What Pittsey it talking about is the U21 game between England and Serbia. It was about black England players being targeted by the Serbs. Here is a vid of waht happened.
Then I think it's fair to say that Black players are always the targets of racism.
Here is a good vid ESPN did on the suject, it's pretty old but stil shows some of it.
I've been to games in the US even when someone threw a banana at this black player. He got kicked out immediately and had shit thrown at him but still. That stuff happens quite commonly in Europe and Russia.
This was a big concern during the past Euros in Poland and Ukraine. FIFA has a zero tolerance policy and handed down some fines but it won't change anything. The clubs and nations say it's just a select few individuals and say they distance themselves from those individuals but it's not true at all.
It's bad.
Can anyone explain why it's so bad in Spain and Italy as well?
For those who don't know footy, there are long traditions with certain clubs, many politically involved traditions. Lazio is a right-wing club, even extreme right winged to an extent, not surprising since it used to be Mussolini's favourite club. And believe it or not, many people in Italy still think Mussolini is the last politician that actually did Italy good.
That said, I met a few Lazio supporters here, and let me tell you - they are fucked up. It's not even that they don't like Blacks, they're even sketchy with non-Italians. One of them was telling me how he shit on some Belgian guy for supporting Lazio because "these Belgian fucks have nothing to do with us, they're not Italian". They're club purists.
If it was up to them they'd probably only want players signed from the region of Lazio, but that's impossible so they
have to accept those of other Euro nations.
This mentality goes with many Europeans clubs that have more than 100 years of tradition. Keep in mind, England still has it's own shit these days. It's gotten a lot better since the 80s, but there are still scum in the stands. Listen to some chants when clubs play Tottenham (considered a 'Jew club') for example. You'll hear some anti-antisemitism. Just last season I think there were some issues with it.
People always explain that you don't see these kinds of things in the USA. You do see it, it's rare, but it happens. Another reason I'd say is simply, you guys have 300 years of history compared to Europe's 3000+ years. Obviously, footy isn't what it was say 500 years ago, but certain mentalities maintain with certain groups/ethnicities/socio-economic backgrounds. There are some old mentalities that have maintained in the USA to this day as well, the Puritan mentality still has a grasp on the USA, otherwise you wouldn't have freaks voting in the likes of Romney and co.
Some old mentalities are
very hard to kill.
God do I hate Lazio though, Livorno as well, Communist scum of a club.
Keep in mind though, this shit doesn't happen regular basis. I'd say about 95% of footy fans are people that want what's best for the sport. The problem is that 5% make the loudest noise.