Player Watch Player Watch: Destiny Udogie

[talbot64]

Need to get him and a few others on longer contracts asap

 

[Gilzeanking]

Wise up, I’ve seen players like VDV described as a beast today. Biggest load of bolox . I describe people of all races as beasts that are at the top of their sports . If people are insistent on looking at everything through a filter of looking for offence then go ahead , but don’t expect everyone else to comply . And it’s also all too easy to accuse people of racism when they clearly aren’t . I’m sick of it .

Yes, I made a pratt of myself recently raging about the disallowing of the 2 words Ange and ball... to be put together here and got rightly clobbered for my inappropriate red mist. Few years back I'd have been fine with it, but with this general constant attack on vocabulary for often nebulous reasons these days, I snapped...I'm sick of it too.

Anyway Udogie thread , been a fan from the off, a big part of our success recently , please please no Internationals injuries.

 

[degoose]

He’s a beast!

did i miss something for this getting negative responses. Is beast now wrong?

 

[mark87]

did i miss something for this getting negative responses. Is beast now wrong?

Apparently it's racist.

 

[ARMASPUR]

did i miss something for this getting negative responses. Is beast now wrong?

Nothing wrong with it , fire on

 

[razor1981]

This isn't meant as criticism of anyone posting here, it's purely intended as information & context around why the use of "beast" can be seen as an issue.

The PFA commissioned a study of football commentaries in 2019-20, which found that there were some significant differences in the ways that players were spoken about depending on the colour of their skin.

White and light-skinned players were most often praised for things such as intelligence, creativity, technical ability and work-ethic, whereas the majority of comments about black and dark-skinned players focused on physical attributes, such as pace, power & strength. "Beast" is often used in this context as short-hand for big & powerful.

The findings in the study can probably mostly be attributed to unconscious bias on part of the commentators rather than any intent to treat people differently, but it does feed into racial stereotypes of black people being of lower intelligence than white people, and of being valued only for their physical traits.

Again, I'm absolutely not accusing anyone here of being racist or harbouring any sort of malicious prejudice - just trying to explain why the use of the term may be seen as problematic.

 

[superted4]

The kid has the world at his feet, and we have front row seats!

 

[Danny1]

The kid has the world at his feet, and we have front row seats!

Exactly this. At just 20 years of age he is insanely good.

His athleticism is up there with the very best, he is bloody massive, always surprises me still how bloody big he is which was even more evident when he manhandled Salah like a rag doll who is a proper strong guy too. He has positional sense, great ball control and very rarely gives the ball away. He has great stamina and I think the goals will soon also start to come for him as he gets in great positions.

Just a fantastic prospect that it boggles my mind to think how good he could become.

 

[coy-spurs1882]

 

[HodisGawd]

This isn't meant as criticism of anyone posting here, it's purely intended as information & context around why the use of "beast" can be seen as an issue.

The PFA commissioned a study of football commentaries in 2019-20, which found that there were some significant differences in the ways that players were spoken about depending on the colour of their skin.

White and light-skinned players were most often praised for things such as intelligence, creativity, technical ability and work-ethic, whereas the majority of comments about black and dark-skinned players focused on physical attributes, such as pace, power & strength. "Beast" is often used in this context as short-hand for big & powerful.

The findings in the study can probably mostly be attributed to unconscious bias on part of the commentators rather than any intent to treat people differently, but it does feed into racial stereotypes of black people being of lower intelligence than white people, and of being valued only for their physical traits.

Again, I'm absolutely not accusing anyone here of being racist or harbouring any sort of malicious prejudice - just trying to explain why the use of the term may be seen as problematic.

Excellent post, thank you.

It's not that using the word makes you a racist, it's that it perpetuates a tired old stereotype. I think it's fair to say while white players like VdV do get called a "beast", black players are far more likely to. It's that falling back on the word without thinking that is the problem.

In Udogie's case, his game definitely isn't just based on physicality anyway, so whether you agree or not it's still a poor word to describe him.

Udogie has more qualities than the word "beast" suggests.

 

[Flobadob]

This isn't meant as criticism of anyone posting here, it's purely intended as information & context around why the use of "beast" can be seen as an issue.

The PFA commissioned a study of football commentaries in 2019-20, which found that there were some significant differences in the ways that players were spoken about depending on the colour of their skin.

White and light-skinned players were most often praised for things such as intelligence, creativity, technical ability and work-ethic, whereas the majority of comments about black and dark-skinned players focused on physical attributes, such as pace, power & strength. "Beast" is often used in this context as short-hand for big & powerful.

The findings in the study can probably mostly be attributed to unconscious bias on part of the commentators rather than any intent to treat people differently, but it does feed into racial stereotypes of black people being of lower intelligence than white people, and of being valued only for their physical traits.

Again, I'm absolutely not accusing anyone here of being racist or harbouring any sort of malicious prejudice - just trying to explain why the use of the term may be seen as problematic.

When I watch Udogie the first thing I think of isn’t physical beast (not saying anyone has said that in particular) but more how elegant, technical and intelligent he is. He makes everything look so easy due to that in my opinion. His physicality is just an added bonus that means he is an absolutely unreal prospect, the full package as a fullback.

 

[Spurs4CL]

This isn't meant as criticism of anyone posting here, it's purely intended as information & context around why the use of "beast" can be seen as an issue.

The PFA commissioned a study of football commentaries in 2019-20, which found that there were some significant differences in the ways that players were spoken about depending on the colour of their skin.

White and light-skinned players were most often praised for things such as intelligence, creativity, technical ability and work-ethic, whereas the majority of comments about black and dark-skinned players focused on physical attributes, such as pace, power & strength. "Beast" is often used in this context as short-hand for big & powerful.

The findings in the study can probably mostly be attributed to unconscious bias on part of the commentators rather than any intent to treat people differently, but it does feed into racial stereotypes of black people being of lower intelligence than white people, and of being valued only for their physical traits.

Again, I'm absolutely not accusing anyone here of being racist or harbouring any sort of malicious prejudice - just trying to explain why the use of the term may be seen as problematic.

This study just proves people are looking for things to be offended by tbh.

Anyway Van De Ven is a beast.

 

[mil1lion]

Bloody hell , never would find the word beast offensive myself. Always makes me think of the beast incarnate

 

[ARMASPUR]

Don't call Maddison creative either then because he is white? all seems a bit mad to me. I used to refer to Phil Taylor as a beast back in the day of him ripping it up in the darts world. I just find it crazy how every comment is dissected these days to see where the offence can be taken from it.

 

[neogenisis]

Beast means Elite? Which means The Goat? Or something like that.

 

[HodisGawd]

Bloody hell , never would find the word beast offensive myself. Always makes me think of the beast incarnate

Can you see why other people might though?

 

[hugrr]

Whoop whoop
It's the language police
Whoop whoop
Everybody stop saying beast

 

[mil1lion]

Can you see why other people might though?

No, it's just people taking offence to a word without the context it's used with. Beast is not an offensive word alone and in fact is often used in context of a compliment due to someones physical nature. Nothing more needs to be made of it.

 

[0v3rl0r9]

I've just had a beast of a shit.

 

[Dazzazzad]

No, it's just people taking offence to a word without the context it's used with. Beast is not an offensive word alone and in fact is often used in context of a compliment due to someones physical nature. Nothing more needs to be made of it.

Not just physical. It's used when someone is just highly skilled or motivated compared to everyone else doing the same thing.