soccer

Gamba striker Patric says he was racially abused by Urawa fan

29 Comments

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29 Comments
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Not surprized at all.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

Hardly surprising, particularly in a place like Saitama.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

Urawa fans.. not the first time they've committed racist acts.

http://terracelife.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Picture-361.png

2 ( +6 / -4 )

"For me this is the most well-mannered and cultured country in the world"

Doh!! :-(

1 ( +8 / -7 )

At least they didn't call him gaijin and get the JT crowd in an uproar.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Welcome to my world, and I'm just a regular joe on the street and I've heard the comments.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

" I never thought I would be treated like this in this country,"

Dude, for real? well now you know. Ive seen this so many times, very interesting to watch, the transformation. 'it will never happen to me" 'just an isolated case' "there are bad people everywhere" turns to "dayum! did he just say that to me?"

Its all good until it happens to you, then it sucks. Call it out for what it is, recongnize it and your good. Keep denying it and expect suffering.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Well, with social media the outrageous wins the day. I don't get this. There's always going to be one or more nut-jobs chiming in. Is it worth reacting to? Do we expect, having the experience we do with virtual-forums, that this won't happen everywhere and all the time? I don't really understand why we give attention to a tweet like that. It's always going to be there, isn't it? I don't even read comments anymore on certain (wide open) websites.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Patric needn't feel insulted. A Brazilian who's made a name for himself. All it shows is how a low life, frustrated by his own lot in life, feels the need to insult others in derogatory terms in order to feel good about himself.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

the internet will soon be taken over by anonymous trolls, so one tweet means nothing. actually shows how nice a country japan actually is (which i really believe so, much to the dislike of japan-bashers)

1 ( +5 / -4 )

@TakahiroDomingo Japan has it's problems. But this says nothing about Japan whatsoever. I really don't understand the reaction. Unless I'm missing something. It's just twitter, right? Any idiot can post any nonsense, right? This is 100% irrelevant to Japan.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

racial discrimination roaring its ugly head again,when will this act of discrimination stop?In America,discrimination is at its highest level and everyone knows that for sure,i dont really want japan to follow suit. In the game of football,the better side always win and in this situation,Gamba osaka carries the day,so shoganai. i just want Mr.patrick to let go his anger and celebrate your win which is more important.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Welcome to Japan.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Skin color is just Nature's way of painting a rainbow of DNA and melatonin/ melalin (the genes which directed skin color for protection from the hot sun in hot climates millions of years ago ). We were all once painted black. Racism is sickness of light skinned people in modern times. Japanese just ape the color conscious western world. You never hear black fans taunting white men. There is a tragic sickness that is in the air now over race and skin color. Blood is red. We are one race, the human race. Yes or no?

0 ( +5 / -5 )

He probably "complained" because its been building up, and he suspected it but denied it. Everyobdy goes through that because of the very real brainwashing effect that all is good and its your fault; crush the self and suffer for the herd. I wont allow myself to fall into that black hole of self blaming logic because its a waste of time and precious life. Just saying, if my pale self gets weekly comments, I can only imagine what someone who is darker than me experiences. There will be those who blame it on the internet, blame it on trolls and dismiss it as trivial, but I wont. it is what it is, and until you can admit and be aware of it, youll always have this kind of reaction. Just ask the young half african american japanese lady who won the recent beauty pagent. The way japan works is if your not Japanese then your, well, good luck. The sooner you wake up to this reality the better you are to deal with it.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I never thought I would be treated like this in this country,” Patric wrote later on his micro-blog.

Sounds like someone living in a bubble here. I've been on a spouse visa, got pr status, and became a naturalized citizen and even though I am Japanese by citizenship I still and probably always will be viewed as an outsider for as long as I choose to live here.

Japan is a great country in many ways, but ignorance and intolerance are very much still a part of the fabric of the nation.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

became a naturalized citizen and even though I am Japanese by citizenship I still and probably always will be viewed as an outsider for as long as I choose to live here.

Ive read/heard about foriegners who did that, and not to hate, but why would you consider becoming a Japanese? isnt that like an impossible feat? I mean I can act myself, or I can act japanese, but end of the day, Im a gaijin. I mean, how does that work? wow dude, cant even fathom that one.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

shallots NOV. 29, 2015 - 07:20PM JST Well, with social media the outrageous wins the day. I don't get this. There's always going to be one or more nut-jobs chiming in. Is it worth reacting to?

In a word, yes.

