Rosencrantz
Very well known Exeweb poster
One of the legacies of the British Empire is that multiculturalism has always been more prevalent in the UK. France, Portugal and Holland also had a large post colonial history of immigration from their previous colonies. This means issues and development of attitudes around race have been going on for longer than in some other European countries.
I think you could almost look at the respective make up of our national sides going back 40 years (more for Portugal) and see the difference between European countries. The abuse that say Balotelli and Kean have faced in Italy as Italian players you could almost equate to Regis, Barnes, Cunningham and so on from the late seventies and eighties. That would also go for the "casual" racism displayed.
That is not to say everything is rosy here of course and it is in no way a question of accepting racism anywhere it raises it's unacceptable head.
I think you could almost look at the respective make up of our national sides going back 40 years (more for Portugal) and see the difference between European countries. The abuse that say Balotelli and Kean have faced in Italy as Italian players you could almost equate to Regis, Barnes, Cunningham and so on from the late seventies and eighties. That would also go for the "casual" racism displayed.
That is not to say everything is rosy here of course and it is in no way a question of accepting racism anywhere it raises it's unacceptable head.