This prick and Sepp Blatter compare footballers to modern day Slaves, am I the only one thinking that this is not only disrespectful but also a complete insult to what our people suffered via various empires...?

I'm pretty sure that if Ronaldo was dumb enough to compare his existence to jews on the same way he would be vilified out of town...so why hasn;t no one picked him up and condemned him for this outragous comparison and why hasn't Sepp Blatter been sacked for grass stupidty?

Yes that is true, but it was in the CONTEXT of football and his current terms with Man utd..not in the CONTEXT of what an insensitive and insulting comparison to those who suffered slavery under various Empires....

Black people dont own the history of slavery. They themselves were slaves too / not in the same numbers / but they were chattel slaves too at the same period of the trans atlantic slavery. The barbary slave trade and the Arabic raids all over Europe come to mind.

So before I pull up Mr Blatter on his comments I would remind him that his own countrymen were chattel slaves/ many Spanish and Portugese were also and is he comparing Ronaldo's predicament to the 10s of thousands who were held in Algiers/ Tunis/ and worked like dogs.

Of course we cant forget what happened to us but at the same time slavery is not exclusively a black experience. So no its not an insult to black people alone.

i dont see it as an insult to black people
slavery still exists
my hubs compared my last job to slavery.
if he had said its like the african slave trade then yeah but he did not

Cmon people this is not offensive at all if anything Blatter and Ronaldo should be castigated for saying footballers who live in lap of luxury are actually working slaves..some of us still complain about the Slavish hours of working in the UK Economy or Worse in the USA(at least they pay well)
Footballers are pathetic..some of thier wage demands are just astronomical they so not in touch with the average fan that stump up their wages
I would be a slave anyday even for £10,000 a week or less..hehe!!

Hmmm...................

Go on spill..guess you disagree...

I accept the well made points made by others, however i thinkthis is why people take step with us over and above other cultures... Because we are just too flippant with things connected to our history... Ronaldo's comments for me devalue and diminish what we went through as slaves.... Slavery wasn't nice nor should we allow it to be compared so flippantly to footballers, it says to others that slavery was nothing, that all our commentary is emotional crap... I don't believe it is and I think they Ronaldo & blatter got off lightly with their out of order comments..

@K.....are we saying the word Slavery is only attached to the Trans-atlantic slave Trade??..
There has always been slavery especially so in European cultures hence the perfection of the Art of Slavery on confronting Africans-South and Northen American Indians..Something tells me those words weren't used in direct reference to what our people went through..when i've known to use this term regarding work..in mind it sure wasn't an inference to the horrors our ancestors went through hundreds of years ago!!...
Guess we all have our own interpretations of this...which is understandable

in short no and you did make a valid point previously, however i suggest that if you mentioned slavery most people would associate it with our experience, and thats MY problem with it.. whilst i do not want to be defined by slavery...i also do not think we ought to allow tha experience to be devalued in such a way.... Especially in the light of the current debate on reperations, on getting an acknowledgement on the European impact on slavery...

I totally accept Morris's point that Ronaldo and Blatter did not intent this, but that is not a reason in my eyes to allow the comment to pass without question...

I really dont think that this airheaded, overpaid young man had anything more in mind than himself and his pay packet.

Have said the same thing about footballers, they're bought and sold to the highest bidder, obviously paid for it but in that, the bidding and weighing up how good they are for the market be that in branding and the commercial side to the game, think David Beckham et al, or for their skills in trade its all very much like, ''slavery''... a term which seems to be stuck as a lame historical marker for us African peoples, one that demeans the qualities and capabilities of our ancestors who through their strength and infallibility survived such a time.

Nowadays everyones a, ''slave''.