Before everyone gets on their high horses regarding the so-called PC brigade, RA offered his resignation to ITV and then got in touch with The Guardian and did the same thing. Neither of them sacked him... he resigned!
If a fan shouted racist remarks at a game it's very likely they would be banned for life. You cannot have a rule for one and a different rule for another.
I too will miss his commentry/analysis, but he made a mistake and has done the right thing by resigning.
"But how to make Liverpool economically prosperous? If only there was some way for Liverpudlians to profit from going on and on about the past in a whiny voice."
But this isnt Big Rons first gaff involving a racist comment apparently. During either the last world cup or possibly the one before that he was commentating on a match involving an African team (Cameroon probably) and when the African team scored Ron apparently said "I bet that lads mam is really proud of her son tonight, sitting up in her tree somewhere" or words to that effect. No fuss was made about it at the time for some reason and it was never picked up by the press.
Yes ok Magoo, so calling a Welsh person a ?sheep-shagger?, an Italian a ?tally?, a French bloke a ?frog? a German a ?Nazi? etc., etc, isn?t of course racist, but it seems to me somebody with a different skin colour as soon as you call a Chinese guy a ?chink?, or a bloke from Pakistan a ?Paki? we don?t seem to play by the same rules.
Big Soccer Ron made a mistake, but I suppose if we judge him as a racist by his comments, then we must all surely be racists or bigots of varying degrees.
PEOPLE think Stephen Hawking is so clever, but when you ask him a question and he is typing in the answer on his little screen, how do we know he isn't just looking up the answer on the Internet?
Where is the common sense in all of this?
Don't you realize that some words are extremely offensive?
Perhaps in the "good old days" 'Pakis', 'Niggers' & 'Chinks' knew it was just harmless fun.
I mean "Taffy" & "Paki" are obviously the same kind of insult right?
Hey wouldn't it be hilarious if you was a "Taffy Paki".
Ho, ho, ho chortle bollocks.
I'm suprised at the amount of people backing him up!
Fucking amazing!
Tell you what, let's just use the same brush when we talk of Islamic clerics that refer to Westerners in equally ignorant racist terms.
Oh they don't mean anything by it. Old Abdul is just having a laugh.
It's always the same old bollocks of "the old school".
It's time to get with the 21st Century.
You have to stop the acceptance & excuse of racist comments at some point.
Go to Brixton and say "Alright Niggers" and see if you get a standing ovation.
Go to Bethnal Green and ask the Paki's to cook a curry and see if you stomach the flavour.
Oh but it's good old Ron right. British institution? My arse.
Still.....Holden MacGroyn
BUT WITHOUT MY BRUCE LEE SIG BECAUSE HE'S TOO HARD FOR THIS PLACE...
Given that the statement was made off-air when he was off guard I think you could draw the conclusion that he's slightly racist but maybe not in the vein of neo-nazi hooligan or a member of the KKK
As for him helping black players...counts for nought once you've used the Nigger word in anger/frustration regardless of circumstances IMO
If he'd called him a Lazy Fucking Frenchman he'd probably be running for Politics next week?
I think that its very difficult to portray old "Early Doors" as a fervent racial supremicist given his promotion of black players at WBA et al.
But he did make a very offensive remark that was, I understand, heard on broadcasts outside of the UK. Given that, I don't see how ITV could possibly do anything but accept his resignation.
He's done the right thing in resigning immediately and issuing a full apology - but he's doomed his career as a media commentator.
Its no surprise to see a minority of people supporting Big Ron (despite him admitting that what he said was indefensible and an immediate resignation issue)- the old "I'm not racist myself but whats wrong with me calling black people niggers?" faction still exist, but they are, thankfully, an increasingly diminishing and marginalised minority.