REPRESENTATION OF ISSUES
WITHIN FOOTBALL: RACISM
MATTHEW SMITH
Despite being only a twinkle in my mother’s eye at the time, I remember watching videos of the
golden years of the 90's; Paul Gascoigne scoring ‘that’ goal in Euro 96 and celebrating with the
‘dentist chair’, Eric Cantona returning from his ban in ’97 to win Manchester Utd the double after
his kung-fu kick on a fan; the Arsenal Invincibles who went unbeaten for an entire season; and ‘99
was the year when Man United won the treble. Yet, what do we have nowadays?
We have racism, homophobia and men earning millions of pounds in front of adoring fans who pay
thousands of pounds only to watch them. Then, there’s the agents/foreign owners who are
constantly demanding extortionate amounts of money, as well as the England national team who
have an obvious lack of depth to call forward, a wild FIFA president who cannot relinquish power
and a so-called ‘fair play rule’ which, to be blunt, has no hope of succeeding. The Beautiful Game is
never "coming home" and is on route for self-destruction.
Arguably, the 1970's and 80's were far worse for violence, racism and of course, the period of the
Hillsborough disaster. However, those dark days have made a comeback, where fans are
repeatedly risking their lives to watch a game of football. It is no longer a game, but, arguably, a
multi-billion pound industry and at worst, somewhere, mindless idiots can vent their anger and
hatred without any fear of punishment or prosecution. Even Sunday morning football referees,
who take charge of games involving children aged from 12-18 and adults as well, are abused by
the players/spectators.
In the last 18/24 months, FIFA and UEFA have not stamped down on this kind of behaviour: in
South America riot police are needed to attend every game and are attacked by the fans; but UK
fans are branded "hooligans". In Ukraine, an English fan was stabbed after a European match, and
others attacked for supporting their individual team. If you were to travel to Kiev at any other
time, there would be no trouble if you were English. We have also seen the racism in countries like
Italy and Serbia increase, as well as homophobia.
What have UEFA and FIFA done? The answer is: nothing. From Mr Sepp Blatter or Michel Platini,
there has been no comment about the situations in South America, Italy and Spain. Also, Qatar has
been awarded the 2022 World Cup, where homosexuality is still illegal and the facilities there are
unbearable for fans and players. The choice of Qatar to host the biggest football tournament
around, is still questionable.
There’s also the ‘transfer window’, which means that players (employees of companies) can only
move from one club within a 2 month period in the summer and a 1 month period in January.
There are no other EU business that can do this, yet football get away with this. Indeed, if an
employee moves to a rival company in "normal" life, then they get put onto ‘gardening leave’; so
why not in football?
It is possible for us return to the traditional open transfer market - incidentally a legal requirement
within the EU - and when a club transfers a player, they can then negotiate how much gardening
leave is required. UEFA can still stop the player from participating in certain cup competitions, but
it should revert to being a free market for the movement of employees.
The transfer window is there to help to increase the value of footballers, so that the agents can
make money and both the clubs and players can demand extortionate fees/wages.
In economics, it is believed that reducing the demand of supply (i.e. players) and increasing
demand (by clubs and fans) then the clear result is an increase in price for the player.
Then, there is the "fair-play rule" , which is used to ensure clubs do not spend over their budget.
The only problem that arises with this ‘rule’ is how smaller clubs can compete with larger clubs if
their spending has to match their income? Also, how does this apply to clubs like Real Madrid,
Barcelona, Man City and PSG? Ironically, these clubs have multi-billionaire owners and on several
occasions, have easily found a way around the rule.
The smaller clubs around Europe will clearly have trouble with the rule due to their lack of income.
Clubs like Everton, for example, settle the books according to the rule but in doing so, lose the
better players at the clubs. I’m not sure if anyone noticed that PSG and Monaco have not been
criticised by Michel Platini for spending millions and millions, while not obeying the rule? How are
the smaller clubs forced into obeying the fair-play rule and get into the Premier League without
taking a huge risk of being punished? It doesn't always work out and we’ve seen what has
happened to Portsmouth and Leeds United, who disobeyed the rule, but it cannot be controlled
properly. UEFA desperately needs to rethink this rule.
Lastly, the Barclays Premier League appear to fully control English football and ignore the Football
Association, yet treat the millions of football fans as money-making machines. Why is it that we
have two providers of Premier League football for the television? Originally, the idea was that not
every Premier League team were pay-per-view (i.e. some Premier League games on BBC, ITV, etc.).
However, now willing customers must pay for both the use of Sky Sports and BT Sports if they wish
to watch every televised Premier League game in a season.
In areas like Spain or the Middle East, all of the games are televised on a single channel.
One of the more eye-opening segments of the weekly column ‘Said and Done’ in The Guardian,
deals with racism in football, and there were recent entries made for particularly sobering reading.
