simplythebest 11,453 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Roy Hodgson was forced to issue an apology last night after becoming embroiled in a bizarre row over a joke he reportedly made about a space monkey and England winger Andros Townsend.It is understood that Hodgson told the joke at half-time of England’s 2-0 win against Poland, with the intention of encouraging right-back Chris Smalling to play the ball more frequently to Townsend.It has been reported that at least one player was shocked by the remark because he thought it could be perceived to carry racist connotations.<noframe>Twitter: andros townsend - I don't know what all this fuss is about. No offence was meant and none was taken! It's not even news worthy!</noframe>Hodgson, it is understood, has been mortified by that interpretation and regards it is a big misunderstanding. The England manager issued a statement last night to apologise for any offence that had been caused.He also stressed that he had spoken personally with Townsend and that the Tottenham Hotspur winger understood the context of the remark.“I would like to apologise if any offence has been caused by what I said at half-time,” Hodgson said. “There was absolutely no intention on my part to say anything inappropriate. I made this clear straight away to Andros in the dressing room.“I also spoke to Andros again on Wednesday. He has assured me and the FA he did not take any offence, and understood the point I was making in the manner I intended.”The supposed joke is one that was popular at American space agency Nasa.<noframe>Twitter: Wayne Rooney - Seen the story on roy this morning. He done nothing wrong. This is ridiculous.</noframe>“Nasa decided they’d finally send a man up in a capsule after sending only monkeys in the earlier missions,” the joke goes.“They fire the man and the monkey into space. The intercom crackles, 'Monkey, fire the retros’. A little later, 'Monkey, check the solid fuel supply’.“Later still, 'Monkey, check the life support systems for the man’. The astronaut takes umbrage and radios Nasa, 'When do I get to do something?’“Nasa replies, 'In 15 minutes – feed the monkey’.”It is understood that Hodgson had used the joke to try to emphasise to the England team that Townsend, who scored in the 4-1 win against Montenegro on Friday, could be critical to the victory.Townsend produced a man-of-the-match performance on his debut against Montenegro on Friday and was again excellent against Poland as England clinched their place in the World Cup finals. Hodgson had lavished praise on the impact of Townsend on Wednesday.The Football Association did not respond on Thursday night to Hodgson’s half-time comments beyond being made aware of the manager’s statement.Stan Collymore, the former England striker, went on Twitter last night to say that it would be ridiculous for anyone to take offence at what Hodgson said. “Someone leaked it and i bet 100 per cent confident that no player was offended, not one,” Collymore wrote.“If they are, do explain why. Racism is hard enough to keep on the agenda as it is without making everyone think a legitimate space tale should be a cause for offence.”Even so, news of the 'joke’ is threatening to overshadow Hodgson’s achievement.English football has been hit by a series of race rows in recent seasons, most famously when John Terry lost the England captaincy following allegations that he abused Anton Ferdinand. Terry was cleared in court but was ultimately banned by the FA for four matches.Sam Allardyce, the West Ham United manager, had sympathy for Hodgson and said on Thursday: “We are a politically correct country so we always have to be careful about what we say today.“But if continue to hype it up and promote everything in the press, nobody will be able to say a word very shortly and will have to keep ourselves quiet and ourselves to ourselves and not express our opinions.“You have to be very, very careful today. But I’m sure what Roy said was something that he didn’t mean any harm or any offence to anybody.”http://www.telegraph...s-Townsend.html What a mess this country is. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieD 19,325 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Yawn. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people with no issue with political correctness think this is daft too. PC would be finding a racist joke distasteful. This wasn't a racist joke.I wonder who leaked it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 11,453 Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 Yawn. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people with no issue with political correctness think this is daft too. PC would be finding a racist joke distasteful. This wasn't a racist joke.I wonder who leaked it.Mate racism groups and the likes of Piara Power going after it seriously undermines what is PC and what isn't. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Williamson. 84,036 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 This isn't racist and I wish people would stop making racist jokes seem wrong. Nothing wrong with a good darkie joke. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieD 19,325 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Mate racism groups and the likes of Piara Power going after it seriously undermines what is PC and what isn't.Piara Powar's job is to find racism where it doesn't exist. It's how he gets paid. He's a fucking idiot and a charlatan (and a racist). I haven't seen a singe person who agrees with him on this subject. Twitter, for example, is flooded with black people saying the whole fuss is ridiculous.Seems like the process went like this:- A player, who doesn't like Woy, leaked the story out of spite but probably doesn't think it was racist. No one else on the team seems to.- The Sun, who like Harry Redknapp, printed the story because it will sell papers. In general their staff and readers are probably more racist than Woy.- Piara Powar, who is an acknowledged racist, backed the theory that it's racist because he's an imbecile.- The general public laughed in disbelief. Not a single fuck was given.Political correctness has GONE MAD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 11,453 Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 Piara Powar's job is to find racism where it doesn't exist. It's how he gets paid. He's a fucking idiot and a charlatan (and a racist). I haven't seen a singe person who agrees with him on this subject. Twitter, for example, is flooded with black people saying the whole fuss is ridiculous.Hodgson has felt the need to apologise when he shouldn't need to at all though. The media are more than happy to play their part. