Pandemonium: Leon Bailey arrives in Rome

Vatican meeting with the Pope next

Aren't Italian fans neo-Nazis? Their own star player Mario Balotelli was subject to endless racist monkey and banana slurs. Tears were never far away for Balotelli who was born in Italy to Ghanaian parents.

In reply to Castled

Racism is a global issue. It occurs in Italy, the UK, and even here in Jamaica. Bailey and other black players excelled in England despite incidents of racsim. Roma fans have embraced him but football fans are fickle and can be nasty if you fail to live up to their expectations. Let’s remember, Jamaicans also show xenophobia by calling UK-born Reggae Boyz ‘English rejects.’

Monkey chants or English reject comments both come from the same root, fear and prejudice

In reply to nitro

You're not equating n-word, monkey labels and chants with 'English reject' are you? No, you aren't. No way, no how. Dudes like you are the reason they take liberties with Black people. Look at what Trump's doing now with slavery. They would never try this with Js, but they know a lot of Black people are you, so they continue. Duppy know who fi frighten.

There's a difference between Italy and England, in that it has extremely difficult to get the Italians (and Spanish) to deal with the racist scumbags. Black people are told to get over it in those parts by those FAs.

There is absoultely nothing wrong with what was stated by Nitro. He pointed out that affects of fear and prejudices are byproducts of name-calling. Whenever our bodies are threatened we have the tendency to resort to what divides us. Name-calling leans upon essentialism to support the push to alienate. Of course, that with which we are identified (race) is that which we will defend. However, Nitro was clear in pointing out that he was speaking to affects of fear and prejudice rooted in the "N-word" and "English rejects".

In reply to nitro


Were they not?

How many of them, had they been called up to the England national team at the time, would have declined and instead played for Jamaica at that World Cup?

In reply to JahJah

Not saying racism and xenophobia are the same, but both exclude and devalue people. Racism is brutal. I believe as well that calling UK-born Jamaicans ‘rejects’ especially in mainstream Jamaican media is also very hurtful. I only brought up the English Reject argument because this thread is about a Reggae Boy

In reply to imusic

Fair point. But that’s the reality of dual nationality in football. Players choose based on opportunity. Jamaican born Raheem Sterling and John Barnes chose England. Others choose Jamaica at a very young age such as Dexter Lembikisa, Karoy Anderson & Tyreece Campbell. It’s the same for Nigeria, Ghana, Scotland, Ireland, etc. Even Jack Grealish and Declan Rice played for Ireland before switching to England. That doesn’t make anyone a ‘reject’, just eligible talent. The label says more about us than them.

In reply to JoeGrine

Thank you Sir.

In reply to nitro

Bailey apparently injured in 1st training session

Not good news for him and for the already depleted Reggae Boyz

In reply to imusic


Music man, how does that make them "rejects"? The word reject is used to generate dislike and anger. Sadly, it has succeeded. If you or I apply for the job of our choice and we do not succeed, surely we will turn to the alternative. Note also that some English born players only considered Jamaica yet the labelling has been so successful that they too are classified as such.

That we black people resort to calling our fellow blacks "rejects" speaks more to our vulnerability to discrimination and privilege where we even foist it upon one another. MANKIND!

In reply to FanAttick

Rahtid. This is getting worst.

Injured and possible out for September:

Andre Blake
Ethan Pinnock
Bobby Reid
Joel Latibeaudiere
Leon Bailey

Out of club or not having much game time:
Isaac Hayden
Shamar Nicholson
Michail Antonio
Dexter Lembikisa
Di'Shon Bernard
Damion Lowe
Renaldo Cephas
Ravel Morrison

We are in trouble

In reply to nitro

Plus JPL is not yet in full swing so not much to expect from local ballers

In reply to JoeGrine

Maybe I’m off on this, but I always think about how we embrace our West Indies cricket team. We proudly support the Windies, even when Jamaica only has two or three players in the squad.

Perhaps it’s our closeness in the Caribbean through institutions like UWI, where so many of us studied. But in reality, I’d argue we’ve built even stronger bonds with our diaspora in the UK, Canada, and the US.

