Zat Knight

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Originally Posted by jmurphyc

Yeah, it's pretty disgraceful. It ****es me off that a minority of people can influence football so much with disgusting actions like this. However, from reading the article is sounds like he isn't really that bothered about playing for us and doesn't consider himself Irish at all, so in that regards to that, it probably worked out the best.

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I guess if he really wanted to play for Ireland, REALLY WANTED TO he would not have

A - Said those things to Sven mentioned above

B - Not let it bother him, performances on the pitch could have swayed the minority of a few supporters

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Originally Posted by dr_peepee

Have to be carefull how i word this...

He never said the racist letters were about being black.. It could well have been a because he was English....

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I think that's a good point Dr. I've had that sh*t from one or two posters on here and I don't openly profess any attachment or feeling towards being English.

I know that I have chopped the rest of your sentence but I feel the point stands merit on its own. There is still plenty of anti-English sentiment out there in main street Ireland and it is possible that some of this found its way to Knight.

:ball: PP

Thats pretty awful, you can only hope that this sort of thing doesn't ever dissuade lads from ethnic backgorunds who actually want to play for us in the future

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Originally Posted by Deckydee

I guess if he really wanted to play for Ireland, REALLY WANTED TO he would not have

A - Said those things to Sven mentioned above

B - Not let it bother him, performances on the pitch could have swayed the minority of a few supporters

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Really good point, You have to really question whether he ever wanted to pla for us in the first place, I've been to a lot of matches in the UK and racism is still huge over there.....you have to believe he experienced this kind of thrash before yet he's let some, presumably, anonymous thrash from a whacko influence him to that extent

One can only imagine the kind of guff Hughton must of out up with in the early 80's

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Originally Posted by Wangball

Really good point, You have to really question whether he ever wanted to pla for us in the first place, I've been to a lot of matches in the UK and racism is still huge over there...

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I don't agree. I think the "Kick Racism Out of Football" campaign has had a profound effect on attitudes to race and ethnicity in British football, especially since black players have become a mainstay in the England side, and a permanent feature - albeit to a lesser extent - in the Wales and Scotland sides.

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Originally Posted by Wangball

One can only imagine the kind of guff Hughton must of out up with in the early 80's

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Indeed. As Lesley Poles Hartley said, "the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there". We have moved on, I hope.

:ball: PP

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2006/0119/ireland.html

Do ye remember this??

These are his comments about playing for Ireland....

“I don’t say that I have been overlooked by England, but if I can look down another road and try to get into their team, then maybe I should. As far as England is concerned, I know it’s going to be hard for me to break into the side.”


Try to get into THEIR team, proud Irishman me thinks

From http://www.eleven-a-side.com/boysing...p?newsid=14158

Knight has no balls if he let that get to him. Better off without him, he's **** and in the same bracket as Titus Bramble anyway. Andy O'Brien is a far better defender for one......

Totally agree, never rated him. Always taught he was prone to a mistake or two a la one half of the chuckle brothers.

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Originally Posted by Fr. Murphy

Totally agree, never rated him. Always taught he was prone to a mistake or two a la one half of the chuckle brothers.

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A mistake or two???

He makes Titus Bramble look like the best defender in the world...its a blessing he cant play for us, hes an accident waiting to happen.

http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=32918

Racist letters sent to some of our players were discussed before in a previous thread a year or two back.

It's obvious he was never really serious about playing for Ireland, it's a disgrace that he was racially abused whether it was based on his race or nationality, but to write him off as sh*te based on the current defenders we have at our disposal is insane.

Yeah, he's far from the best defender out there, but if there was a dedicated Irishman of a similar ability playing in the Premiership today, I have no doubt he would be very close to the starting 11.

Is it just me or has this form of rascist tripe crept into Irish society only recently now that we're actually exposed to people from different ethnic groups due to the miracle of the Celtic Tiger and the subsequent immigration that it attracted? I never remember any rascism from Irish fans directed at Paul McGrath or Chris Hughton or in the later years even to Rivaldo Babb when I was growing up.

There is no excuse for racism but I dislike the way the guy used his Irish grandmother as a bargaining tool to get himself and English cap and then he tries to brush us all with the same brush because of a few idiots? F*ck that he is obviously another spoofer, I don't buy that this racism is the reason he won't play for us for a second

there are racists in every country in the world - unfortunately Ireland is no different. If he got the same letters while playing with England would he then not play for them?
Knight should be a stronger person.

In the above article he actually ends upcoming across as abit of an ar$ehole.