Quote: fleabag "I don't agree with this at all.
Players safety ought to be paramount. Spear tackles could result in death.
Maybe I am 'old fashioned', but not too long ago people often used to say "[iIt's a free country, I can say what I like[/i". You never hear that said anymore. Then there was the old ditty of 'sticks and stones.......... etc.
I am not saying abuse/sledging is right. But it has always been a part of our game. It has often been used as a tactic to put players off their games.
Why is it that 'redheads/gingers' are regarded nowadays as fair game for abuse in the 'mass media' and everywhere? That can quite easily be regarded as 'racist', but it's rife now in the UK and elsewhere.'"
It is mainly due to the fact that being a ginger as you put it isn't punishable by death in as much of the world as it is to be homosexual, which in reality is just as part of a persons nature as having the gene that causes red hair.
It may seem like a stretch, but the main reason that the laws are in place to prevent abuse of a persons nature, is to stop persecution of a group of people who are only seen as outsiders due to some bronze age text of a group of illiterate tribesmen that is still in circulation for some reason.
In fact I would invite you to visit Amnesty Internationals web page, on it you will find evidence of why homophobic abuse should not be tolerated in modern society. These documents include testimony of people who have escaped with only their lives after being turned upon for being homosexual or even for being suspected of being a homosexual.
On there you may also find the "guide to stoning" which is an official publication of Iran, guess what they do with homosexuals in Iran and other such places, punishments for homosexuality include, being driven over by a tank, having a wall pushed on you, being thrown from a building roof and yes you guessed it stoning, but not with stones that are too big or too small so not as to take too long or forbid it be over too soon! There is even a person who selects the sizes of the stones to be thrown!
Now I am not for one second suggesting that a bit of "name calling" as you put it leads to this, but you must see that it is the thin end of the wedge as they say and it was illegal in large areas of Europe to even be homosexual until quite recently, and according to some British politicians, homosexuals cause floods!