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieD 19,325 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 The real issue here is the English media's immediate sabotage of the England manager before a World Cup. They will, of course, blame him and not themselves when he fails. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieD 19,325 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Hodgson has felt the need to apologise when he shouldn't need to at all though. The media are more than happy to play their part.Of course he has. He's a sensible and probably decent man who wanted to nip it in the bud. Nobody with any sense thinks his apology is an admission of guilt. It's a "Andros wasn't offended, but if anybody else was then I couldn't foresee that and I'm sorry", which is quite a noble thing to say.The media are happy to play their part because building up and then burning down the England team is what they do. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 11,453 Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 Piara Powar's job is to find racism where it doesn't exist. It's how he gets paid. He's a fucking idiot and a charlatan (and a racist). I haven't seen a singe person who agrees with him on this subject. Twitter, for example, is flooded with black people saying the whole fuss is ridiculous.Seems like the process went like this:- A player, who doesn't like Woy, leaked the story out of spite but probably doesn't think it was racist. No one else on the team seems to.- The Sun, who like Harry Redknapp, printed the story because it will sell papers. In general their staff and readers are probably more racist than Woy.- Piara Powar, who is an acknowledged racist, backed the theory that it's racist because he's an imbecile.- The general public laughed in disbelief. Not a single fuck was given.Political correctness has GONE MAD.I have actually changed the title, you make a fair point. The player that leaked it should never play for England again though if they're found out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigo 32,720 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 What a mess this country is. The one person that was offended is a mess. Collymore and Townsend represent what most people are thinking, I suspect. This non story doesn't show that the country is a mess. I'm happy the reaction to it has been sensible. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieD 19,325 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 To put it into context, Kim Kardashian and British Gas are trending on Twitter. Roy Hodgson is no longer Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Jela 20,687 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Fuck sake. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Getstiffed 8,863 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Fucking hell, even the boy himself sounds bemused.Surely people of ethnicity are getting as sick of this shite as the rest of us are? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheKingObv 10,670 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 I'm offended by the shitness of the 'joke' Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD.1872 890 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Nearly as bad as the soapdodgers when it comes to finding something to be offended at. One way street with that kick it out mob. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alstone 374 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Political correctness went mad such a long time ago - this story is another complete and utter joke! The only racist thing here is the accusation itself not what Woy said - words can't describe how much this stuff annoys me! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGER 138 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Ryangers193 wants Hodgson to issue a full apology and hand in his resignation as a result of his appalling discriminatory behaviour Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermopylae 15,287 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 To try and give the benefit of the doubt to the player who was offended I'm sure a lot of youngsters these days don't realise that NASA used to use monkeys but all the same who the hell would be offended at this lol.I wonder what Hodgson will do when he finds out who it was because the truth will come out Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.E.C. 19,114 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 There is a bit of racism in everything. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermopylae 15,287 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 A lot of the minions at NASA used the monkey jibe to stop the astronauts getting too carried away with themselves after all they were only going where the primates had gone before lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis 1,011 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Is talking about monkeys to black folk now illegal? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueshoff 12,042 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 It was actually a compliment to Townsend.If anyone should get offended it should be the rest of the team. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasa_Papac_No1_Fan 605 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 It is not racist but wtf has it got to do with football? I mean that would confuse me on the park. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieD 19,325 Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Is talking about monkeys to black folk now illegal?Piara Powar genuinely seems to think so. How is he going to explain this to black zoologists? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 11,453 Posted October 17, 2013 Author Share Posted October 17, 2013 Piara Powar genuinely seems to think so. How is he going to explain this to black zoologists?Powar is a clown Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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