We learnt that FIFA’s view on Russia’s track record with racism when their World Cup bid in 2010
was assessed, was that it was “not an operational matter” and therefore “not a factor” in the
consideration process, despite the fact that fans of the Russian clubs have been seen clearly flying
flags covered in slogans such as ‘Happy Holocaust’ and ‘Monkey go home’.
In Bulgaria, there was news of Levski Sofia fans unveiling a banner branded with the UEFA logo
and the words ‘Say Yes to Racism’ across them, while Rapid Bucharest coach Marian Rada had this
to say after his fans aimed racist chants at Concordia Chianjna’s Wellington, which reduced the
player to tears: “Was he crying? Maybe Wellington should have cried because he didn’t score …
Maybe a banana just slipped out of someone’s hand in the stands.”
In my opinion, football is stuck in the dark ages and its problems with racism remain significant
and unresolved.
Jose Mourinho begs to differ. When questioned on the possible introduction of the ‘Rooney Rule’ in
English football – the successful NFL rule which requires teams to interview at least one player
from an ethnic minority background for roles in the team’s head coaching positions – the Chelsea
boss argued that there is “no racism in football”, that “if you are good, you prove that you deserve
the job” and that “football is not stupid to close the doors to top people. If you are top, you are
top”.
The point that Mourinho was trying to get across – that managers should be given jobs on merit,
not on the colour of their skin – may have been lost in translation. However, Mourinho’s claim that
there is “no racism in football” was striking, irresponsible and more than anything, wildly
inaccurate, even for a widely-known, successful football manager.
The Kick It Out campaign, though far from perfect, is already facing tough challenges to getting its
‘voice’ heard in English football. Its headquarters happen to be situated in a fourth-floor office
above a pizza place in Clerkenwell, and in a multi-billion pound industry, it receives funding of a
ridiculous £300,000 a year. It could do, therefore, without the likes of Jose Mourinho – whose
words are pounced upon by the media – undermining the group’s cause, by saying that racism is
not an issue in the game, when it clearly is.
Mourinho may have been hiding from the truth that his club captain, John Terry was found guilty
of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand three years ago, or he may have merely chosen the wrong
words at the time, and that what he really meant in his interview, was that skin colour, only merit
should be considered by employers.
To an extent, Mourinho is right – in an ideal world, the manager’s merit should be the only factor
in seeing the suitability of a candidate to a managerial role at a club or country. However the
world of football is a long way from ‘ideal’, and there is clear lack of black managers in the English
game compared to the number of black players playing the sport. The Rooney Rule may not harm
the chances of other candidates going for a managerial role, but it would simply ensure that
coaches from minority backgrounds are given consideration.
In a room crowded with bodies, at a conference in London, the head of FIFA's anti-racism team
Jeffrey Webb made a comment that he knew would be controversial: "Racism in English football is
not hidden," he said "instead it is right in your face."
His remarks weren’t unexpected – 25% of English league footballers are from a black or ethnic
minority background, yet only 2 of the 92 league clubs have black managers. One of them is Keith
Curle; the manager of Carlisle United.
Curle is a successful manager with a proven track record at clubs in the English football league.
However, it took him 2 years to find another club after leaving Notts County in 2012.
Sol Campbell is one of football’s best-known names. As a player, Campbell reached the highest
level of football, winning 75 caps for the England national team. Yet despite this, he has not
managed at any level.
He believes the game has serious issues to address, around the hiring of black mangers in Europe
and in the English football league. He believes that the lack of black managers in football, means
the pressure on the men who are appointed to perform, is far higher than their white
counterparts.
Looking at the many case studies that have occurred on the football pitch in the years gone by, the
main names that come to mind include: Carlos Kameni, Marc Zoro, Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry,
Gervinho, Oguchi Onyewu and many more.
First is Carlos Kameni, the Cameroon national team goalkeeper. At the time of the racial abuse,
Kameni was playing for Espanyol: a team who played in, arguably, the strongest league in the
World. Despite playing the specific game in his home stadium, his own Spanish fans showered him
with racial slurs; bananas were thrown from the stands, and Kameni received all sorts of racial
language and abuse targeted at him. At the end of the match, and the ordeal itself, Kameni was
interviewed, and he responded with: “I’m not a monkey, I’m a human.”
Marc Zoro, 18 years old at the time, was an Ivorian playing in Italy, for the club side, Messina.
Throughout one particular season, Zoro was racially abused at every game, home and away. The
worst case emerged when his team faced Italian giants, Inter Milan.
After receiving an abundant amount of racial abuse – including a banner which read “PEANUTS
AND BANANAS ARE THE PAY FOR YOUR INFAMY” Zoro had reached his limits, and attempted to
leave the field of play in disgust. The Messina man picked up the ball and made his way to the
tunnel. Zoro said: “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Another player who found himself in a similar situation to Marc Zoro was the current Sampdoria
player, and ex-Barcelona star Samuel Eto’o. While playing for the Spanish giants away to Real
Zaragoza – one of Spain’s openly racist cities – Eto’o was subjected to a constant flow of racism,
and with every touch of the ball, monkey chants were heard all round the Zaragoza stadium. As
Eto’o attempted to leave the field of play, the cameras picked up Eto’o’s words towards the
referee and the other Barcelona and Zaragoza players: "No mas.” which translates to “No more.”
