The Long View

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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Factual: History

History series in which stories from the past shed light on current events

Jonathan Freedland presents the series in which stories from the past are compared with current events.

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The Long View: Racism in sports crowds

Racism in sports crowds

BBC Radio 4 - The Long View, Racism in sports crowds

Jonathan Freedland takes the Long View of racism in sports crowds.

Jonathan Freedland takes the Long View of racism in sports crowds, comparing recent incidents in international and domestic football with a notorious 1810 bare knuckle Boxing bout.

The racist chanting and gestures of several members of the crowd at a recent England international match in Bulgaria was a stark reminder that Racism in sports crowds is still an issue that hasn't been driven from stadiums around the world.  There have also been recent episodes in British domestic football, particularly in the Manchester derby in which one man in the crowd was given a lifetime ban for what the club believes was clear racist gestures towards two Man Utd players.  But there was an ugly situation back in 1810 during a Boxing bout between Tom Cribb, the champion of England, and his African American former slave rival Tom Molyneux.  In fact a number of the crowd which numbered thousands turned to violence against Molyneux when he appeared to have gained the upper hand in what was the most important sporting event in the country at the time.  An invasion of the ring resulted in an injury to Molyneux's hand which made victory all but impossible.
What Molyneux did about it and how the Boxing authorities tried to quell the racial tensions is the story told by Historian Peter Radford, with contributions from Troy Townsend of the anti-racism movement Kick It Out and the former Manchester United and England player Paul Parker who has watched attitudes appear to change over his playing career only to see the ugliness return in the form of online abuse of players.

Producer:  Tom Alban

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