Taken from Effiong's interview with the athletic. Wonder when the EFL will demand we drop the monkey hangers nickname?

“I scored and did the shush celebration, then someone threw a burger at me. They started calling me a monkey and making monkey gestures. The referee stopped the game and the black Hartlepool players were raging because they saw it as well.”

Inih Effiong is reflecting on what happened to him on September 21, 2019 (photographed above), when he was racially abused by some Hartlepool United supporters after scoring for Dover Athletic in a National League fixture.

“That was my first major experience of being racially abused,” he tells The Athletic. “I’ve never experienced racism like that in my whole career.

“When we travelled to their ground, one of our players said, ‘Do they know their nickname is the Monkey Hangers?’. So that didn’t sound too promising, and in this day and age, you can’t have a nickname like that. Then coincidentally I end up getting racially abused by their supporters.

“The game starts, their fans are giving me stick and it motivated me to score. We were awarded a penalty at the end where their fans were calling me rubbish and that’s when it all kicked off. My manager (Andy Hessenthaler) said I can walk off the pitch and he and the rest of the team will walk off with me. He’s a great guy and I’ll always love him for that.”

So, when the Dover player brought up the subject of Monkey Hangers, there was not even a vague suggestion of racism being an issue?
Will Sunderland be renamed the xxxxxx (insert colour of your choosing) Cats?
The Hartlepudlians could only be accused of possible racism against the French, not against monkeys or anything else. How is defending your country against a "spy" classed as racist?

That sort of behaviour by ‘fans’ is indefensible, but regarding the monkey hanger name, we had a little badge in the rear car window and driving down on my regular route to Portsmouth, called in at Towcester at Tesco. When I came out two rather posh women were pointing at the back of my car and as I approached asked if there was a problem when one asked me why I had a racist sticker in my car window.
I gave them a brief explanation which they found quite funny and went off on their way… That was about ten years ago, but why do some people have this as their automatic reaction?

Effiong's comments about the club nickname are ridiculous. That doesn't change the fact that he was racially abused and the whole episode was a stain on the club's reputation. Thankfully there has been no repeat and it is something that is firmly in the rear view mirror. Not sure why The Athletic thinks it's a good idea to rake over old coals like this.

You can't condone the fans behaviour in the slightest and clearly those fans made a link between black people and monkeys but I really don't think the average person does that. We couldn't give ourselves that nickname now but there's a history there and like snowy says if you actually tell people the story they tend to find it quite amusing.

the legend of hanging the monkey has been around well before organised football was ever thought of. never heard of anyone suggesting that our nickname makes the town or fans look bad. its a sodding monkey that was hung and not a black slave. when will all this rubbish die down and people get along with each other all the same. saying that any opponent who acts like a shithouse should be called out but leave their skin colour and ancestry where it belongs. there is plenty of stuff to shout as i,m sure i have used most in the past but never a guys colour.

Old news , best ignored.

To suggest "Monkey Hangers" is defamtory to anything let alone anyone is foolish in the extreme.

We could mention to "The Athletic" the player who made up he heard racists comments coming from the millhouse terraces.
Pretty close to where i was standing. Nothing racist was said and that is why it was thrown out by the FA.

We could argue that HE is in fact a racist by suggesting this.

it all smacks to me of some special priveledge he requires above others. think anyone who comes out as gay will also expect this also.

Diversity.
Theres an article in the Sun
Clubs in rap over diversity.

Apparently the 25% target of employees for epl n efl clubs has not been reached.

I thought it was about 50/50


Touchy subject nowadays.

Maybe Hangus will end up on the dole.

Could not give a flying one if pools had a complete non white staff or a whole white one as long as they were the best people for the job. As for percentages and box ticking i,m sure that there will be 80 per cent of the population being heterosexual white people so anything above 20 per cent means some are getting an extra privelege. Wonder if disabled get their fair whack and poor old gingers as well.

Yep, I agree.

I'm a Darlo fan, I come on here every now and again because it's a lively interesting forum but leaving this aside this monkey thing (made up controversy) is utter nonsense. It's a story from hundreds of years ago, and if my memory serves me right I'm sure I've seen some sort of gov statue somewhere about.

This is England.
One musent upset the intruders tho.

Was on the news Thursday that these ENGLISH Channel Crossers have so far cost the taxpayers £2 billion so far this year.
Unbelievable

in the present climate of nonsence i,m sure you could find someone quite easily who are offended and upset about Quakers for only a reason they know. Not diverse enough or too christian.

We now have a black PM, I think that will upset a few people.

Oddly enough, the colour of his skin never once occurred to me.
What’s to be upset about….

Equality,peace,truth,integrity,community we value them all.."Up The Quakers"

people keep on mentioning that as if they actually want a negative reaction over it. out of the whole country i doubt there will be enough to fill harrogates ground who dislike him just because of his colour.

Nobody batted an eyelid and rightly so .What a disappointment to those who seem to thrive on pointing the racial finger all the time eh.

Has Sunak gone already?

Boom Boom. Anyone desperate to keep up can look here: https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.ser ... nic-groups

You'll have to print it off if you want to use it as toilet paper