Banter and stupidity disastrous bedfellows

“THERE was a word beginning with ‘N’ that some football fans used to shout at people like me. They don’t do it any more.”

So said Ledley King last April in a film by Kick It Out called The Y Word, aimed at ridding football of anti-semitism.

Maybe football had grown complacent. We don’t yet know what Patrice Evra or Anton Ferdinand experienced on the field of play, but the last week has seen a torrent of racist abuse aimed at Ferdinand, Stan Collymore and Sammy Ameobi via Twitter.