Controversy: Alan Hansen came under-fire for his
comments on Match of the Day which appeared to shock fellow pundit
Lee Dixon (R)
Alan Hansen has landed himself in hot water after
making a racial gaffe TWICE during last night’s Match of the
Day.
The BBC pundit - who is paid an enormous £40,000 per show
- caused controversy after describing black players as 'coloured'
when discussing the current John Terry and Luis Suarez racism
rows.
Fellow pundit Lee Dixon looked on in disdain as former
Liverpool defender Hansen, 56, said: ‘I think there’s a lot of
coloured players in all the major teams and there are lots of
coloured players who are probably the best in the Premier
League.
‘If you look at 25 or 30 years ago it was probably in a
bad way - not as bad as some of the other nations on the Continent
- but certainly there is always, always room for
improvement.’
The 56-year-old ex-Scotland international immediately came
under-fire on social networking site Twitter after fans,
footballers and celebrities lead a backlash against the former
Liverpool defender for describing black players
‘coloured’.
Former Tottenham player Rohan Ricketts, now at Irish
outfit Shamrock Rovers, was outraged and tweeted: ‘Is this Alan
Hansen guy taking the f****** p***?? I’m not coloured??? He is part
of the problem when using that word. We are BLACK Alan! Wtf
[sic].’
He then added: ‘Alan Hansen is more coloured than a black
person. But still we would not call him or another white man
coloured.’
Although he didn’t see the controversial incident,
musician Example waded in to the debate, saying: ‘I didn’t see MOTD
but did Alan Hansen really say ‘coloured players’?? Wow. Hand him
his P45.’
Should Alan Hansen apologise for MOTD gaffe?
Interestingly, Hansen was labelled ‘ignorant’ and
‘overpaid’ by society blogger Toby Young published on the Telegraph
website - the same newspaper Hansen writes for as a
columnist.
Young wrote: ‘Alan Hansen, the overpaid football pundit,
just dropped a clanger on Match of the Day. In fact, make that two
clangers.
‘Clearly, Hansen’s intentions were honourable. But his
ignorance is breathtaking. Is he really unaware that the word
“coloured” has been verboten since the mid-70s?’
It is yet unclear whether Hansen will apologise with the
BBC yet to make a comment.
