Quote: Roddy B "What, so it's OK for you and your pals to laugh your nuts off about bluenoses calling Benitez a FSW, but it's not OK for a ref to call him a Spanish tw*t? Why is that? They are both offensive comments involving nationality as a way to degrade them. This is the type of attitude that tickles me right up, as it's idiots like you that claim there has to be a zero tolerance policy to racism and context doesn't matter. There shouldn't be a difference between a referee saying it or a group of brain dead fans, it should be equally condemned but people sweep it under the carpet when it's fans. If the FA are quite happy to have football fans chant things like FSW, or your dad washes elephants, then they should be quite happy for their referees to call players Spanish tw*ts. Is the problem the referee calling him a tw*t, or the use of the word Spanish? If it's the word tw*t, people really have no right to criticise a ref considering the amount of expletives they take. If it's the use of the word Spanish, it's never been a problem in the past so why would it be now?
I bet if you speak to the likes of Fabregas, Torres, Reina, Alonso, Cuellar and David Silva, I bet you any amount of money they will have been called similar or worse things by players and fans alike during a game, yet nothing will have been done by the FA about it.'"
Supporters calling someone a fat Spanish waiter is hardly the same. That is the kind of jibe people can expect in the sporting limelight and as insults go it's a very mild, borderline friendly one. You may not like that, but you'll never stop it either. Every player will have been abused by opposition fans, but that's the way it is. Referee's by their very definition are supposed to exemplify the attitudes of the sport they represent, so yes, it's far more serious for a referee to use discriminatory language than a supporter, the nature of the word is irrelevant. A referee would get in trouble for simply swearing, it's against FA guidelines, I'll bet it's in the terms and conditions of their employment how they're expected to behave.
The separate thinking for professionals and non-professionals applies everywhere in life. If you go into McDonalds and swear because you've had bad service, they'll at worst ask you politely to leave. If a McDonalds employee called you a name and swore at you, you'd expect him to be sacked, and he would be.