A&H

imitation of someone's accent

A

Andrew Ewen

New Member
incident in today's game where a player from white team imitated the accent of a player on the green team (player spoke with a thick mancunian accent). It was clearly meant to annoy the green player and try to provoke a reaction from him.

I cautioned the white player but have been doubting it ever since as the only category this could fit under would be c1.

Please feel free to castigate me if I've got this one completely wrong.
 
The Referee Store
You have to be there. If you did what felt right for you then no one can complain.

Another referee might let it go, have a word or caution like yourself. In isolation and without being there its difficult to comment.

Don't be hard on yourself and its C1, if you warned him it could go down as dissent if not then ub?
 
some referees would have gone down the hoi cut it out route, but if that didnt work thats why we have nice brightly coloured cards
 
Caution for me. If the player concerned complained, I'd ask if he'd have done the same to someone from Jamaica. Any "Yes/No" answer, then he'll know the reason why.
 
It's not really. Imitating or mocking somebody for their accent is designed to undermine them, especially in a competitive atmosphere. Just because it's a regional accent rather than a national one, doesn't make it right to mock them. It's also not that completely different because you're not saying that someone of a particular race has a particular accent - I know at least one person who has a Jamaican accent who wouldn't otherwise be expected to have one. So it's more listening to how players sound prior to any incident.
This is straying into difficult territory in any case, but the very minimum needs to be a caution for Unsporting Behaviour.
 
Depending on the content repeated, but it could be:
caution - unsporting behaviours
red - uses offensive or insulting or abusive language and/or gestures
 
Imitating an accent is quite a racist act. So for that, I think a red is justifiable. YC at minimum - anything less than that is, IMO, failing to recognise just how offensive and inflammatory this is.
 
CapnBloodbeard said:
Imitating an accent is quite a racist act. So for that, I think a red is justifiable. YC at minimum - anything less than that is, IMO, failing to recognise just how offensive and inflammatory this is.
Click to expand...

But what race - Manc? I think this has to be a yellow in these circumstances, but it isn't racist by definition so it can't be red in my book.
 
If a white player imitates the accent of a West African/Afro-Caribean/Chinese/insert-non-white-ethnicity-with-specific-accent-here you would interpret it as a racist act, would you not? Thus imitating a French accent, a Russian accent is also a racist act.

Imitating a regional accent isn't quite the same, but still deserves a caution at the very least.
 
The yellow card might be right, but a lot depends on the game itself. If reckless tackles had been flying in and no action had been taken, then it would be a soft caution. Personally I think a stern word would suffice, but you were in charge and knew the temperature of the game.
 
ATT: jacko

According to the FIFA laws of the game (which is our bible - and the only point of reference)

"uses offensive or insulting or abusive language and/or gestures"

It doesn't say anything about being racist. In this case, it can be argued that the offender has used insulting language and/or gesture.
 
18ocram said:
ATT: jacko

According to the FIFA laws of the game (which is our bible - and the only point of reference)

"uses offensive or insulting or abusive language and/or gestures"

It doesn't say anything about being racist. In this case, it can be argued that the offender has used insulting language and/or gesture.
Click to expand...

You never read f.a. rule e3 then, 18ocram?
 
Can't judge solely based on the words and the fact that there was imitation.

You judge it on the spot by reading players intentions, emotions and reactions according to the atmosphere of the game.

Was it done to offend/insult the opponent and the opponent was offended. Send the player off for OFINABUS and let the FA decide if it was racist or not.

If not, was it done just to 'annoy' the opponent and get a reaction out of him in a heated game? caution

If it was done to annoy the opponent in a game that is being played in good spirit and no issues so far, deal with it with a word or two.
 
Red. Its OFFINABUS.

Its not unsporting. Its OFFINABUS.

Its no different to mocking an African for their accent.

This whole politically correct drivel of "its only racist if they aren't white and British" is a load of tosh.

He's been insulted because of an attribute which he cannot change. That's the same as insulting someone for a race attribute.
 
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