Welcome to the Foot-In-Mouth Club, Sergei Rebrov.

By: chris | September 10th, 2008

Nobody has ever claimed that footballers, in general, are smart. That old saying “his feet aren’t connected to his brain” sums it up quite nicely. So when a footballer says something stupid, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Unless, of course, it’s incredibly stupid.

Ladies & gentleman, enter Sergei Rebrov. Sergei woke up at some point recently, decided to start drinking heavily and then comment on the demographics of North London, giving a warning to new Tottenham boy Roman Pavlyuchenko:

“A lot of dark-skinned people live there [White Hart Lane area]. So naturally the crime rate is higher than anywhere else. It’s not nice to be a robbery victim. So I suggest that Roman [Pavlyuchenko] doesn’t walk but drives around that area.”

Now why Rebrov is giving anyone tips on what to do in North London is beyond me. Nobody should be heeding the advice borne from those years in his career.

But unfortunately, this only makes him #2 in line for Ukrainian King of Saying Stupid Shit, to the grandmaster of idiocy, Oleg Blokhin. A couple years back, when asked about the recent influx of “foreigners” in the Ukrainian Premier League, Oleg graced us with this little nugget…

Let them learn from Andriy Shevchenko or Blokhin, and not some Zumba-Bumba whom they took off a tree, gave him two bananas and now he plays in the Ukrainian League. I remember when I played, if we lost a game it was not easy to walk the streets. There were a great many friends out there who could beat you up for that.

But is there any sense in beating up a foreigner? Okay, you beat him up – next thing he does is pack up and go.

…proving that you can have the IQ of a walnut and still coach a national football team.

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Category: English Premier League, World Football

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Bobby_Digital

lets not kid ourselves people... i know im making an assumption, but I think rebrov isnt the only person from that part of the world who thinks like this... I have african friends who spent time in Russia for school and some of them were not treated very well where as others were just treated like they didnt exist.... so, I know times have changed and people are becoming more open to foreigners but this close-minded point of view is still prevalent especially in societies where this isnt alot of diversity.
skillz

THis was a retarded comment to make, although I'm sure the perverted, captitalist minded English media sensationalized it. Like I said before, none of the Eastern European countries ever enslaved Africans because of thier skin colour, or commited genocide against the North American Indians. Thats on YOU wertern Europe. And they dont bomb innocent Iraqis for Profit like England does, who do you think crushed Irans democracy in the 50's. It was churchill and the US.
Yevy

Brian - Blokhin's line about getting beat up in the streets after a loss was very much tongue in cheek. The point he tries to make is that imported players don't have the same kind of accountability and loyalty to a club as homegrown players. Blokhin was upset to see the UPL turn into a stepping stone league, where foreign players come because they can get European exposure and leave in two years for greener pastures. He felt that the constant turnover of the best players breaks the continuity of a team and would not allow Ukrainian clubs to become anything more than European cannon fodder. And Blokhin knows too much about football for that theory not to have a certain amount of merit.
Sam

Mr ManuMuppet: "Country" and "free" are mutually exclusive. The only real kind of freedom conceivable is anarchy.

And correct me if I'm incorrect, but did you not just judge and make assumptions based on a few words?
Mr ManU Muppet

You guys think you're so smart, hen indeed you're just as full of shit as rebrov for not only judging a person on a few words but making assumptions about modern history.

the ussr was not isolated, and they did not fear outsiders. america, and now england, is an ethnocentric society. but the collapse of the ussr had MANY terrible consequences. But not only that, extreme nationalism has had it's fair share of side-effects.. ie, nazist setiments, etc.

Sadly it hasn't been tackled as Putin cares more about political stability than fixing social problems.

But I like how Eastern Europe is at least free, not like hypocritical western states.

you all are full of sh*t. you're all racist. please stop the nonsense
Chubby

Chris, I read it in Russian some time ago, and while offensive, it didn't sound as bad as when translated to English.
Brian, dude - you missing the whole point. We football fans care about our teams, and when we see that players we adore so much, don't give a shit, we might get angry.
As for Blokhim - real problem - mercenaries running for easy money who don't give a shit about team, something we hold dear + very poor choice of words in this information age.
skillz

Yeah, its almsot as bad as enslaving millions of Africans based on their skin colour. Or shooting a Brazilian man 7 times in the head because he was brown skinned.
Brian

@Yevy --- Yeah, but Blokhin's also arguing that the influx of foreign players is making it harder for footballers to be motivated by the threat of being physically assaulted by fans after a loss. Goes a little farther than what you usually hear in England...
Sam

Well the Zumba-Bumbas are fast becoming the best players in the world, so shut the fuck up you insecure racist shitheads!
Luisao

Why does Soviets always put negroes and bananas together?
Yevy

Oh Sergei...

Racial sensitivity is not exactly a priority in a homogeneous country. In my 12 years living in Ukraine I can count all the black people I saw on the fingers of one hand. So naturally the opinions on these matters are based on stereotypes rather than personal experience. No one is going to bat an eyelash at Rebrov's comments back home. It's unfortunate, but such is the culture across most of Eastern Europe.

As for Blokhin's infamous quote... As much as I disagree with his opinion and the words he chose, the sentiment he expressed is not limited to Ukraine or to Eastern Europe. What Blokhin basically argues is that the influx of foreign players is limiting the opportunities for Ukrainian footballers in the Ukrainian league, which he believes will hurt Ukrainian football in the long run. This theory has unfortunately been championed in many other countries as well, none more so than England, where plenty of players, managers, and pundits have complained about foreign saturation of the EPL.

I am planning to explore this topic in the near future on dynamokyiv.theoffside.com, and it appears there's never a shortage of fresh fodder for this discussion
elle

yea we have to remember that all of these guys grew up (at least at first) in the Soviet Union, which in no way excuses their behavior, but does shed some light on it
Laurie

I wonder if the communist legacy has something to do with it as well -- the closed state where everybody is taught to fear outsiders. (And insiders, but that's another topic entirely.)
Ak

Isolation. Normally always the cause of racism in some form or another.
Cerberus

Huh, maybe a smarter man than me can answer this question, but:

What is with the former Soviet states and the naked racism?