Premier League football has resumed - but behind closed doors. That, though, did not prevent one follower of Burnley FC - one hates to use the word “
fan” in this case - from having a light aircraft fly over the Etihad Stadium yesterday evening trailing a banner which proclaimed “
White Lives Matter Burnley!” Both Burnley, and hosts Manchester City, wore shirts with the message “
Black Lives Matter” on the back.
Moreover, they had all taken the knee before kick-off. So after the aerial advert was flown around east Manchester, half-time brought swift condemnation. And after the game, Burnley captain Ben Mee
did not hold back. “
Fans like that don't deserve to be around football … We're ashamed, we're embarrassed. It's a minority of our supporters - I know I speak for a massive part of our support who distance ourselves from anything like that”.
Blackpool Airport, from where the aircraft took off, has, as the BBC reported, “
suspended banner flights from its base after the message 'White Lives Matter Burnley' was towed by an aeroplane over Etihad Stadium”. And the cops? "
Lancashire Police is also investigating the banner”. Why so? “
Blackpool Airport says the incident was reported to police and the Civil Aviation Authority”. So it might be thought the culprit would be laying low.
Jake Hepple - You're getting banned in the morning
But that thought would have been misplaced: those out there on the racist far right are not prone to such weakness as to experience reticence. One Jake Hepple
was named as the instigator, taking to Twitter to proclaim “
Thanks a lot, no apology will be coming out as I’m not apologising for stating that white peoples lives matter as well”.
Very good, Jake. Black Lives Matter does not mean White Lives do not. Worse, this flash of braggadocio set the press off on a trawl not only of his social media presence, but that of his partner. UAF got there early doors and trawled his Facebook page.
That is, they trawled it before it disappeared. “
No surprise that Jake Hepple, Burnley 'Suicide squad' thug & behind plane stunt, supports the EDL (though EDL are effectively dead). Pic from his Facebook wall. Respect to [Burnley FC Official] & all Burnley fans for their anti racism”. Hepple had also been snapped with Stephen Yaxley Lennon.
He had previously posted remarks such as “
Why would anyone in their right mind pay £90 for the new England shirt when it probably cost a company full of tree swinging spear throwers about 80p to make? Not a chance I'm paying that” and “
I'm not even going to go into detail of how fucked up Sharia Law is, which is what some 'people' want in this country, absolutely mental this government”. His partner held similar views.
Megan Rambadt has previously Tweeted “
I love Burnley but I must admit it’s pretty grim, that town centre is like a foreign country. Needs sorting” and “
They need sending back on banana boats, stinkin bastards”. Now they will both have a chance to repent at leisure: Ms Rambadt’s employer suspended her today pending in investigation.
And, as the
Mirror has told, Burnley FC “
made it clear the perpetrators were not welcome at Turf Moor and would be banned for life if identified. ‘We wish to make it clear that those responsible are not welcome at Turf Moor,’ it read”. So Hepple faces a lifetime ban.
So clever he got himself kicked out of his own club.
Racism has no place in modern life.
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10 comments:
Lancs police investigating if a racially aggravated crime has been committed. Obviously not! Unless free speech is now illegal. Drag up as much dirt as you like, doesn't make those words bad.
I would prefer politics kept out of sport, gesture politics more so. Is the Black Lives Matter on the shirt a statement like Sky is blue, or is it support for an anarchic political movement, what if a player refused to wear a shirt if he believed the latter?
And the knee gesture ditto.
Being banned from Burnley a punishment, more like a release from purgatory. I reckon the reasons given breach his Human rights anyway.
And Burnley isn't just grim it's in the Lancashire premier League of dumps, fighting the likes of Accrington, Blackburn, Oldham, Rochdale for bottom top spot. If anyone can name me just one redeeming feature of these places I would love to hear it.
Wankers like you seem to be terrified of them.
Ah, a trip down memory lane:
'I would prefer politics kept out of sport'
Haven't heard that one since the 1970s Springboks tour. Or was it the d'Oliveira selection?
Not surprised at this development.
For years fans "banter" has been and is nothing more than bullshit chauvinist tribalism mixed with racism. It stinks out virtually every match.
For an example of it at its gutter to sewer worst see the hate-filled "comment" at 17:48.
Hmm. All lives do matter, but when it is 'blue' lives kneeling on black necks and acting as judge, jury and executioner in cases where their guns wouldn't even be drawn normally, that is when black lives matter.
When the police treat all lives the same, rather than reduce the life expectancy for certain ethnic groups without fear, then we can all sleep easier. That they don't means we need to be reminded that we've been here so many times before.
I needed to explain that to my own partner, and she is usually very good at spotting right wing bollocks.
You don't live there.
Well said Bertie. Well said.
Avery Brundage (still) has a lot to answer for.
Have you visited Burnley or the other Lancashire towns you seem to believe are unfit for you.
Hailing from Rochdale, I can tell you it's a lovely place to live but has suffered greatly like the others due to neglect, unemployment and governments that ignore the North for the South East.
Cutting politics out of sport, mmm Thatcher wanted that so that the South African apartheid regime could send it's Whites only teams to the UK, giving them free propaganda to undermine the boycott.
People like Hepple and his toxic girlfriend do not represent Burnley or Lancashire, they are unwelcome and divisive in our communities.
What they do not realise, they're being played like fiddles by TR, Farage & Trump so they will pour money into their pockets.
Of course l've visited these dumps, many many times, always glad to leave, I was in Burnley today, there is over 90% support for the newest local hero whose name will be chanted "he's one of our own" on the terraces in due course. So stop pretending these people are unwelcome and don't represent the majority view because they do. The Red Wall fell because of such self delusion. As for this diversity nonsense, when did you last join in a conversation with the lads on the taxi rank talking to each other in Urdu? Two communities, little inter action - ever dated a girl of Pakistani heritage? If so join my club of one!
You would have to be born in Rochdale to love it, it was never a nice place but it really is a dump these days. The Rochdale Interchange being the latest turd left by local government. Of course a succession of rubbish ever changing councils didn't help but like Marcus Rashford who spent his first 12 years in poverty under a Labour government you forget the left had a chance to change things for the better but preferred to go woke.
Too late - East Lancs is finished. Go south!
OK Enoch.
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