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Craig Foster has won the victory over himself

The captain of the Australian women’s football team, Sam Kerr, is awaiting trial in the UK on a charge of “racially aggravated harassment” for allegedly calling a London police officer a “stupid white bastard”.

Craig Foster, a prominent former player for the Australian national team, the Socceroos, intially said that Kerr should resign if convicted, because racism is bad.

*

“Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself.”

*

“Craig Foster apologises to Sam Kerr after arguing her alleged remark to UK police officer was racist”, reports the Guardian.

Foster last week urged Football Australia to strip Kerr of the Matildas captaincy if the allegation was proven, to make a stand against racism. He said: “Interpersonal racism against a white person … is still racism.”

But on Saturday he explained that he had changed his mind.

“Like many, I mistakenly thought that comments that referenced any colour and were discriminatory, demeaning or hostile were a form of racism. I apologise to Sam for that mistake,” Foster wrote on X.

“Judging from the coverage, comments and conversations we’re all having, every day, there were major gaps in knowledge about how to deal with situations where the descriptor ‘white’ is used in a derogatory way.

“As many experts and leading anti-racism groups have pointed out, interpersonal comments can be offensive, abusive or inappropriate, however, racism can only be perpetrated against a marginalised person or group, which anti-racism frameworks are specifically designed to protect.”

Four points:

1) Anyone believe Craig Foster’s claim that he thought calling someone a “white bastard” was racist until “experts and leading anti-racism groups” told him otherwise? His apology was so obviously made under pressure that it came across almost as parody.

2) Calling someone a “white bastard” is racist. Obviously.

3) Calling someone a “white bastard” is not “racially aggravated harassment”. It was just words. It must be annoying being a cop and having people insult you quite often, but the only difference between this and a thousand other drunken outbursts is that the presence of the word “white” enabled the cop concerned to slap a ridiculous charge on Kerr.

4) I have a low opinion of the conduct of all of Sam Kerr, Craig Foster and the police officer.

15 comments to Craig Foster has won the victory over himself

  • Alex

    Aye, a pox on all their houses. They all look bad. I absolutely agree with all your four points.

  • Runcie Balspune

    So you can be captain of a national sports team and still be considered “marginalised”, have I got that right?

  • I can only imagine what would happen if someone called Raheem Sterling a “stupid black bastard” for his idiotic kneeling campaign.

  • llamas

    Just a quick check here, hmmm, let me see . . . ahem . . . yes, OK, I’ve got it. She scores a perfect trifecta in the identity stakes. So – Arguing with a cab-driver after throwing up, drunk, in the back of his cab, and then arguing with the police when they showed up to sort the matter out, then racially-identifying and insulting the police officer? Nah. I confidently predict that, despite the obvious presence of bodycam or other video (she would never have been charged in so-specific a way unless there’s video), this case will be nol-prossed and she will not face the slightest consequences for her behaviour. Bank on it.

    And as for Craig Foster, whoever he is? Mealy-mouthed, craven, hypocritical poltroon. Bah. I need a stiff bourbon-and-water to get rid of the odour of this snivelling simp.

    llater,

    llamas

  • bobby b

    If someone tries to insult me by calling me a white bastard, I might ask them how they know Mom, but all in all, that’s a fairly lackluster insult.

  • “As many experts and leading anti-racism groups have pointed out, interpersonal comments can be offensive, abusive or inappropriate, however, racism can only be perpetrated against a marginalised person or group, which anti-racism frameworks are specifically designed to protect.”

    This is, of course, arrant bullshit. As David Thompson (NB: you need to update the link in the sidebar) likes to point out, so much of “anti-racism” and the other anti-isms is little more than an excuse to allow nasty bullies to get their bullying on with an excuse that says their bullying is actually virtuous.

