Niclas Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Tonight at the Swedish Sport News a part of the programme was spent on what happend to Antonio Lindback during his races in the match between GTŻ Grudziądz - RKM Rybnik. According to Antonio a couple of fans (between 40-60) were doing the Heil Hitler salute, and throwing empy beer bottles at him. As far as I understood Antonio meant the attacks were directed towards him. It is pretty obvious that a HH-salute towards a black speedwayrider is based on racial issues. The chairman of Grudziadz was diagreeing with Antonio and said that he didnt see any salutes. He accused Antonio for provoking the fans by showing his finger, which Lindback dismissed. I know there is some right-winged fans amongst the polish footballsfans but is it common also in speedway in Poland? What about England? Does it ever happend that fans are showing any right-winged sympathies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngy105 Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Tonight at the Swedish Sport News a part of the programme was spent on what happend to Antonio Lindback during his races in the match between GTŻ Grudziądz - RKM Rybnik. According to Antonio a couple of fans (between 40-60) were doing the Heil Hitler salute, and throwing empy beer bottles at him. As far as I understood Antonio meant the attacks were directed towards him. It is pretty obvious that a HH-salute towards a black speedwayrider is based on racial issues. The chairman of Grudziadz was diagreeing with Antonio and said that he didnt see any salutes. He accused Antonio for provoking the fans by showing his finger, which Lindback dismissed. I know there is some right-winged fans amongst the polish footballsfans but is it common also in speedway in Poland? What about England? Does it ever happend that fans are showing any right-winged sympathies? Oh Dear. Never nice to hear of this in Speedway. I believe a similar incident occured when Antonio rode for Poole. What I mean is he was the subject of some racist abuse but I believe it was soon stamped out. I think a Poole supporter who was actually there would be better giving their version of events. Not nice to see in any walk of life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatDave Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Its a sad fact of life, Niclas, there's Racists everywhere, even on this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbit Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 I believe a similar incident occured when Antonio rode for Poole. What I mean is he was the subject of some racist abuse but I believe it was soon stamped out. I think a Poole supporter who was actually there would be better giving their version of events. There was an incident when Antonio rode for us at a couple of local clubs, one involving a fan of the opposition and one involving some drunken twerps masquerading as 'fans' of our club. Thankfully I don't think Anton was aware of either incident but it does unfortunately happen. Needs to be stamped out immediately anywhere whether in the UK or overseas tbh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbin' Along Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 There was an incident when Antonio rode for us at a couple of local clubs, one involving a fan of the opposition and one involving some drunken twerps masquerading as 'fans' of our club. Thankfully I don't think Anton was aware of either incident but it does unfortunately happen. Needs to be stamped out immediately anywhere whether in the UK or overseas tbh. It happened once in the bar at Swindon - some one wearing a Poole coat shouted something incredibly horrible at Antonio whilst he was riding. I won't repeat it. In the years I've been going to speedway this was the first overtly racist remark I ever heard - maybe because of the lack of riders from any other group than caucasian. We've always had remarks against Welsh or Scottish riders - although these could probably be classed as racist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbit Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 That's one of the ones I was refering to although I was trying to be diplomatic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Turner Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 I can't say I've ever witnessed anything 'right-wing' at any speedway tracks. Racism of course is not always associated with right-wing feelings. I heard plenty of racist comments when Antonio rode here in the UK, generally from middle-aged men. He was often controversial and that spurred on negative comments...being black simply gave ignorant people the excuse they look for. Generally, racism from white people against black people, and vice versa, is continually decreasing in this country...and is now considered a rarity according to national police reports. You certainly can't say the same between whites and Asians, but that's another matter. Speedway fans in the UK are mainly working-class people, and that is where racism is most common. The opportunity for racism to surface in British speedway is rare, so it's impossible to guess how much of a problem it could be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 There was also one at Eastbourne a couple of days after that as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbin' Along Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 That's one of the ones I was refering to although I was trying to be diplomatic. That's one thing you could never accuse me of - diplomacy! I'd love tobe able to name and shame the numpty, but I can't - because I've never seen him before or since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbit Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Hopefully he crawled under the rock he came from which then squished him! It was certainly not our finest hour and trust me, if anyone from Poole had found him first.