| Marvin Sordell 16:38 - Jul 29 with 2987 views | pwrightsknees |
How terrible that this young man has decided to retire from football at the age of 28 as a result of mental health issues arising from racial abuse and bullying in the game!
He was never going to rise to the heights of Premier League superstars, but, with his talent and skills, he should have had a reasonably lucrative career in the lower leagues.
It is such a sad comment on our society and in particular the game that we love.
Best wishes for the future Marvin. |  | | |  |
| Marvin Sordell on 20:17 - Jul 29 with 2953 views | Leadbelly |
Very sad if they are the reasons he has decided to retire when he probably has another five years or so playing at a decent level.
Racism has never gone away and actually seems to be having something of a resurgence in all walks of life. The Brexit referendum result does seem to have given some people a green light to voice opinions they’ve always held but had previously kept to themselves.
I quite often take a taxi home from Colchester after a night out. Almost all the cabbies are from outside the UK and I’ve been asking them whether they’ve noticed any change in attitude over the last three years. Every one of them has said yes and some of the abuse they’ve suffered is appalling. Customers refusing to pay because “you shouldn’t f****g be here” and “why don’t you go home” seems par for the course. Physical violence is not unknown. I fear things may get worse now we have a PM who has obviously seen Trump’s success in appealing to the lowest common denominator coupled with the threat to the Tory vote share posed by Farage and his followers. | |
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| Marvin Sordell on 20:56 - Jul 29 with 2943 views | burnsieespana |
Well said both pinault and leedbelly. What has been going on recently makes me appalled. |  | | |
| Marvin Sordell on 21:02 - Jul 29 with 2941 views | pwrightsknees |
| Marvin Sordell on 20:17 - Jul 29 by Leadbelly |
Very sad if they are the reasons he has decided to retire when he probably has another five years or so playing at a decent level.
Racism has never gone away and actually seems to be having something of a resurgence in all walks of life. The Brexit referendum result does seem to have given some people a green light to voice opinions they’ve always held but had previously kept to themselves.
I quite often take a taxi home from Colchester after a night out. Almost all the cabbies are from outside the UK and I’ve been asking them whether they’ve noticed any change in attitude over the last three years. Every one of them has said yes and some of the abuse they’ve suffered is appalling. Customers refusing to pay because “you shouldn’t f****g be here” and “why don’t you go home” seems par for the course. Physical violence is not unknown. I fear things may get worse now we have a PM who has obviously seen Trump’s success in appealing to the lowest common denominator coupled with the threat to the Tory vote share posed by Farage and his followers. |
If something's not right, try to find a way to blame it on to Brexit, Boris, Nigel and/or Trump. | | | |
| Marvin Sordell on 21:29 - Jul 29 with 2936 views | Leadbelly |
| Marvin Sordell on 21:02 - Jul 29 by pwrightsknees |
If something's not right, try to find a way to blame it on to Brexit, Boris, Nigel and/or Trump. |
I’m not trying to find a way to blame any of them but from discussing racism with those on the receiving end they have all said things have got worse since the Brexit referendum. Coincidence perhaps but it appears to me the divisions in this country have got deeper and wider since the vote. More people taking extreme positions worries me greatly.
A friend of mine worked for Farage for several years. Regardless of whether or not he is in any way responsible for the situation in this country I’ve heard plenty from someone who knows him very well to be to be pretty sure he’s not someone with whom I’d want to have a pint. | |
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| Marvin Sordell on 23:17 - Jul 29 with 2922 views | pwrightsknees |
| Marvin Sordell on 21:29 - Jul 29 by Leadbelly |
I’m not trying to find a way to blame any of them but from discussing racism with those on the receiving end they have all said things have got worse since the Brexit referendum. Coincidence perhaps but it appears to me the divisions in this country have got deeper and wider since the vote. More people taking extreme positions worries me greatly.
A friend of mine worked for Farage for several years. Regardless of whether or not he is in any way responsible for the situation in this country I’ve heard plenty from someone who knows him very well to be to be pretty sure he’s not someone with whom I’d want to have a pint. |
Me Again, LB.
