My say on racism towards Hamilton @ Times Online

I just wrote a hurried response to the article reporting racial abuse of Lewis Hamilton by Spanish fans on the Times Online site:

As shocking and disgusting as it is to see the Alonso fans steep to the lowly depths of racism to grind their axe about their two time world champion perfect son Alonso being matched by a newcomer to the sport, it is hardly suprising for anyone who has followed the 2007 season closely. There was a fanatical side to the dislike of the Spanish fans for Lewis Hamilton, that is unlike anything I have seen in 20 years of following Formula 1. For those who forget easily: the head of the Spanish motorsport association was on record making a racial slur to Hamilton last summer, which he tried to retract as this ended up in the mainstream press. Alonso has shown himself to be a very poor sportsman, and his fan base don’t shun racism in backing up their favourite son. It’s an inconvenient truth, but the racism in Spain towards a succesful coloured driver has now surfaced, and F1 finds itself on territory that was previuosly almost exclusively known to the game of football.

Advertisement