Yaya Toure

bluenitsuj said:

Surely if it was down to being Black, none of us would have heard of Pele, but we all have based on his ability as a player.

Toure has one big chip on his shoulder

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luge said:

I think his comments came after a wider discussion of Ballon d'or winners : and he wasn't angry about it - it was part of a philisophical discussion (that lasted 90 mins- much more than your average football interview).
It is a view that is quite common in the black footballing community however.

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Easy 10 said:

He said: "If you go to any part of Africa now, people will say, 'yes, we know him [Messi]', but when you come to Europe and say 'Yaya Toure' people will say, 'who is that?' Some will say they know my name but not know my face. But they will know Messi's face."

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Indy said:

Toure is miles better than Gerrard, but Gerrard might get the English journos vote.

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Indy said:

Toure is miles better than Gerrard but Gerrard might get the English journos vote.

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The Wizard said:

What's all this about then? Saying himself and players like Drogba don't get enough praise as they are seen as 'animals' due to their race.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/27074317

Was he drunk when he gave this interview?

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robynsdad said:

Hang on - where does he say anything about being seen as 'animals'? Not in the BBC interview as far as I can see? Have I missed something?

Also, people seem to missing a couple of points: first that his comments are actually responding to (and agreeing with) comments originally made by Samir Nasri - and second that he doesn't actually mention 'race' as far as i can see (yet everyone is putting words into his mouth and saying he is turning it into a 'race' thing?)

What he (and Nasri) says is that African players players do not receive the recognition the deserve. I don't feel qualified to say whether he is right or not, (and there is certainly a whiff of sour grapes in what he says) but that is different from saying he doesn't receive recognition because of his race.

As an African player (as opposed to European, Brazilian etc, of whatever colour) it's unlikely that you will be spotted and hyped at an early age, and you may also not get as much exposure from playing for your national team. Thus i would say the possibility is certainly there that an African player may not receive as much recognition as an equivalent from Europe or South America. as i say - I don't know if it is true, but a different discussion from simplistic assumption he is talking only about 'race'.

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robynsdad said:

Hang on - where does he say anything about being seen as 'animals'? Not in the BBC interview as far as I can see? Have I missed something?

Also, people seem to missing a couple of points: first that his comments are actually responding to (and agreeing with) comments originally made by Samir Nasri - and second that he doesn't actually mention 'race' as far as i can see (yet everyone is putting words into his mouth and saying he is turning it into a 'race' thing?)

What he (and Nasri) says is that African players players do not receive the recognition the deserve. I don't feel qualified to say whether he is right or not, (and there is certainly a whiff of sour grapes in what he says) but that is different from saying he doesn't receive recognition because of his race.

As an African player (as opposed to European, Brazilian etc, of whatever colour) it's unlikely that you will be spotted and hyped at an early age, and you may also not get as much exposure from playing for your national team. Thus i would say the possibility is certainly there that an African player may not receive as much recognition as an equivalent from Europe or South America. as i say - I don't know if it is true, but a different discussion from simplistic assumption he is talking only about 'race'.

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Bakero said:

I was about to post a very similar comment (to the one above from Robyn'sDad).

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bushy said:

Then you'd have been as wrong as he was.

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Bakero said:

Well, the BBC didn't mention the 'animals' comment. Seems strange that they edited it out. Robynsdad is still right that Yaya was referring to Africans as opposed to blacks in general.

African footballers aren't particularly well represented by our media. Sub-saharan nations are talked about as if they're a homogenous mass and journalists seem to have a very limited vocabulary to describe African footballers. Especially at the world cup when the pundits and journos aren't familiar with all the players. Think of the adjectives used: powerful, athletic, pacy, unpredictable, tactically naive. Rarely, intelligent, crafty etc.

Other nations/regions are also stereotyped but perhaps not to the same extent. Usually the narrative at the world cup is the brave, morally-upstanding English against the sneaky, cheating foreigners.

I'm sure you'll disagree but that's my tuppence worth.

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bushy said:

yes toure did refer to Africans rather than blacks in general, but we both know full well that he meant blacks rather than the Arab nations, I'm sure you'll disagree but that's my two pennorth.

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bushy said:

He says it in this interview which the bbc have edited for some reason, it was indeed a whiny , chip on his shoulder whinge. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...not-human-beings-Im-not-rated-Im-African.html

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Diego Napier said:

Gerrard is miles better than Toure but he might not get the English journos vote.

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Safeway said:

Sounds like he's been hanging the back of Sol Campbell.

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Indy said:

Do you still think Gerrard is any good?

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