Abe Sargent
06-17-2003, 02:02 PM
Here is an article from the ESPN Soccernet page which I think is highly interesting:
"Fan convicted over racist chant
In a landmark case on Monday the High Court convicted a football fan for taking part in racist chanting at a match.
In what is thought to be the first case of its kind to reach the High Court, two judges ruled that 21-year-old Sean Ratcliffe was guilty of chanting in 'a racialist nature' under the 1991 Football (Offences) Act.
The offence took place last October at second division match between Port Vale and Oldham Athletic.
Ratcliffe was among a crowd of Port Vale supporters who used a chant containing the word 'Paki' at Oldham supporters during the league match at the Vale Park ground in Stoke-on-Trent.
Lord Justice Auld and Mr Justice Goldring said it was clear the word 'Paki' - short for Pakistani - was 'a slang expression which is racially offensive' and dismissed the suggestion it could be used affectionately like 'Aussie' or 'Brit'.
Lord Justice Auld said: 'It is odd and a shame that this is so in this country, but the unpleasant context in which it is so often used has left it with a derogatory or insulting, racialist connotation.'
The judges ruled that Ratcliffe, from Cross Heath, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire should have been found guilty of a criminal offence when the case came before magistrates.
The High Court ruling overturned a decision made in January by Stoke-on-Trent Magistrates' Court district judge Graham Richards to acquit Ratcliffe on the basis that the chant was 'mere doggerel' and should not be classified as offensive.
In another unusual step the judges told the magistrates' court to pay the estimated £1,000 costs of the appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions. "
-Anxiety
"Fan convicted over racist chant
In a landmark case on Monday the High Court convicted a football fan for taking part in racist chanting at a match.
In what is thought to be the first case of its kind to reach the High Court, two judges ruled that 21-year-old Sean Ratcliffe was guilty of chanting in 'a racialist nature' under the 1991 Football (Offences) Act.
The offence took place last October at second division match between Port Vale and Oldham Athletic.
Ratcliffe was among a crowd of Port Vale supporters who used a chant containing the word 'Paki' at Oldham supporters during the league match at the Vale Park ground in Stoke-on-Trent.
Lord Justice Auld and Mr Justice Goldring said it was clear the word 'Paki' - short for Pakistani - was 'a slang expression which is racially offensive' and dismissed the suggestion it could be used affectionately like 'Aussie' or 'Brit'.
Lord Justice Auld said: 'It is odd and a shame that this is so in this country, but the unpleasant context in which it is so often used has left it with a derogatory or insulting, racialist connotation.'
The judges ruled that Ratcliffe, from Cross Heath, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire should have been found guilty of a criminal offence when the case came before magistrates.
The High Court ruling overturned a decision made in January by Stoke-on-Trent Magistrates' Court district judge Graham Richards to acquit Ratcliffe on the basis that the chant was 'mere doggerel' and should not be classified as offensive.
In another unusual step the judges told the magistrates' court to pay the estimated £1,000 costs of the appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions. "
-Anxiety