BT Sport Coverage of Quins vs Sale .... Why Oh Why ?

[northerntiger]

Difficult one this.
Firstly though, I wouldn’t say BT sport forced this on anyone. As said, you could have turned the sound down or off.
Secondly, much more importantly, if you watched the film, what Ugo Monye spoke about was truly awful. As a white, middle class male, I can’t conceive of me or my children being treated like he was. I think it’s easy to belittle the effects of racism if you’ve never experienced it.
Thirdly, BLM we’ll have either been hijacked by left wing politicos, or jumped on a bandwagon, but that doesn’t make the message behind it any less valid.

[Cardiff Tig]

It seems that some people can't understand that the saying “black lives matter" is much more than just supporting and promoting the activist group that shares the same name. Thousands are people and companies that now use the saying aren't trying to be political and join the US-based activist group.

If you can't understand that and see that this is about the bigger issue of racism (which I would argue isn't political, there's a clear right and wrong side to this!) then there's probably no hope...

Rugby has a racism problem, like all of society. Actually listen to what players like Monye and others say about their experiences, and look at the backroom staff and board members of all the clubs.

[Tiglon]

Regardless of the perceived rights/wrongs of BLM as a movement, I'm baffled as to why anyone would be offended by BT Sport doing their part in raising awareness about racism.

I am delighted to live in a society where Monye has a platform to share his experiences on a subject that is very relevant to rugby.

[jgriffin]

Game covered elsewhere, but I was truly flabbergasted and annoyed to see BT Sport choosing not just mention but heavily feature the BLM initiative and to a lesser extent the CoVid / NHS content in the prematch buildup. We wait months for our rugby to return then they chose to force us to listen to their virtue signalling politicised views.

Elsewhere several including Admin have asked us to stop posting our political stance on this Forum. Some of us have. Please stop.

[Scott1]

Huge respect for the 11 Sale players!

[Johnnyg]

Huge respect for the 11 Sale players!

But doesn’t that mean they are all racist? No one must ever disagree with the perceived correct opinion! I genuinely wonder whether many people have actually researched the political aims of BLM. I strongly and firmly hate racism but the woke attitude of enforcing opinions by ridicule and criticism of anyone who disagrees without entering into any proper debate is violently offensive and anti democratic.

[Scott1]

Huge respect for the 11 Sale players!

But doesn’t that mean they are all racist? No one must ever disagree with the perceived correct opinion! I genuinely wonder whether many people have actually researched the political aims of BLM. I strongly and firmly hate racism but the woke attitude of enforcing opinions by ridicule and criticism of anyone who disagrees without entering into any proper debate is violently offensive and anti democratic.

I have and know exactly what BLM are all about!

[Tiglon]

1) Some people knelt because they wanted to.

2) A broadcasting company did a piece about a topic that many people are talking about.

3) Some people didn't like that.

As far as I can tell, those are the three things that have happened, and I'm ok with all of them. We should probably turn the hyperbole down a notch or two though...

[BengalTiger]

Simon P raises a fair point, I do not mean the subject matter, I wish sports programs would just stick to the sport, after all there was a lot of rugby subject matter to be covered, if BT wanted to they could have put a trailer to a separate item covering BLM, NHS or whatever, I think this is really the point of the post, a lot of posters seem to have used it as an opportunity to polish their own virtue and attack other posters which is a shame.

[Tigerbeat]

This was rugbys first weekend back playing so it was expected that something would be done on BLM / Racism as it has been done in Football, Cricket etc.
Ugo / Maro and Ellis were featured in a piece on the TV.
This is a topic that needs to be raised in all sports, awareness raised and people educated to understand the underlying racism that is happening.

[POSTIGER]

I understand the argument that sport should not be a vehicle for political statement but IMHO thanking NHS staff for working day and night to save thousands of lives during a pandemic isn't making a political statement, it's rightly recognising the real heroes in this country in a public way while keeping the issue of Corona virus in the public consciousness.

Similarly, I don't think it's a major political statement to stand against racism, it's surely about being a decent human being and promoting tolerance? Is it so bad if a whole 60 seconds of a sporting fixture is dedicated to setting a good example to the watching audience?

[MurphysLaw]

Whether or not folks consider such issues as political as the OP does, the huge irony here for me is the OP raising the issue of 'politics' in sport by raising it on a forum specifically dedicated to Tigers rugby matters. Why oh why?

Mods, have you considered switching this to the chit chat forum?

[DeadlyDunc]

Let’s face it, wide reaching political movement is not going to be perfect, nor is consensus going to be reached by an entire population or group simply by the nature of Advocating change.

https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe

This (assuming the link works?) hardly reads like a revolutionary call to arms to me. At a stretch you might argue it is trying to be too inclusive but I’d rather that than the opposite.

[kend]

I thought Monye's contribution was excellent.

It’s interesting that rugby seems to be struggling with the response to BLM, whereas football didn’t. As far as I saw, the football teams took a knee without much debate. The lack of unity apparent in the Sale team can’t do much for team cohesion. If you were a BAME player in that team, would you feel supported by your teammates?

I thought the Tigers decision, in the context of a diverse city like Leicester, was a strong response.

I’m puzzled that people think BLM has been somehow 'hijacked by a political agenda'. Of course it has a political agenda. All activist led movements do because the only way to effect change is by applying political pressure on legislators: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

The fact it splits on left/right lines (which is, by and large, also true of environmental groups) isn’t so much a function of the movement as of the nature of political discourse in the UK and US.

[jgriffin]

I thought Monye's contribution was excellent.

It’s interesting that rugby seems to be struggling with the response to BLM, whereas football didn’t. As far as I saw, the football teams took a knee without much debate. The lack of unity apparent in the Sale team can’t do much for team cohesion. If you were a BAME player in that team, would you feel supported by your teammates?

I thought the Tigers decision, in the context of a diverse city like Leicester, was a strong response.

I’m puzzled that people think BLM has been somehow 'hijacked by a political agenda'. Of course it has a political agenda. All activist led movements do because the only way to effect change is by applying political pressure on legislators: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

The fact it splits on left/right lines (which is, by and large, also true of environmental groups) isn’t so much a function of the movement as of the nature of political discourse in the UK and US.

Which is why it's a bit pointless to argue, since the trenches have been dug. 'Politics' means the administration of a city-state, so pretty well most topics have a 'political agenda', save most rugby-related ones. You won't stop the 'hidden agenda' posts, nor the 'it's my right to free speech, whatever' ones, nor will incredulity be expressed when some discover that Tigers have lefty snowflakes amongst their supporters alongside hard-line Brexiteers and 'couldn't care less'. The nice thing is that the fact we all share this interest means that sometimes even the most vehement of opposition can find a common cause, even if it is just in a Tigers shirt.