21 Jul 2024 09:29:50
Im not one for sitting on my high horse or standing on a soap box but I feel I need to say this . Its 2024 and STILL players are being racially abused. Our under 18s had to walk off the pitch twice, once in consecutive games, as on eif our lads was allegedly racially abused by the crowd in Germany. These are kids, and yet they still have to tillerate it. Its disgusting and there's no room for it. I hope the player involved does not feel like this isn't worth it any more for the sake of a few uneducated, intolerant idiots.
21 Jul 2024 09:54:12
Well done to them for taking such a tough stance as a group. No place for it and hopefully the young lad who was abused gets all the support he needs.
{Ed025's Note - its disgusting MK..
21 Jul 2024 10:50:04
Spot on @MK and good call out @Kim, it really does make me sad that this horrible stuff still happens. Ignorance and fear on the part of those making the remarks.
21 Jul 2024 10:57:28
The BBC are reporting the abuse came from an opposition player and that it was a ‘linguistic’ issue rather than a racist one. Sounds similar to the Suarez situation but seriously its 2024 and professional sports competitors from every nation should be fully aware of which comments are found offensive by other countries.
21 Jul 2024 12:17:59
Try wearing an England top if you aren’t white British and going to the pub to watch an England game if they lose. Racism might be me frowned upon now publically but still massively exists.
21 Jul 2024 13:39:21
I think the term they used was “digga” which is very unfortunate. It means mate or something along those lines. Can understand the grief and hopefully the lad can feel a little better about the situation.
21 Jul 2024 16:21:53
Oh he said ‘digga’? Reeeeeaaalllllyy? Reminds me of the time my parents were called into primary school because I’d sworn at a teacher. My defence was that I’d actually said “duck off”.
21 Jul 2024 16:25:04
Also- wasn’t John Barnes’ nickname in the 80s ‘Digger’? Makes me question that now. What’s the background to Digger I wonder?
21 Jul 2024 17:18:28
Well- let’s hope that’s what was said on both occasions. Kind of a nicer mistake than ignorant racism.
21 Jul 2024 17:26:16
Also- and I could be wrong here- wasn’t John barnes named digger after a Dallas character? Hopefully so- not everything needs to be dreadful.
21 Jul 2024 17:29:40
John Barnse' nickname came from a character in "Dallas". For those of you who can't remember that far back it was very popular when John Barnes was in his pomp.
21 Jul 2024 17:50:17
So, two different players, on two different teams caused two different matches to be abandoned by using a harmless word that sounded like a racial slur?
Seems a bit of a stretch to me.
21 Jul 2024 17:55:00
That was after the character Digger Barnes from the TV show Dallas wasn't it?
21 Jul 2024 17:57:44
Digga is german slang which is used in a similar way to how we'd use bro or mate, and comes from dicker, which is german for fatty. It's unfortunate, in a similar way to how South Koreans and Chinese use Ne Gai where we'd use "um" or "like".
At the same time, taking our players off the pitch is absolutely the right thing to do with an U19s team in that situation, and good on the coaching staff for doing so.
21 Jul 2024 18:11:07
The nickname “Digger”came from Dallas the Tv program characters “Digger barnes” if I remember correctly.
21 Jul 2024 18:23:34
Digger Barnes.
His name is John Charles Barnes = JCB a well known construction company.
21 Jul 2024 18:37:47
Stoneage. Apparently Digger was attributed to Barnsie as it was the name of a character from Dallas. Digger Barnes. But to my knowledge this character was never actually seen on screen and was a character in name only. His son Cliff Barnes was a maim character therefore surely Cliff would have been more suitable.
21 Jul 2024 21:24:04
@bigbaz Digger barnes was in the early episodes of dallas, showing my age a bit here. Our johns nickname was a bit of harmless fun after a tv character. Like jason mcateer is called trigger.
21 Jul 2024 20:19:58
Does anyone know where John Barnes got his nickname from?
{Ed025's Note - yeah JK , in the 80,s there was a very popular TV series called Dallas mate, one of the most popular characters was called "Digger Barnes", well thats my theory..
21 Jul 2024 22:48:39
The Dallas connection is pure coincidence.
He’s JCB Barnes. JCB make diggers.
Otherwise, as someone else pointed out, why not ca him Cliff (Barnes) - a more prominent Dallas character.
That’s what a former team mate of his did me anyway.
21 Jul 2024 23:29:21
Right that's it. I'm putting the Dallas theme tune on. It's a banger.