With those long winter evenings closing in, what better way to pass the time than to snuggle up warm and entertain yourself with irrelevant facts from the weekend’s European football fixtures?
Actually, don’t think about that too much that. Just read the post. Ta.
Chances are, if your team’s hopes of qualification took a knock, one of your club’s fiercest rivals probably shipped points too.
It was that kind of Champions League week.
Brendan Batson has reiterated the importance of “fighting racism with a united front” in his plea to black footballers not to form a breakaway union. The former Arsenal and West Brom defender was speaking after several players, including Rio Ferdinand and Jason Roberts, refused to wear anti-racism t-shirts during warm-ups at the weekend, apparently as a protest against a perceived lack of consistency from the FA in a number of high profile incidents.
Batson has previously spoken of the abuse he suffered as the first black player to be selected for the Arsenal first team, and says that while he understands the players’ frustration, he believes they would be stronger in the current system than fighting alone. He said:
The battle accelerated in ’93 with Kick it Out, while current players may not think it has been accelerated enough in the last few years and because of the incidents over the past 12 months.
I think they should use the PFA and the other partners to help that change to support anti-racism campaigns to help that change.
Whether FIFA, UEFA and the FA will bother to join him on the frontline remains to be seen.
SideEyeSport 