Reggae music exploded in those countries through our diaspora, and our culture is proudly carried abroad, sometimes even more visibly than in the West Indies. So if we embrace regional pride in cricket, why not embrace diaspora pride in football? That’s the real mystery to me

In reply to nitro

Great observations. The primary issue revolves around the selling of players by local clubs. Club leaders lack vision and thus via myopia, probably see the selling of local players as the primary way to generate income. Further to the point, the local player would then be preferred for national duty above foreign-born players and even local born players who were sold to overseas club. You don't see any cry for Trevante Stewart, Satchwell (StATHS) or Kaheem Parris (Dinthill) for national duty do you? They have been sold so I guess it is on to pushing more local players onto national teams to showcase them for selling purpose (transfer fees). So, is the national team to showcase local players or to obtain the best possible result? Methinks the former is the conclusion of many.

You don't even have to mention West Indies cricket. Look at women's football, do you see anyone labeling even one degge degge diasporic player a "reject"? Again, think transfer fees. We do not have a local league producing decent enough female players. Look to the day when the local women's league gets better then the label "reject" will be invoked on the ladies.

In reply to JoeGrine


homes dat aint the same as pelting bananas at players and directing monkey chants in their direction. Racism in italy isn't as bad as in spain though but im sure nobody would have made a peep if he was loaned to barcelona or athletico. And most racist incidents happen in smaller cities/towns with no immigrants. In eastern europe, like russia and ukraine before the war, its really bad. Right before the 2012 euros, racism was a genuine concern before the tournament in ukraine. BBC showed a documentary where an Indian family who were clearly tourists camer to a match and had to leave because of the abuse from the crowd

In reply to Jumpstart



I am going to assume that you are black. As a result, you are, predictably and respectfully, focusing on what ails you whilst ignoring the essence of what is being said here i.e. - the words (in this case reject) are used to generate responses of anger, hate etc.

As a black person, nothing is more galling than the "N" word, and to us it beats all else. When words such as "reject", "mullato" are used it is also quite galling and the intent is to cause pain and dislike not dissimilar to when the "N" word is used. The focus was the use of words to gin up anger more than the group pain a particular word generates.

Hopefully Bailey makes a full recovery

In reply to nitro


2 words

Common Culture

What exacerbates the situation with “diaspora pride” in football is that most, if not all of them, come from former colonial powers and all the baggage that comes with that.

Not even a comparison.

I suspect you know that as well.

Brendan Nash was part of that cricket diaspora.

So was Gordon Greenidge and he initially wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms……until he started making runs and the team started winning.

Winning cures all. In the case of the Reggae Boyz…..it was World Cup qualification in 98.

The UB40’s could have come from Mars and been whiter than fresh snow……it wouldn’t have mattered in that circumstance.

But had they failed to qualify……well…..I suspect you know how it would have gone.

In reply to imusic

You’re right, colonial baggage makes the diaspora question more complex. But I’d argue Jamaican culture abroad is just as common as our Caribbean bonds. Reggae in the UK is not just about UB40. Look at Steel Pulse, Aswad, Musical Youth. Our music, cuisine, language and influence in many festivals shows our vibrant culture in the diaspora.

Yes, winning helps everyone feel closer and acceptance mostly come when results do. The Reggae Girlz are proof of that. They qualified the last two world cups with 99% of the players born in the USA & England and are accepted without any fuss.

In reply to nitro

question cause i know you are a football man. i saw a 45 man squad or something on you tube. no Mason greenwood? whose wife did Ravel Morrison dagger? the game is in less than 2 weeks. why so many names?

In reply to rudebway

In reply to rudebway

All kind of rumors about the Mason Greenwood situation but are we realistically going to get a world class talent like him? I doubt it.

The problems Jamaica have Greenwood cannot solve however. That is our poor midfield. You mentioned Ravel Morrison and it is a shame that people hold his past against him. Now he would have improved the midfield. Our biggest loss in midfield however is Lewis Baker whose papers were being processed but there were errors in the documentation apparently and his grandmother passed away. So that is that.

Let us see what the final 23 looks like on Friday.

In reply to nitro

This iteration of the Reggae Boyz MAY suffer from a case of “too many cooks”

In reply to nitro


I beg to differ somewhat. The Reggae Girlz are proof that where there's no transfer fee to be gained by local clubs, the issue of "English reject" is mute.