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Rodrigo Bentancur

Glenda's Legs said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1859620831766143463

I don’t really understand Ange’s comments. If Bentancur said he would accept whatever penalty he was given, then why are we as a club appealing? I did wonder if it was Ange who wanted the club to appeal and we have done so to back his request.

It makes me feel embarrassed to see Troy Townsend’s comment.
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Troy is right but it’s a trade off now that the club are going for
The club and Ange haven’t argued the charge. His defence was daft and creaky a lie which is why he got an extra game imo
That’s what they want reduced… the best outcome they can get is one less game as the minimum was 6 games
 
DeanoAustin said:
It's a fair point Steff. But is it the FA's job to educate Bentancur or the club's job as he's their employee? If the club had been clever here they'd have accepted the punishment rather than appealing which, I assume based on the rules, will mean at best a one game reduction and sent Bentancur to do some of the things you outline above.
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Not concerned whose job it is mate, just concerned that nobody is really doing the proper job of promoting anti-racism. It all feels optical. Big ban and fine. Great. But what is anyone actually doing about educating?
 
thfcsteff said:
Not concerned whose job it is mate, just concerned that nobody is really doing the proper job of promoting anti-racism. It all feels optical. Big ban and fine. Great. But what is anyone actually doing about educating?
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It’s not footballs job to lead that educating, if players get out of school and still think like that, fudge em, they are not welcome in pro football.

That’s how football helps, zero tolerance, do something racist, career over.

That’s kicking racism out of football.
 
Baleforce said:
It’s not footballs job to lead that educating, if players get out of school and still think like that, fudge em, they are not welcome in pro football.

That’s how football helps, zero tolerance, do something racist, career over.

That’s kicking racism out of football.
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In this specific instance it comes down to one thing. Do you think Bentancur is a racist? If so, then your viewpoint holds.

I don't.
I think he made a stupid mistake and regrets it. I think a deep and public exploration, via a converation about the incident with Kick It Out for example, would do so much to educate people who might have done the same. I believe there is a difference between being a racist and being stupid (albeit being a racist IS stupid). I believe you can be stupid without being a racist. And what we're seeing now is that when stupid people/actions are punished with a sense of disproportion and no explanation, those people get forced into corners.
I want them to learn and genuinely understand why a 'casual stupid comment' like Bentancur's can be so offensive to people.

As for whether it's football's job, it certainly isn't their job to try and look like they're 'optically challenging racism'. They'd do better to expand their committment to that IMO.

Genuinely not sure where the fine money goes either, would love to learn.
 
thfcsteff said:
In this specific instance it comes down to one thing. Do you think Bentancur is a racist? If so, then your viewpoint holds.

I don't.
I think he made a stupid mistake and regrets it. I think a deep and public exploration, via a converation about the incident with Kick It Out for example, would do so much to educate people who might have done the same. I believe there is a difference between being a racist and being stupid (albeit being a racist IS stupid). I believe you can be stupid without being a racist. And what we're seeing now is that when stupid people/actions are punished with a sense of disproportion and no explanation, those people get forced into corners.
I want them to learn and genuinely understand why a 'casual stupid comment' like Bentancur's can be so offensive to people.

As for whether it's football's job, it certainly isn't their job to try and look like they're 'optically challenging racism'. They'd do better to expand their committment to that IMO.

Genuinely not sure where the fine money goes either, would love to learn.
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I think Bentacur comes from a country where certain things are said and accepted as the norm. It’s possibly not a coincidence that 3 big players from one country have had bans for racism here

I was recently in Poland and talking to a taxi driver about work. He said you have issues in the UK, we don’t have her because we don’t let brown people in. I’d not believe he was being racist he was just stating things as he knew them.

I think some people suffer form ignorance of not knowing what is acceptable… I hope that’s the case anyway
 
Bedfordspurs said:
I think Bentacur comes from a country where certain things are said and accepted as the norm. It’s possibly not a coincidence that 3 big players from one country have had bans for racism here

I was recently in Poland and talking to a taxi driver about work. He said you have issues in the UK, we don’t have her because we don’t let brown people in. I’d not believe he was being racist he was just stating things as he knew them.

I think some people suffer form ignorance of not knowing what is acceptable… I hope that’s the case anyway
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That's still racism.
 
thfcsteff said:
In this specific instance it comes down to one thing. Do you think Bentancur is a racist? If so, then your viewpoint holds.

I don't.
I think he made a stupid mistake and regrets it. I think a deep and public exploration, via a converation about the incident with Kick It Out for example, would do so much to educate people who might have done the same. I believe there is a difference between being a racist and being stupid (albeit being a racist IS stupid). I believe you can be stupid without being a racist. And what we're seeing now is that when stupid people/actions are punished with a sense of disproportion and no explanation, those people get forced into corners.
I want them to learn and genuinely understand why a 'casual stupid comment' like Bentancur's can be so offensive to people.

As for whether it's football's job, it certainly isn't their job to try and look like they're 'optically challenging racism'. They'd do better to expand their committment to that IMO.

