Sport

Hillsborough: police to be prosecuted at last

Last year, an inquest jury found that David Duckenfield was guilty of “manslaughter by gross negligence” Duckenfield was the police officer in charge of policing the fateful football match at Hillsborough, the ground of Sheffield Wednesday, in 1989. 96 people were crushed to death, and 400 others injured in an overcrowded pen. Now the Crown Prosecution Service has decided to charge Duckenfield and five other people with criminal offences. The families and friends of those who were killed will finally get to hold at least some in the establishment to account — charges have been brought against...

Football abuse: overturning a culture of silence

More than 20 ex-football players have come forward with reports they were sexually abused as children by coaches. The revelations have sparked an investigation by five police forces, as well as an internal investigation by the Football Association. An NSPCC hotline has already received over 100 calls. The scandal unfolded after former Sheffield United player Andy Woodward waived his anonymity and told the Guardian that he had been abused by coach Barry Bennell while a youth player at Crewe Alexandra. Woodward’s testimony prompted other former players to come forward with allegations against...

Bending the rules like Allardyce

Sam Allardyce has been sacked as manager of the England football team. He departs the national side with a 100% win record, although since he was only in post for one match, that’s not saying much. After 63 days in the job Allardyce was abruptly sacked following a expose in the Daily Telegraph. Reporters posing as Far Eastern businessmen secretly filmed “Big Sam” over dinner and drinks. In the film, Allardyce negotiates a £400,000 fee to appear as a keynote speaker (he is very adamant that he be “keynote”) at four corporate events in Singapore and Hong Kong. He also mocked his predecessor, the...

Justice for the Hillsborough 96

On Tuesday 26 April, the jury returned their verdicts in the inquest into the 1989 Hillsborough football disaster in which 96 football spectators, all except one Liverpool fans, were killed. Among other things the jury found that the police officer in charge of policing the event in which fans were crushed to death, and 400 others were injured in an overcrowded pen — Chief Superintendant David Duckenfield — was guilty of “manslaughter by gross negligence”. This is a tremendous victory for justice, but it has been, for the families and friends of the people who died on 15 April just over 27...

FIFA: worse than capitalism

The seminal radical football podcast “This is Deep Play” once made this perceptive point about football: far from being a form of escapism detached from real life, football is like a mirror, vividly reflecting everything that’s playing out in capitalist society at large. If you want to go to the football to get away from big business, gentrification, bigotry and corruption, you won’t be in for much luck — they’re all there. Happily, all the collective solidarities and human kindnesses, all the spontaneous moments of joy and humour will also be there, often in distorted and exaggerated form...

She was not “asking for it”!

Should Ched Evans have been given a job at Oldham Athletic Football Club? No, of course not! Should he have the chance to rehabilitate, be employed, live his life? Yes. But rehabilitation for a convicted rapist should not mean walking into a £2,500 a week job where he is, because in the public eye, a role model for boys and young men. If this crime can be so easily forgotten about then it also sends a message that rape is a trivial matter. Ched Evans claims he is innocent. On TV, Gordon Taylor, the head of the Professional Footballers’ Association, claimed that sometimes people who seem to be...

Forum

Letters and debate from WL34 Excluding Children The USSR was state-capitalist! Socialists and football Unite Arab and Jewish workers Labour an Welsh home rule Download PDF

Where now for Brazil?

The World Cup has just ended in Brazil. Contrary to what we might expect the political situation remains, with the exception of the struggles of normally active groups, very calm and steady. This is, however, definitely not due to a lack of good reasons to protest. In the social media the changes were quick to be noted: the most common hashtags went from #NÃOVAITERCOPA (There will not be a World Cup) and #COPAPRAQUEM? (World Cup for whom?) to #VAITERCOPASIM (There will be a World Cup). Bit-by-bit, both the leftists and the conservative elite who insisted there would not be a World Cup, got...

Homophobia: a colonial legacy

As the Commonwealth Games gets underway in Glasgow, various LGBTI rights groups have been raising awareness about the oppression of LGBTI people in the countries taking part. In 42 out of the 53 Commonwealth countries, same-sex relationships are a crime. In northern Nigeria, some states have the death penalty. The Commonwealth Charter does not mention LGBTI rights. Edwin Sesange, from the Out and Proud Diamond Group, writes in Gay Star News, 'This isn't about abstract “laws”. Legislation wrecks LGBTI people's lives, even leaving some of them dead. Millions of our [LGBTI] brothers and sisters...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.