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbin' Along Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Hopefully he crawled under the rock he came from which then squished him! It was certainly not our finest hour and trust me, if anyone from Poole had found him first.... Quite - I thought he was going to need an armed escort out of the stadium! Slightly away from topic, we used to have a fan at Swindon who had a condition that I can only compare with Tourettes. Everytime Leigh Richardson came out, he felt compelled to called him a really bad name (pick the worst one you can think of - you'll probably be right). It was only ever Richardson, and he was supposed to be a Swindon fan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Wasn't me I never shout anything for him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 I looked on a Polish speedway fans forum last year.I think it might have been Stal Gorzów fans forum.And i was shocked that there were a few avatars that couldn't be described as anything but extreme right wing of Fascist.Pretty sure there was "White power",Swastikas and a rework of the figure putting rubbish in a rubbish bin putting an Isreali flag in the bin,i think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dekker Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Polish speedway has the same problems as polish football in that respect, as do most former communist countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatDave Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Wasn't me I never shout! Its your shout Shazzy!! Mine's a Crownie! Polish speedway has the same problems as polish football in that respect, as do most former communist countries. Alas I don't think there's one single country immune from it, Dekker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niclas Posted July 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 I looked on a Polish speedway fans forum last year.I think it might have been Stal Gorzów fans forum.And i was shocked that there were a few avatars that couldn't be described as anything but extreme right wing of Fascist.Pretty sure there was "White power",Swastikas and a rework of the figure putting rubbish in a rubbish bin putting an Isreali flag in the bin,i think And I guess the Polish motorcycle federation aint doing much about it. The secretary general of the Swedish motorcycle Federation promised that he will bring it up to the next international meeting. I havent seen any racism towards Antonio in Sweden except for a fan who called him ni**er when I visited a bar for watching SWC a couple of years ago. But I am pretty sure we have the same problems as many other countries but in Sweden very few people show their racist opinion in public. I hope we dont have to see what happened to Antonio again, but I doubt. AJ was interviewed as well and was asked if he ever had notice any "nazi"-behaviour in Poland. He said he hasnt but he described the polish fans as much more aggressive than other fans, like in England & Sweden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazzman Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 Speedway fans in the UK are mainly working-class people, and that is where racism is most common. The opportunity for racism to surface in British speedway is rare, so it's impossible to guess how much of a problem it could be. I have to say I disagree there. I have seen some terrible incidents of racism playing cricket and rugby - infact I will go as far to say that when I played Rugby alongside privledged kids, it was rife. I think of possibly ten occasions I have came across racism in a middle class or upper class atmosphere. Over the past twenty years, there has been a development within the working class that people understand British doesn't mean white but I don't think racism is any more common in differing class. It's a digusting problem which ''class'' has no different views on - never more common or less common by a different class. I find more Middle/Upper Class people ignorant of it and possibly less vocal and more sly. Whereas the Working Class have always been at the forefront of everyday British life thus encounting more people with different backgrounds. Polish speedway has the same problems as polish football in that respect, as do most former communist countries. Every country has it. I am happy my country is open to it and frown upon racism. Sadly even developed countries like France and Spain, even US has major problems in everyday life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 As someone who despises racism and overt prejudice in any form, I hope never to hear any such remark at a speedway match, a sport as international as any. That said, speedway hasn't helped its own cause by recruiting very few people from ethnic minority groups. It may be a cultural thing that black and Asian lads play cricket, football, rugby and other sports - even F1 now - but don't really go in for speedway. I think it would help greatly if we had our own Lewis Hamilton. Anyone on the horizon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 There was an incident when Antonio rode for us at a couple of local clubs, one involving a fan of the opposition and one involving some drunken twerps masquerading as 'fans' of our club. Thankfully I don't think Anton was aware of either incident but it does unfortunately happen. Needs to be stamped out immediately anywhere whether in the UK or overseas tbh. Was the perpetrator thrown out? I'd hope decent fans who heard the remark reported him to the stewards and had him ejected, if not arrested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbit Posted July 10, 2008 Report Share Posted July 10, 2008 (edited) I don't think anything was done at the exact point in time, but when the promotion found out about it, there was a big hoo-ha and they publicly pronounced a zero tolerance policy and asked for those responsible to make themselves known - not surprisingly like the big, brave men they were they vanished into the ether. Edited July 10, 2008 by rabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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