Genuinely not sure where the fine money goes either, would love to learn.
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Yeah I do, but I think he'd argue vehemently that he's not, because he doesn't realise he is.

Which is still dangerous.
 
thfcsteff said:
In this specific instance it comes down to one thing. Do you think Bentancur is a racist? If so, then your viewpoint holds.
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As for whether Bentancur is a racist, you have to ask yourself the following:
Did he have a racist thought pop up in his head, process it and dismiss it OR did he have a racist thought and verbalise it? Mostly in society, you're only really labelled a racist when you act on your bad thought. He did, and will never lose the label all the time he is in the public eye.

This is one common definition of racism
The belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another.

It depends how the FA interpreted the words that came out of Rodrigo's mouth with the words in that definition - "distinct characteristics" and "inferior".

I can already see why the Tottenham legal team are ready to push back on the FA who have no clear definition of racism and hide instead behind the words "discrimination" and "aggravated breaches". So if someone mentions "race", the FA get to be judge and jury on whether it was racist or not and what crime fits the punishment.

I clicked into the FA public policies, and all of their documentation is way too loose in my opinion. If they want to kick it out, they need to do a better job.
 
Bedfordspurs said:
It is
But he was a fool and IMO racial abuse is as bad as it gets in the modern world especially in this club where we have real diversity
I grew up hearing and joining in what I now know are racist chants. I took one of my best mates with me who is a black guy
I didn’t realise what offence I may have been causing as I was naive and a kid
Players have kids looking up to them and for me we need more role models who do more
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Anyone that thinks what bentancur said is as bad as it gets needs a slap. There are far more damiging things than a stupid comment. Physical and mental. Just because you have a certain skin colour doesn't make the abuse any more or less damaging.
 
Glenda's Legs said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1859620831766143463

I don’t really understand Ange’s comments. If Bentancur said he would accept whatever penalty he was given, then why are we as a club appealing? I did wonder if it was Ange who wanted the club to appeal and we have done so to back his request.

It makes me feel embarrassed to see Troy Townsend’s comment.
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The club appealing the fine and Bentancur accepting the punishment are two different things. We could obviously do with him in the squad during a busy period of games. Whether it’s worth the potential negative PR I don’t know but given Enzo Fernandez got absolutely nothing for his racist singing and Bentancur got 7 games, well it doesn’t exactly feel like equal punishment does it?
 
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Baleforce said:
Yeah I do, but I think he'd argue vehemently that he's not, because he doesn't realise he is.

Which is still dangerous.
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I think what you have to at least take into account is people are products of their environment. Similar for people who lived decades/centuries ago and who held views that would be unacceptable in 2024. I am not excusing his comments or saying we have to accept it, but it doesn’t sound like his views exactly make him an outlier in that part of the world.
 
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Jurgen the German said:
I think what you have to at least take into account is people are products of their environment. Similar for people who lived decades/centuries ago and who held views that would be unacceptable in 2024. I am not excusing his comments are saying we have to accept it, but it doesn’t sound like his views exactly make him an outlier in that part of the world.
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Fully agree
It’s not an excuse but it does give it some context
 
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Lilbaz said:
Anyone that thinks what bentancur said is as bad as it gets needs a slap. There are far more damiging things than a stupid comment. Physical and mental. Just because you have a certain skin colour doesn't make the abuse any more or less damaging.
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Can’t work out if your suggesting I need a slap
 
Bentancur was wrong, he deserves punishment.
I would have gladly taken the 12 match ban if I could be confident that the FA would dole out similar punishments to all clubs for the same crime.
I don't have that confidence and I'm glad to see it appears that the club have finally grown a pair and have decided to stand up to the FA for once.
 
glasgowspur said:
Bentancur was wrong, he deserves punishment.
I would have gladly taken the 12 match ban if I could be confident that the FA would dole out similar punishments to all clubs for the same crime.
I don't have that confidence and I'm glad to see it appears that the club have finally grown a pair and have decided to stand up to the FA for once.
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That’s why the club are appealing IMO
The punishment doesn’t align with other examples
Doesn’t help he made up a really weak excuse
 
Jurgen the German said:
The club appealing the fine and Bentancur accepting the punishment are two different things. We could obviously do with him in the squad during a busy period of games. Whether it’s worth the potential negative PR I don’t know but given Enzo Fernandez got absolutely nothing for his racist singing and Bentancur got 7 games, well it doesn’t exactly feel like equal punishment does it?
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The rationale on that seems a bit f**ked up to me. Enzo had signed in for international duty whereas Bentancur hadn't. Enzo's offence was arguably worse so we're now just talking technicalities and optics rather than a real will to kick racism out of football.

On the offence. Bentancur was stupid and I think we should have accepted the punishment and taken the higher moral ground. I'm disappointed in the club. But I'm not sure he's a racist...honestly, I've received far more offensive stuff on WhatsApp in the name of humour.

That doesn't make what he said okay by the way.
 
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