At least, it is worth it for Urawa Reds to respond to. Whether or not it's worth it for the public in general to respond depends on a lot of factors. Some fora have poor moderation where users are punished for rightfully responding to bigotry with the condemnation it deserves, and in other fora where bigotry has been allowed to get out of hand the rightful response of a few users won't stem the tide. But it is always appropriate for the party in a position of leadership to condemn bigotry committed by the web peanut gallery in their name. Otherwise, they create the appearance of giving bigotry their permission to exist.

A lot of moderators and web PR-reps for big organizations are too cowardly to meaningfully respond to online bigotry. Kudos to Urawa Reds for taking responsibility for the space they build.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I dont think apathy is the answer, but Im not suprised or shocked by it anymore. Shouganai only makes it legit ,stress tantrums entertain and invite it, shock and bewilderment feed it. Self confidence and pride defeat it, but that path is not an easy one if your in the mix; you win some you loose some but my differences cannot be defeated because I dont want to be one of them so Im good. If you can understand all that, then youve got most of it figured out.

@ yubaru,

I can sometimes understand somebody naturalizing; there are some beautiful places in Japan, some circles where it might be worth it. If it works for you then no hate. Japan has allot more going for it than some countries, so if you have found a sweet spot, then good on you.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Really ?! Never had any racial, cultural, ethnic abuse at this level of your professional career ?! You, sir, have been living in denial.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I am sorry but all I see is National news about a person trolling on the Internet. Many upon many websites that have forum or comments sections have similar comments or much worse. When racism gets into the stadiums by having racist signs, screaming racist insults or throwing something at a player is when we need to pay attention.

Also, as it was done by an anonymous person on the Internet, why isn't there a possibility the person is trying to sabotage the Urawa Reds? We know that Urawa had heavy punishment when it happened before. An opposing fan might want to claim to be a Urawa fan and act racist so the same type of punishment may happen again.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I will amend my earlier comment and say Urawa has racist fans. They are a disgrace

2 ( +4 / -2 )

@DaDude. Good point.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

this is a true and quite sad case in a developed country like Japan. this player will get use to it.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Ive read/heard about foriegners who did that, and not to hate, but why would you consider becoming a Japanese? isnt that like an impossible feat? I mean I can act myself, or I can act japanese, but end of the day, Im a gaijin. I mean, how does that work? wow dude, cant even fathom that one.

You are mistaking race for nationality. Yubaru can still be Yubaru, with a Japanese passport. If you are here forever, your family are all Japanese, your life is here and you have no intention of returning to your birth country, why not take Japanese nationality?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Sad that such people exist, but such people exist. The fact that it was hate posted on a website, though, means not much can be done about it save Urawa kicking the Twitter user off of any Urawa official sites and barring him/her from the stadium if they know who it is and are able to do so. We've got his Twitter handle, so maybe people can message bomb him or something.

In any case, if it's in the stands, or on the gates in the stands, there is something that can be done. For now, I think Patric just needs to hold his head high and know that the message comes from some low-life coward who posted the Tweet because Patric scored the decisive goal and helped Ganba win the game. He's done nothing wrong.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

How dare he score a goal@!!! Doesn't this guy know only Japanese are allowed to do that!

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Ive read/heard about foriegners who did that, and not to hate, but why would you consider becoming a Japanese? isnt that like an impossible feat? I mean I can act myself, or I can act japanese, but end of the day, Im a gaijin. I mean, how does that work? wow dude, cant even fathom that one.

Fair question and well answered here;

You are mistaking race for nationality. Yubaru can still be Yubaru, with a Japanese passport. If you are here forever, your family are all Japanese, your life is here and you have no intention of returning to your birth country, why not take Japanese nationality?

Thank you, well said. Oh I know no one is going to mistake me for Japanese overseas either. I'm good with that too, understood it from quite a while back. Don't really care either, the folks who know me, know me. The rest? I don't care they aren't in my world so why worry about them? It is about family.

This player sounds naive to me, sure it would be great if things were different, but they arent.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"...discrimination is at its highest level and everyone knows that for sure." No we don't.

@katsu78 I see your point. I guess it depends on the forum. If you can control the forum and have the resources, it's good to weed out racist comments (for official sports-team websites). On the other hand, if this is about trolling, then I don't see how anyone can draw any conclusions outside of, "there's a crappy racist; get out of here." I mean, one schmuck can always chime in. I just don't see how one can draw any conclusions. I'm annoyed by hate speech but I realize that any psycho can get a hold of a computer. The part about being treated like that "in this country" is the part I'm unsure about. OK. Maybe I just don't understand the issue. I mean, they can be sure the commenter is Japanese?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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