I think that we should end political debate. You and I are obviously of like mind in that we both strongly feel that, in this country, in the 21st century, there is no place for discrimination or bullying of any sort whatever the person's age, colour, nationality, gender, sexual persuasion or disability. And I say that as a fierce and ardent Brexiter of over 45 years.
My deepest sympathy goes to Marvin Sordell, his family and friends. And we should all be ashamed that this has been allowed to happen. | | | |
| Marvin Sordell on 10:22 - Jul 30 with 2886 views | wessex_exile |
On Marvin Sordell, I posted this on the OMB, but he is to be congratulated for having the courage to talk about mental health - something society needs to do much more often. I hope he finds healing for himself, and continues to help others too - brave man.
On the post-referendum apparent rise in hate crime, the link is to a very reasoned measured and most importantly balanced report by Civitas which is well worth a read.
https://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/hatecrimethefactsbehindtheheadlines.pdf |  |
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| Marvin Sordell on 11:58 - Jul 30 with 2872 views | pwrightsknees |
| Marvin Sordell on 10:22 - Jul 30 by wessex_exile |
On Marvin Sordell, I posted this on the OMB, but he is to be congratulated for having the courage to talk about mental health - something society needs to do much more often. I hope he finds healing for himself, and continues to help others too - brave man.
On the post-referendum apparent rise in hate crime, the link is to a very reasoned measured and most importantly balanced report by Civitas which is well worth a read.
https://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/hatecrimethefactsbehindtheheadlines.pdf |
So, Marvin's problems are compounded by Brexit are they??????
I will argue Brexit with anyone, but to use this young man's distress for political advantage is wrong, and we should all be ashamed of ourselves for bringing his personal matters into a political arena. | | | |
| Marvin Sordell on 12:09 - Jul 30 with 2870 views | Moor_Pinot |
| Marvin Sordell on 10:22 - Jul 30 by wessex_exile |
On Marvin Sordell, I posted this on the OMB, but he is to be congratulated for having the courage to talk about mental health - something society needs to do much more often. I hope he finds healing for himself, and continues to help others too - brave man.
On the post-referendum apparent rise in hate crime, the link is to a very reasoned measured and most importantly balanced report by Civitas which is well worth a read.
https://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/hatecrimethefactsbehindtheheadlines.pdf |
Well posted Wessex. It is a tragedy that our country has come to this.
I agree with PWK - for Marvin Sordell it is a horrid state of affairs to imagine and I wonder if he had any help. I hope he will get some now. It was equally dreadful to read what LB posted which compliments your posted link today Wessex. What a state of affairs.
A very long time ago when I was a young-un playing cricket for the village [better not say which] the XI were X and an extra, an American, was brought in from the nearby airbase. He was black. I remember how he was shunned and to a lad like me he was ill-treated and I couldn't understand why. As a 14 year old I somehow plucked up the courage to speak to him, no idea what I said but I know it was out of sympathy.
When I went to work in Somerset it was the 80s, the height of Viv & Joel's powers on the cricket field. They were Gods to the Somerset public. Yet if I went to watch a step 3 or 4 non league football game during the winter season any black player was abused and called a 'darkie'. For a while I stopped going. I'd been hopeful that, now adult, the memories of my past were now history.
I came to live in deeply rural, potentially insular, France in mid 2015 for pragmatic reasons. I did not want to. I hated it at first.
On my first day we went to a little bar-restaurant in the tiny local town [there are only 3 'towns' in the Creuse, a county the size of Devon but with the population of Exeter]. We were roundly abused by the chef of the restaurant over the road for being English. It went on a long while and the patron and patronne of the little bar became more and more agitated & embarrassed as they could see we understood. It was awful - perhaps Marvin Sordell-like, I don't know. I have never been back to that bar.
