To be clear, part of those comments attribtued to Mac were actually from Rodrigo de Paul. What Mac did say was not great - the bit about it not being done with bad intention, its just a mocking thing that has stuck without people thinking about it. But the worst bits, the whole final paragraph is not him.
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Absolutely, why does he even feel the need to talk about it publicly? Itās ridiculous, and could cause problems going forward.
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Oopsā¦ guess itās not just footballers that can be dumbasses. Fixed the post.
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very well putā¦ive never been able to nail it quite like this, but you are 100% spot onā¦and i think thats the crux of the issueā¦
i think of AFL and Rugby contoversies over here and the various players in the press
āive let myself and the team down and i just want to regain the trust from the leadership group and the supporters again, its not the culture of the club blah blah blah de fucking blah blah etc etc etc and i know it doesnt make up for what i did, but im gonna sign 100 footys and hold a free footy clinic this saturday morningā
bad bing bada bangā¦ everythings okā¦
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To echo @Redbj, this is genuinely inciteful for such a concise point (here I go to Pete the shit out of itā¦).
I hate that so much comes back to this shit bag, but I think one of the lessons many of us have learned from Trump, is that many of the perceived strides forward we collectively made were not actually because people realized the racist thing they said was a dumb thought given voice, but simply became better at self censoring.
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Genuinely a bit gutted about his comments. Was happy earlier in the week that he wasnāt one of the blerts on the bus. Shot himself in the foot with his comments since then.
Why are so many footballers intent on being absolute dumbasses. Just keep your mouth shut and stay out of the controversy.
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Exactly.
Because someone stops talking like an idiot doesnāt mean they are no longer an idiot.
MacAllister might have felt the need to voice his own opinion to the masses, because he is not a real Argentinian true blood himselfā¦ (the clue is in the name), yet he plays in the same side.
When in doubt, say nowtā¦ as my grannie used to preach
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I really donāt think that is a factor. He is at least third generation Argentinian, and Irish surnames are common in the Southern Cone. Chileās national liberation figure is an OāHiggins.
Argentinians are generally just a little bit racist, there isnāt much more to it than that. They have a long and troubled history with most visible minorities, and that works into the expression of intense sporting rivalries with rather more multi-racial South American neighbours. Throw in the āwin at all costsā mentality that values upsetting an opponent to throw him off his game, and there is a long litany of awful moments to point to around Argentinian football. McAllister is just aware enough to know that his teammate fucked up, not aware enough to manage himself around it, and not willing to throw a teammate to the wolves.
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Can someone explain the chant? I feel deeply confused. How can a playerās parents be simultaneously from Angola and Cameroon/Nigeria??
Thereās no logic to it. Only Cameroon is Francophone.
It just means the French team contains players whose ancestry is from Africa, therefore they are somehow āimpureā.
Itās deeply racist and nonsensical and nobody with a brain would sing it under any circumstances.
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The logic really is as simple as āFrench people are supposed to be white Europeansā, and therefore those players are not French, as deemed by the Spanish-speaking descendants of mostly Italians who settled the area of the Americas that became Argentina. The African countries named are probably chosen for no more sophisticated logic than how they rhyme into a song.
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This logic is wheeled out by online halfwits who usually have a remarkable selection of non sequitur flags in their profile.
Why does France have so many black players?
Well, because colonialism is wonderful, my dear boy.
Anyway, I would hope that the club would have contact with players when things like this blow up. Iām hoping Mac hast overstepped any club guidelines.
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I donāt think MacAllister has said anything genuinely terrible, just dumb, downplaying something as ābanterā in so many words. I donāt know anything about Enzo Fernandez, could be he really is thick enough to happily chant those words and not have any real ill feeling towards visible minorities - certainly wouldnāt be the first.
MacAllister just needs to understand how awful that treatment can be for some players, like Maignan at Milan. He doesnāt just deal with this in international footy, but every few matches in Serie A as well. It isnāt just banter when it starts to wear a man down and makes him think about leaving a league.
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Enzo is an idiot but I am not going to be that harsh on Mac for trying to back his mate if he believes Enzo has made a mistake (i.e., if he is genuinely an idiot and not intentional that is).
Sometimes you just have to have a mateās back - even if he is thick, dumb-as-a-door knob and even if you going to take fire for it.
Mac didnāt do or condone anything racist himself so I think the criticism is overly harsh.
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He did though. When people said āThat is shitty, thatās racistā, he responded with with āheās a good guy it was just bantzā. You can have your friendās back without minimizing the complaints people are raising.
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I donāt see how Mac is wrong. From his point of view, if he has known this person a long time, has never seen or known him to display said behaviour, he will say it as he knows. That does not mean he condones that one instance where Enzo said something controversial or racist.
Itās not up to Mac to decide his guilt or punishment. He probably says what he knows about a friend.
but he displayed that kind of behaviour?
isnāt that the pointā¦
i think we sometimes by far too much into the old ā they play football together, they must know each other wellā rhetoricā¦
how much do you really know someone?..
theissue i think most of us have with Mac (on this), is he didnt have to say somethingā¦it litterally required no input.
if his mate was on the end of racist abuse, then yeah, weigh inā¦stand up for your mateā¦ but this is different, his mate fucked up, he could have said a few private words to him, and still had is backā¦going to the socialsā¦nahā¦
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He could have simply said nothing. Would have been the best idea.
As for whether Enzo has displayed racist behaviour before - I think its worth pointing out that his teammate, a man he has spent the whole year in close proximity to, had zero hesitation calling him a racist.
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Iām really sad and angry to see Alexis embroiled in this mess.
Alexis Mac Allister is my favorite player (followed very closely by Wataru Endo) among the current Liverpool squad. However, he made a serious error of judgement. One must not, in no way, belittle heinous behaviors like racism. Calling such behaviors as banter will only embolden the offenders.
If you donāt have the courage to criticise it, at least stay silent.
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