Anti-racism campaigners believe peer pressure is the best way of stamping out racist chants at football games.
Mido, Middleborough’s centre forward, was targeted by Newcastle United’s fans with songs referring to his Muslim background during last week’s premiership clash.
To the tune of Blue Moon, they sang: “Mido, he’s got a bomb Mido…”
Piara Powar, director of Kick It Out, said: “Rivalry is healthy. But strong rivalries cannot become an excuse for abusive behaviour on the basis of race, religion or even the basis of someone’s sexuality. We need to make sure other people feel empowered enough to say, I disagree with that.”
Not everyone will agree, but wouldn’t it just been better for the Newcastle supporters not to refer to his religion and highlight that Mido is a “Spurs reject” prone to throwing the odd hissy fit when substituted?
By comparison, in 2005, Millwall fans, at the prospect of playing Iran in a preseason friendly, planned to sing:
“You’re Shi’ite and you know you are”
“You’re next and you know you are”
They even prepared one for Iran’s women supporters: “Get your face out for the lads.”