgusting. i don't understand why people behave this way. its one thing to dislike a team but really to make fun of them based on their ethnicity or cultural background is beyond low and only make their country and their team look bad.

[harrypotterlvr3.livejournal.com]

this is so gross

[cynicalsnark.livejournal.com]

Part of me wants to talk about how this is brand of disgusting is related to a particular club, but clearly this is a much bigger problem that is perpetuated by a lot of clubs--and when racism is involved there is no "degree" scale of disgusting, really. All that shit is fucked up.

What makes it fucked up is if the Ultras were punished in some way, then maybe there could be change. But the clubs do nothing. The clubs do nothing because the Spanish FA does nothing, UEFA does nothing, FIFA does nothing...everyone does nothing. So when there's a cycle of complete inactivity, incompetence, and just blatant "LA LA LA I SEE NO EVIL I HEAR NO EVIL", then what kind of change can happen?

We see it in smaller venues--banning a racist fan from going to games, in Italy that one club who walked off the pitch after one of their players was called a racial slur by another player, that referee who stopped the match because of racial slurs, making home match bans for some clubs after racism was noted from the ultras. What's sad is that these actions--while incredibly awesome, are on relatively smaller scales. Hopefully with time, and with the constant and loud efforts of people who call racism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination for its utter BULLSHIT, maybe we'll see it being enforced by UEFA, and by clubs.

Until then...THIS is what remains. And that's just incredibly sad for everyone involved, including anyone who's a fan of the sport.

[marsyke.livejournal.com]

It is, they should just ban them from the stadium. Just like they do with hooligans here, when you cause violence you are punished and can't get into stadiums anymore.

[noamjen.livejournal.com]

This post just makes me hate UEFA even more. If you are really against racism fucking do something!

[verses.livejournal.com]

I would sum up the RFEF and UEFA's attitude on doing shit about this as "Ugh, do we have to?" And with a non-top 2 team, the answer is "Nah, no one will notice."

[templargirl.livejournal.com]

Exactly! they are so disgusting and as long as stadiums are filled and shirts are sold then they don't give a shit ¬¬

[black-swan87.livejournal.com]

I'm just going to sit back with my popcorn and wait for verses to go full Targaryen in here.

[verses.livejournal.com]

[tralala.livejournal.com]

It's just ridiculous that none of the authorities do anything, pretending it doesn't happen and hoping it'll go away isn't going to work.


PS I'm watching the comments in case anyone feel like being a racist shit.

[templargirl.livejournal.com]

I agree with you and thanks for being here :)

It has gotten to the point where it isn't just against the players, we as fans get "basques basques we're going to kill you" so that's just unacceptable o_O

[winkiss.livejournal.com]

We could all learn a little something from the children.

SO CUTE!

[templargirl.livejournal.com]

[poodlewhisperer.livejournal.com]

OT, Basque men in your pics are hot.

BASQUE BOYS

[templargirl.livejournal.com]

well, we're hot in general LOL ;) :p

Here, have some moar Basque goodness:

[theosakansun.livejournal.com]

What even are these idiots doing? Honestly, way to ruin an otherwise friendly environment :|