Sad, but it seems some just can't understand the difference between 'banter' and racial abuse. When the ref is called a 'Blind barsteward' nobody actually believes he's blind or indeed illegitimate.It's all very 'tongue in cheek' and as some have said, the insults traded are often hilarious. However, when someone likens a black player to an ape it is suggesting that he is of an inferior sub-human race. The insult may have come from someone who does not really believe that to be the case, but there are still plenty that do and accepting this behaviour condones racism.Whether or not this is intentional. Do we want to see the racist slogans, Nazi salutes etc, that occurred during the England game against Bulgaria ?
Black players don't object any more than white players about being told they are playing like 't...sers' or whatever, but to suggest they are less than human because of skin colour is plain ignorance.