Racism & Xenophobia.....

So, a wee bit of a dust-up over in Madrid last night?

Everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon here, criticising the racist monkey-chants from a small section of the Bernabeu crowd.

I'm not making excuses for it, but it's an issue which was stoked by the media into an unlit petrol-doused bonfire, just awaiting a spark.

Undoubtedly, there were ugly chants directed at Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Philips. I heard them.

But, why were these chants not aimed at Rio Ferdinand or Jermaine Jenus? And why did the chanting stop after Ashley Cole was subbed? Jermaine Defoe, Cole's replacement, was ignored by the thugs. Why?

And in the aftermath, why has the talentless, sterile performance by the England team been ignored also? Or Rooney's dishonourable behaviour in throwing his black armband (to commemorate an England legend) to the ground in disgust?

Here's the Spanish Press reaction (as provided by the good ol' Beeb!).

And as an aside, I noticed last night's commentator (I forget who?) mentioned the fact that Scotland were 4-1 down at home to Sweden, with the comment "And Sweden don't even have a full squad!"

Well for your information, nor did Scotland......

But then we expect that sort of reaction from these people.

In my opinion, it's time some people stopped whinging about racism in a foreign country, and instead looked at the inherent xenophobia that pervades their own country.....