With racism such a topical issue in football at the moment, the ever-entertaining Rohan Ricketts has revealed how he dealt with racist abuse during Shamrock Rovers’ clash with PAOK Salonika last week.
The former Spurs’ winger didn’t come off the bench in Greece, but he had to deal with plenty of abuse from the home supporters while warming up down the touchline.
With cases involving the likes of John Terry and Anton Ferdinand and Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra a topic of much conversation at the moment, it is interesting to read how Ricketts’ accounts of he dealt with abuse from the fans in a column on his website, Column 10.
“Some say show racism the red card, well I like to say show racism it can’t faze you and keep it moving,” he wrote.
“It must have been after 20 minutes when I felt like taking a pee, so I got up and made my way to the changing room. I had to go down some steps to get there and a portion of the POAK fans sit directly in front of these steps.
“I expected to get a bit of flack off them but I did not expect one of them to shout out ‘NIGGA ‘! To which my reply was a thumbs up and a smile, while making my way down the stairs to the toilet. This prompted a loud roar from the fans who were sitting there.
“As I was in the changing room, I noticed a bunch of bananas sitting on the side. I thought I would take one out with me to show these fans how much of a NIGGA I really am. Damn ignorant people. Rather than reacting to their negative energy which could have caused real uproar, I converted it into a complete mockery!
“So as I came back up the stairs, I had the banana in my mouth, swinging it so they could all see. I knew this would show them that I couldn’t care less what they called me because I was more than aware and proud of what colour I am. They all reacted exactly how I predicted. With a big cheer. Heeeeeeey!
“I just laughed and raised the banana to which made them laugh and cheer even louder. Now this was not jeering or them hurling abuse, it was people laughing at what I had done to their malicious gesture.
“It was funny how this so called NIGGA had now got their full attention and I was not even playing. I had now converted them into in my role as an entertainer. Using my humorous tactic and making them laugh silenced them so they wouldn’t even think to say a word about my skin colour for the rest of the game.”
Ricketts’ methods mightn’t be for everyone, but it’s certainly one way of sticking it to the racists.
To read his column in full, click here.
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