Mal Fletcher comments on racism in the UK

Mal Fletcher

The question has arisen again on the back of a widely reported, racially inspired incident involving Chelsea football fans in Paris.

A group of fans prevented a black man from boarding a Metro train, chanting: 'We're racist and that's the way we like it.'

Chelsea football club has denounced this behaviour, as has the Chelsea Supporters Trust, which added that most of the club's 2000 fans at the game were well behaved.

Racist behaviour in football at home and abroad is, of course, nothing new. In recent years, some of the game's biggest clubs and national authorities, as well as campaign groups like Kick it Out, have arguably made significant steps toward stamping it out.

So, should we be shocked or surprised by stories like this one?

For me, there is no shock, but there is always an element of surprise.

I'm surprised by events like this because I think that, on the whole, British society is a fairly tolerant one. The vast majority of people within this island nation treat each other with some level of courtesy, if not respect.

We have 64 million people living, mostly peaceably, on a relatively small land mass, so there's clearly a degree of give-and-take at work in our society.

On the other hand, I'm never exactly shocked by these stories. Within even the most tolerant societies there's a minority of people who behave in racially motivated ways.

Sadly, that minority often seems to be the most vocal section of the community.

It often seems its members become more vocal when they find themselves in highly-charged environments, of the kind you find at international sporting events.

In these surroundings, group-think can take precedence over independent - and perhaps more reasonable - thought.

People whose views and everyday behaviour might be constrained by cultural norms within the wider society can, when surrounded only by a tight-knit, supportive group of friends, let down their guard, revealing their true mindset.

Travelling abroad can exacerbate this effect. A foreign environment makes it easier for some people to feel liberated from the normal behavioural parameters imposed by culture and the law.