Well, I’m not so sure.

I had a quick look at the interview that young Jose gave to the press in Spain after the incident. It’s clear that the young man was somewhat embarrassed about the whole thing as well he should be. He didn’t think there was any harm in it.

However, this kind of casual racism in football, and perhaps in all sports, is still, in UK and in Europe, a bit endemic. We can all make jokes about John Motson and his famed confusion as to the identity of usually black players. It recently reached the stage where Ron Atkinson felt it OK to make stereotypical racial comments whilst watching a match.

“OH, but he didn’t know he was on-air!” goes the cry. Maybe so and yes, having his microphone switched on did compound his gross misjudgement. But the reality is that he’s been managing, writing about and commentating on football players for decades. If after all that time he still hasn’t figured out what is wrong with holding those kind of misguided and insulting views of people of other colours and races, then perhaps it did us all a favour that he was so resoundingly made an example of.

Aragones said that it was never his intention to insult anybody. I’m sure that is true. However, it is the casual racism that is the problem. When I lived in Spain, many Spaniards that I met shared the idea that it was funny to laugh at the stereotypical image of a black person. And no, it’s not only in Spain that you can find similarly veined “humour”. I have encountered blatant racism in Greece, Ireland and Italy. I remember being at the Stadio Olimpico when Arsenal played Lazio a couple of years ago. The overt racism against all of our black players by the Lazio fans was only made funny by Wenger’s decision to bring on more black players as the game carried on.

And in England, our history, and in many cases current behaviour is no better. I still remember watching aghast as John Barnes was booed whilst playing for England. I like to think that it is different at Arsenal, I really do. Fellow supporters have often quoted figures to me about ethnic minority attendance being really good at Arsenal, with less evidence of racism at the ground. This is backed up somewhat by a Centre for the Sociology of Sport factsheet.

They also have a another good factsheet about black players in Britain here.

The reality is that at Highbury I have heard some mildly racist stuff directed towards Kanu when it was felt he wasn’t working hard enough (a similar idea to the ‘Atkinson Gaffe’), and in the past towards the likes of Kevin Campbell and others. But I haven’t heard much, and I never heard anything directed at players like Ian Wright, Thierry Henry or Sol Campbell etc. And no-one around me has ever thrown a banana or peanut onto the pitch. It doesn’t mean that there is absolutely no racism around me but it may mean that generally supporters are more aware of the ramifications of their behaviour – and have modified it accordingly.

Aragones also said, as part of his ‘apology’ that it was only the British press that was interested in sensationalising his comments, and that his comments were simply part of his team’s motivation. My own feeling is that perhaps more people than just the Spain coach should re-evaluate how they express themselves in public. Not just because you don’t know who might be listening. But because it is no longer appropriate in any context. Not even to get Reyes to score a goal.