News reaches me that Paul Gascoigne, the greatest English footballer of my lifetime (I know this is a subjective view, but this is my website and I’ll say what I like), has today pleaded guilty in Dudley Magistrates Court to a racially aggravated public order charge. During “An Evening with Gazza” at Wolverhampton Civic Hall late last year, the former footballer said he could not tell whether a black security guard was smiling or not. I wasn’t there, I don’t know the context in which it was said but I am not going to condone it. I’m not going to rate it in order of what constitutes an order of offensiveness. He said it, he has admitted saying it, it was racist, it was wrong. An already tortured soul, I am sure Gazza will apologise, receive the appropriate warning from the magistrates and we can move on, especially the security guard who was the wronged individual.
Believe me when I say I am not trying to belittle what has happened. I don’t. In the 1980s, I was a very active member of the then Anti-Racist Alliance (ARA) and I conducted training courses for my trade union on the subject of equality in general and racism in particular. Comments like Gazza’s cannot be ignored and we need to have a zero-tolerance attitude to racism. There can be no exceptions, not even legendary footballers who have hit hard times.
This whole episode has been difficult. On one side we have a much-loved national hero who has slipped into alcoholism and has had his demons shown in the sick red tops who have portrayed him in a very bad way. I do not think some of the photos used were in any way helpful or in the public interest. Quite the reverse, I can only imagine it made things worse. And the Sun, of course, the Sun, even asked their resident doctor to comment on Gazza’s decline, proclaiming that he was likely to die soon, with the same lightness of touch this sick organ used in their coverage of Hillsborough. When Gazza needed an arm round him and a sympathetic word, Rupert Murdoch’s lapdogs plunged a knife into his back.
No one would seriously say that Gazza was the sharpest tool in the box but few say he is a bad person. He always seems to me, from a distance, as a troubled but gentle soul. His descent from glory – he has not kicked a ball in anger for well over a decade now – has been painful to observe. We can but hope that this particular incident represents the nadir of his lifetime.
There is so much Gazza could offer society. A fit and sober Gazza – and he looked both arriving in court today – has a vast knowledge of football and vast experience of life, particularly the dark side of it. Just imagine him imparting that knowledge and experience to the coming generation who are entering an uncertain world of difficult choices, limited opportunities and the many potential dangers and pitfalls? On the pitch and off it, Gazza has much to offer.
In sentencing, I hope the court shows some form of leniency and a punishment fit for the crime, certainly not a custodial, but something constructive. And that the victim of Gazza’s aside is able to feel that justice has been done. The joke was stupid, offensive and it certainly wasn’t funny. But I don’t think Paul Gascoigne is a bad person and I suspect he will be as mortified as anyone else by what has happened. Above all, I just want him to get better.