  • Rocco

    What Craig Foster should have tweeted…

    “Like many, I mistakenly thought that comments that referenced any colour and were discriminatory, demeaning or hostile were a form of racism. I apologise to Sam for that mistake,” Foster should have written on X. “But Sam, the Stupid White Bastard that she is, should have kept her cool and kept her mouth shut.”

  • Fraser Orr

    I’m confused. Did anyone actually determine if the cop was being a stupid white bastard? It didn’t seem to say in the article.

    And it seems strange that they are fixated on the one word “white” that is undoubtedly true, and not insulting at all, and completely ignoring the other two words both of which are rude and a matter of judgement.

    Oh, btw, I want to share a hearty congratulations to you Brits. Apparently, having eliminated all the murder, rape, robbery, fraud and assaults, you have finally been able to find time in your criminal justice system for this. Must be a real crime free paradise there.

  • Kirk

    Well, we’ve set a new low… Congratulations, Britain.

    Only matched by my home state here in the US, which seems hell-bent on passing something called SB 5427, a bill establishing something called a “Hate crimes and bias incidents hotline”.

    Apparently, someone saw The Lives of Others and thought it was a great idea… Someone was saying that there was a reward involved with this hotline idea, but I’m unable to find it in the actual bill. Supposedly, if you got your feelings hurt and reported it, it was $2,000.00 a pop.

    Can’t imagine how that might be abused.

    I can’t help but think that these idjit-class types are going to be shocked, shocked I tell you, when this all blows up in their faces. It’s like they’re at the scene of a fuel spill, and instead of trying to contain things, they’re passing out packets of matches and lighters to all the neighborhood children…

  • AFT

    Maybe it’s just me, but Craig Foster’s ostensible about-face on Saturday is written in a way that could – at the very least – suggest a degree of bitter sarcasm.

  • Penseivat

    Perhaps if the cab driver, facing having to take his cab off the road to clean and disinfect it, had called her “a drunken black bitch”, the press release, and her possible subsequent demand that the cab driver be put to death for racism, would have gained more air time?

  • Paul Marks

    No – according to fashionable doctrine hating white people is not racist.

    This is because, according to fashionable doctrine, “racism” (like “sexism”, “homophobia”, “transphobia”, “Islamophobia” and so on) is about “power structures” specifically “capitalist power structures of exploitation and oppression” so, for example, the only way a black person can be “racist” is if they say, again for example, “black people are more likely to commit violent crimes”, saying, for example, “white people are evil and must be exterminated” is NOT racist.

    Till people understand that all institutions in the West, public and private (everything from the Google corporation and Search Engine, to the Australian women’s association football organisation), are saturated with “Critical Theory” Frankfurt School Marxism, they will continue to be baffled by the modern world.

    By the way – the same British government that complains about local councils wasting money on Critical Theory Marxist “EDI” (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – the British version of the American Marxist “DEI” – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) has NOT repealed the Critical Theory Marxist Equality Act of 2010 that leads to councils spending the money.

  • Paul Marks

    France 24 Television reports about Islamic attacks on Jews, Christians, atheists, and other infidels, without ever mentioning the words “Islamic” or “Muslim” – whole documentaries about attacks on Jews in France are made without any mention of the words “Islamic” or “Muslim”.

    In Britain, the United States, and other English speaking countries (such as Australia) people write about the effects of modern Marxist Critical Theory doctrine – without ever mentioning the word “Marxist”.

    The doctrine that divides the world between “exploiters” and “exploited”, “oppressors” and “oppressed”.

  • Nicholas (Locals, Rule!) Gray

    We used to say, in the time of God (The Good Old Days) that “Sticks and Stones may hurt my bones, but names will never hurt me!” We all seem to be turning into neurotic simpletons! What will happen if all this escalates? Lawsuits in kindergartens over bad words? Perhaps lifelong trauma payments? Will we all end up like Mark Twain- I have a lawyer, and I’m looking for a good case!?

  • And who do bullies score their greatest successes against? Cowards. You earned that title Craig.

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