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Football Lads Alliance

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I work in HE in the North and I have just been very surprised by a note circulated internally about a "right wing" extremist group called the Football Lads Alliance and how we should report any suspicious behaviour of our students who may link themselves to the group. The accompanying literature produced by the local authorities anti terror quango had a picture of the Norwich Club crest made out of flower heads with the acronym FLA underneath it. It struck me as very unusual for Norwich fans to openly associate themselves with an "extremist far right group".

Indeed the stated aim of the FLA is to be "united against extremism", which seems fair enough, whilst the concern of the authorities seems to be centred around some of their social media groups being used ("hijacked (?)") by far right activists espousing their usual vitriol.

Given the highly visible link to our club in the leaflet and the authorities apparent view on the FLA I just wanted to know whether this is an over-reaction ("snowflake" in the extreme) or whether there is some truth in the view of the authorities. Any observations that I can reassure my colleagues about our fans with is welcomed.

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Good piece on the FLA here - https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/kzx8jw/are-the-football-lads-alliance-another-far-right-street-movement

Started with little direction and was taken over by EDl types. While everyone who attends isn’t a racist etc it is certainly a group that has a very large element of that.

Certainly not a group that Norwich City would want their badge associated with.

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On this here forum.....It''s more of a gout addled an'' gregarious gaggle of ''Football fan''s approaching or already at their pensionable age Dad''s alliance''......In years gone by, the majority who currently post on here would have been pottering about tending to their marrows, carrots, peas, cabbages an'' cauliflowers on their tidy allotment......Or, maybe clackin'' ill fitting dentures whilst sipping on a pint o'' mild in a pub snug, an'' tappin'' them thar dominos.......

No FLA on here.......Just a fraggled gathering of aged 50+ computer literate pseudo intellectual bored an'' belligerent bombastic bozo bumpkins with far too much time on their hands.......

Not me though.......I have a life........

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I mean what they''re campaigning for has nothing to do with football and whilst initially I think it had some good intentions it''s literally turned into an excuse for fat bald white guys to get drunk and be racist.

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All a bit police state isn''t this? What exactly have they done wrong or to deserve being called scumbags?

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It seems like a clever ploy to legitimise far right ideology and get their message spread further out into the mainstream. Avoid.

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I must admit, even the English flag (the St George''s Cross) fills me with dread as it has often been misappropriated and utilised for groups such as the EDL. It makes me feel a bit ''anti-flag'' which may seem ridiculous to some but it''s how I feel.There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that casual nationalism rears its ugly head during tournaments like this. While many shouldn''t be tarred with the brush, there are some real idiots out there who use international football as an excuse for violence and right wing extremism.Something like I''ve just seen up there makes me want to claw my own eyes out, especially being associated with our football club.I mentioned on an FB post that contained a picture of a bunch of lads with an England flag (with NCFC written all over it and the like) looked like members of a right wing group. I got roundly pasted for it. Then some guy popped up and said "I was EDL and we had England flags but it was nothing to do with football" SMFHYep. And I just said a bunch of lads, dressed in a very ''casual'' kind of manner (Stone Island garms and the like) LOOKED like members of the EDL, not that they were.Unfortunately, the connotations exist and it wouldn''t surprise me at all if the same group of ''lads'' were involved with this FLA thing.It''s a shame and has no place in football imo.

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''Police state?''

Not sure someone calling them scumbags on a football forum has much to do with that to be honest...

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[quote user="Splat the Cat"]Nasty fascists

Disgrace to the club. Must be barred for life from the Carra and supporting Norwich

Winky you are unusually quiet on this thread[/quote]I heard they''re going to be campaigning to get scampi re-instated at the Carra.....
[:)]

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The above post is a perfect example of why quite a few people want a ''hide'' button for certain posters in the new software...

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[quote user="TIL 1010"][/quote]

Ah yes, Tilly, that is the thing that I was discussing and has been widely circulated to all and sundry working in education. I am now told it is the Department for Education that have circulated the warning. So its all the government''s fault.

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You may not like their politics or their views but you can only ban people based on them breaking laws or being arrested... one of the great things we all enjoy is freedom of speech and unfortunately you can not pick & choose who has that right, otherwise you are as bad as the people seeking to deny others a fair hearing...

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[quote user="Mike "]You may not like their politics or their views but you can only ban people based on them breaking laws or being arrested... one of the great things we all enjoy is freedom of speech and unfortunately you can not pick & choose who has that right, otherwise you are as bad as the people seeking to deny others a fair hearing...[/quote]
You cannot ban people as you claim
So called freedom of speech is not an absolute right with no qualification either,
so you can pick and chose .... how that ''right'' is exercised

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[quote user="lappinitup"]
[quote user="Splat the Cat"]Nasty fascists

Disgrace to the club. Must be barred for life from the Carra and supporting Norwich

Winky you are unusually quiet on this thread[/quote]I heard they''re going to be campaigning to get scampi re-instated at the Carra.....
[:)]
[/quote]
yes, for a limited time only you get a free Tommy Robinson with every order made at evening games*
*food must be ordered before 19.45
(please note that no complaints about the size of the Tommy Robinson can be accepted as staff can only obey orders)

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The Football Lads Alliance is evolving into another English Defence League.

The sad thing in my view is that the EDL was initially only set up to counter Muslim extremist demonstration groups in Luton, and I can fully appreciate why the need was felt to counter that rhetoric and appreciate the concerns folk would have about it. But instead of retaining any kind of integrity it attracted BNP members, racists, bigots and morphed into a right-wing street movement devoid of the focus and aim it began with.

Sadly, the FLA is going in the exact same direction.

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Yellowrider, not sure why you think groups of racists DO have a place in society but personally I dont. I also think racists are scumbags. That answers both your questions. They''re basically the National Front under a different branding.

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The problem is that there is a narrow line between freedom of speech and being a d1ckhead. These “ lads” can go on there marches and extreme Muslims can abuse our soldiers by calling them baby killers etc. Neither of those are right but they are both currently allowed to. Quite when that turns into “hate crime” I don’t know.

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Football is a fertile ground for far right radicalisation - whether the FLA was started to be a genuine fans group or just yet another vehicle for a far-right street movement is a bit unclear. It is clear though where it is heading.

There were certainly people at their march in London who were not far-right, I suspect there will be less at the next march though as the rhetoric was pretty clear.

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