Man who shot Chelsea racism video is the son of Irish emigrants

Video, and other recent racist incidents involving football fans, have made him "miserable".

The man who filmed the the Chelsea fans stopping Souleymane S from getting on to a train in Paris last month has said that the "blatant racism" obvious in the clip and in football has made him miserable.

Paul Nolan, whose parents moved from Co Kerry to London more than 50 years ago, wrote in today's Guardian newspaper: "Seeing the video go viral also stirred up a lot of emotion in me."

It comes as Chelsea host Paris St Germain at Stamford Bridge in London tonight in the return leg of the Champions League game which was played on the night of the incident.

The clip, which shows the hooligans chanting: “We’re racist and that’s the way we like it” after pushing the black man off the train, has attracted widespread condemnation.

Mr Nolan writes that the footage is "about blatant racism and how a group of yobs thinks it can get away with it".

He said that, and other recent football incidents, show that racism in the sport is "an attitude that’s more entrenched", and contrasts with the way football was a positive force in his dad's life as an Irish immigrant in London in the 1960s.

Mr Nolan, whose dad was a Fulham fan, said: "When I think of the positive part football played in my dad’s life – and has played for countless other immigrants to these shores – it makes me miserable."

He ends his article on a hopeful note by saying: "If there’s anything positive to come out of the experience, perhaps it’s a renewed awareness that racism has no part to play in football.

"My dad’s story shows that the sport has the potential to be a force for inclusiveness. Let’s hope it can be again. The game should be something that binds us together, not splits us apart."

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