the media can try but i will never fall into the nonsense of criticising black footballers for not being humble lol
common sports media racism tropes:
pace & power (iconic sketch): describe black athletes as dependent entirely on their physical gifts. a way to imply they are neither skilled nor intelligent, and effectively lock them out of leadership positions and post career coaching / analysis roles.
lazy: taking the gifted athlete argument to its conclusion, saying they don't work hard in training or in game. as though any pro athlete isn't incredibly disciplined and the margins for getting replaced aren't incredibly fine. also who fucking cares about training, in game quality is all that matters everyone loved eden hazard.
lifestyle issues: describe black athletes as uniquely irresponsible and distracted by doing normal celebrity things like modeling fashion, featuring on rap music videos, buying houses or partying. this also comes up with a dose of classism in the context of black athletes who may have made it out of the slums or projects.
ungrateful: fans usually want all athletes to be thankful to them, but they want black athletes to never ever challenge this compact even when they break it by racially abusing their own players. its also a way of disciplining players who command power by virtue of their reputation and skills – how dare you, have more power than me, a white person who pays for your career? white fans already feel ownership over their teams, but society tells them that all black people should be even lower than the white athlete you already justified calling wanker. and therefore the black athlete who can negotiate a big contact is ungrateful.
arrogance: it doesn't matter how much respect a black athlete has for his white peers or legends of the game expressed as investment in the history of the sport or outright praise. any semblance of personal confidence, no matter how justified must be stamped out. you can't show any personality by doing fun tricks (showing off), you can't say you aim to win (disrespect), you can't let your game do the talking (media deserves respect) you can never ever win even if you prostrate yourself to the media. you will always be perceived as arrogant for daring to be better than the media's white faves. even if every statistical measure was in your favor ala lewis hamilton, some people will never give you your flowers.
