Chelsea and West Ham United fans in battle of who is the more racist
Meet Richard Barklie, 50, of Carrickfergus, County Antrim, who was on the Paris Metro when a black man was barred from boarding the train.
Barklie is a former Royal Ulster Constabulary and Police Service of Northern Ireland officer,. He now works as a director of World Human Rights Forum.
To unite the human rights activists and organizations around the globe to protect and to promote human rights, values and global well being necessary for the creation of a better world order.
He’s one of the directors:
Belfast solicitor Kevin Winters speaks on Barklie’s behalf. He says his client did not sing racist chants. He says his client is not a racist:
“As someone who has spent years working with disadvantaged communities in Africa and India, he can point to a CV in human rights work which undermines any suggestion he is racist.”
And, well, we didn’t see him singing anything in the video. And since when is singing a crime?
The full statement runs:
“We act on behalf of Mr Barklie identified as one of the people sought by authorities investigating an incident on the Paris Metro on 16/2/15 . We contacted London Metropolitan Police today to advise that our client is happy to assist with inquiries. Pending formal engagement with police, our client is anxious to put on record his total abhorrence for racism and any activity associated with it.
”As someone who has spent years working with disadvantaged communities in Africa and India he can point to a cv in human rights work which undermines any suggestion he is racist.
”Today a senior official in the World Human Rights Forum confirmed their support for him.
”Mr Barklie is a Chelsea season ticket holder and has travelled to matches for over 20 years now without incident
”He travelled alone to the Paris St Germain match and has no knowledge whatsoever of the identities of the other people depicted in recent YouTube video releases. He wants to stress that he was not and never has been part of any group or faction of Chelsea supporters.
”He did not participate in racist chanting and singing and condemns any behaviour supporting that.
”He accepts he was involved in an incident when a person now known to him as Souleymane S was unable to enter a part of the train.
”He has an account to give to police which will explain the context and circumstances as they prevailed at that particular time.
”In the meantime pending that, he wants to put on record his sincerest apologies for the trauma and stress suffered by Mr Souleymane.
”He readily acknowledges that any judgement on the integrity of his apology will be kept in abeyance pending the outworkings of the investigation.
”Given the extremely sensitive nature of the issues engaged we urge upon all media outlets to exercise as much restraint as possible when commenting on the case.
”We accept on behalf of our client that public interest demands nothing but total indignation and condemnation from all media reporting but such reporting ought not to persist at the expense of undermining Mr Barklie’s right to a fair trial
”Tonight London Met confirmed with us that arrangements were in hand to take the investigation to the next stage.”
Or as the Sunday World put it:
Was it a “secret life”? Once upon a time a secret life would have meant you working as a spy, being gay or murdering womenm in Yorkshire. Now the guilty is secret is that you watch football.
And meanwhile…on the train to Spurs with the West Ham United fans:
But what’s odd about the Daily Mail’s take on that chanting is the headline:
Yeah. Not alleged anti-semites. But “alleged West Ham fans” – as if being a West Ham United fan is a crime; just like being a Chelsea supporter is a “secret life”.
It’s not so much racism the papers hate – it’s football fans…
Posted: 23rd, February 2015 | In: Chelsea, Sports, Spurs Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