I cannot say if things in the UK are as bad as LB's account or the article you link Wessex because I no longer live in the UK, but if it is bad enough to make Marvin a victim then our country is to blame and I am so sad. Sad for him. Have we learned so little, have we made so little progress since the 60s and my village cricket? And why? It may be political but I do not feel able to comment or confirm that. Instead, my thoughts are with Sordell and anyone like him. It should not happen.
All I can add is that after 4 years here, 2 spells in a hospital, setting up my small business in a foreign language and going about our daily stuff all in the company of people of all colours and nationalities who do not speak my language at all I no longer feel as I did on that first day. We have encountered no more problems.
I never thought that I would have the house up for sale to move to another area of France, because I WANT to, rather than to return to the UK. But I aim to move to another part of this quiet, gentle land where - as they used to say to me on Alderney " people have time to be people". And this is true. [Of course they can't stand Macron and I can't stand their hunting laws but given the subject of Marvin Sordell and maybe others like him I remain genuinely saddened to read elements of this thread.]
Here, aggressive behaviour just isn't witnessed and tolerance - of all sorts of things - is much more to the fore.
I find myself shocked at how in the last year or so I have shifted my views. I can now watch the U's live for 6€ a go every game, I can watch the cricket live on each county's 'Live Stream' & there are even some decent breweries, perhaps not serving as many of those splendid brews mentioned by NOah in his contribution the other day, but decent nevertheless.
As a result I look at the Sordell situation with a semi-understanding - I cannot presume all - and feel ashamed that this state of affairs is still existent.
May he come back again soon, after some help and support and may he prosper in whatever sphere. There should be no need for people to be treated like this these days. It's 50 years since my village cricket match. Have we learnt so little? |  |
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| Marvin Sordell on 08:05 - Jul 31 with 2809 views | wessex_exile |
| Marvin Sordell on 11:58 - Jul 30 by pwrightsknees |
So, Marvin's problems are compounded by Brexit are they??????
I will argue Brexit with anyone, but to use this young man's distress for political advantage is wrong, and we should all be ashamed of ourselves for bringing his personal matters into a political arena. |
Honestly PWK, you’re making a connection that no one is claiming here. Marvin Sordell’s mental health has been damaged, and according to accounts I’ve read, a lifetime of racist abuse/ systematic endemic racism has been a significant contributing factor.
LB then made the point that whilst things are still much better than the dark days of the 70s and 80s, racism in football has never really completely gone away. He also made the observation, based on first-hand knowledge, that post-referendum appears to have emboldened certain elements of society who previously kept their nasty opinions to themselves. I posted a link to a very good article that considered whether indeed this apparent rise in hate crime was true or not (it is, but it’s nowhere near as clear cut as some claim).
No one is trying to make brexit-related political gain out of Marvin’s suffering here. | |
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| Marvin Sordell on 08:43 - Jul 31 with 2805 views | Leadbelly |
| Marvin Sordell on 08:05 - Jul 31 by wessex_exile |
Honestly PWK, you’re making a connection that no one is claiming here. Marvin Sordell’s mental health has been damaged, and according to accounts I’ve read, a lifetime of racist abuse/ systematic endemic racism has been a significant contributing factor.
LB then made the point that whilst things are still much better than the dark days of the 70s and 80s, racism in football has never really completely gone away. He also made the observation, based on first-hand knowledge, that post-referendum appears to have emboldened certain elements of society who previously kept their nasty opinions to themselves. I posted a link to a very good article that considered whether indeed this apparent rise in hate crime was true or not (it is, but it’s nowhere near as clear cut as some claim).
No one is trying to make brexit-related political gain out of Marvin’s suffering here. |
Exactly that. | |
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| Marvin Sordell on 11:21 - Jul 31 with 2788 views | pwrightsknees |
| Marvin Sordell on 08:43 - Jul 31 by Leadbelly |
Exactly that. |
Well said all.
I hold my hands up and acknowledge that the Brexit related arguments (mostly my fault I admit) became a distraction from the truly serious and unpleasant situation experienced by Marvin.
Let's all put the politics behind us and see if Marvin and other sufferers can be helped by a change in society's behaviour and attitude. | | | |
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