Any person who has any sort of knowledge on football knows that Thierry Henry was one of the
best players to ever play ‘the beautiful game’. Even though he played the sport to the highest level
possible, he still had to suffer from racial abuse, with monkey chants from the oppositions stands,
and spitting from the stands, when he set-up to take a corner or a thrown-in.
Just before a friendly in Madrid, then coach of national side of Spain, Luis Aragones attempted to
give a piece of advice to motivate then Arsenal youngster Jose Antonio Reyes by taking a racist
swipe at Thierry Henry: “Demuestra que eres mejor que ese negro de mierda”, he said, which
translated as “Show that you’re better than that black s***”.
More recently – 26th February 2015 – ex-Arsenal winger Gervinho – currently playing for Italian
side Roma – was subjected to vile racist abuse from the stands, with inflatables and other opbjects
being thrown onto the pitch in his direction.
French referee Clément Turpin spoke to both of the team’s managers towards the end of the
volatile first half after Gervinho had an inflatable banana thrown in his direction from a section of
the stadium holding the opposing Feyenoord fans.
In response to the fans’ actions, the match was suspended for about 15 minutes at the start of the
second half and Turpin took the players off the pitch. UEFA are expected to launch an investigation
into the controversial incidents.
Minutes after the game had finished, and Roma had qualified into the last 16 of the Europa
League – ‘The Guardian Online’ reported the incident with the phrase: “…ugly scenes…”
With this being the case, it is clear that the media represent racism negatively, and support the
belief that further punishments and actions should be taken to silence the racists.
In 2009, the American defender Oguchi Onyewu, had a confrontation with the Belgian striker Jelle
Van Damme, when he was playing with Standard Liege.
According to Onyewu, who has also been physically attacked by fans in the Belgian League,
claimed that Van Damme had called him a “dirty ape” during the league game between Standard
Liege and Anderlecht.
Van Damme attempted to react to the accusations by claiming Onyemu had called him a ‘dirty
Flemish’ first. Two weeks after the incident, Onyewu sued Van Damme in an attempt to further
highlight the case.
2 years later, the case was withdrawn after a meeting between the two players followed with Van
Damme apologised for any offence he may have given.
Despite this incident only being 4 years ago, the actions taken, and the fact that the case of suing
was withdrawn signals that more needs to be done on racism in the sport.
During a game between Chelsea and QPR in 2011, Anton Ferdinand claimed that John Terry had
called him a “f*****g black c***”. The investigation was quick, and after the cameras recording
the incident picked up on Terry’s abuse, the case came down – deservedly - on Terry, who was
found guilty and subsequently stripped of the England captaincy, fined £220,000 and handed a
four-match ban.
Hardly anyone’s favourite player, Terry’s once crystal-clear reputation has never quite recovered
despite hitting a good run of form in his later years.
In 2010, Lokomotiv Moscow striker Peter Odemwingie left the Russian club to join Premier League
side West Bromwich Albion. Despite being born a Russian, the now Nigerian international was still
abused by fans, who were glad to see the back of him, and they displayed this hatred with a
banner reading “Thanks West Brom” with a picture of a hand-drawn banana in the centre.
During a 2004 friendly between the England and Spain national teams, the Spanish support was
particularly keen on abusing black players Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Philips. Monkey chants
could be heard clearly, whenever the pair touched the ball, but instead of stopping the game the
referee let things progress into a bad tempered affair between the two sides.
Referees also have a chance to clamp down on such abuse, as in this case, the specific referee
decided not to act on the clear racial slurs being shouted from the stands. In the case of Gervinho’s
experience of racism, the referee stopped play and took the players off the pitch to address to
situation at hand, which is what should be occurring more often when racism is emerging during a
game of football.
A heated match between rivals Liverpool and Man United in 2011 was pushed even further by
Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez, after Evra accused striker Suarez of racially abusing him. Suarez had
apparently called Evra a “negrito”, which is said to be a term used when expressing love to
someone in South America – but he apparently didn’t realise the meaning of the word in Europe.
The Uruguayan was fined £40,000 and given an eight game ban, even while his club put-forward a
poor, out-of-turn defence of him.
Football is turning out to be a rotten apple; the people who run the ‘beautiful game’ are only there
to make money and simply do not care about the fans who want to watch the game.
We have an increase in violence, racism and homophobia, but neither UEFA nor FIFA choose to
take any serious action against the accused. Instead they opt to continue ignoring countries that
allow racism, violence and homophobia to thrive throughout their cities, while they repeatedly
criticise UK football and its supporters.
GOOGLE BOOKS
Football's Dark Side: Corruption, Homophobia, Violence and Racism in the Beautiful Game
European Football in Black and White: Tackling Racism in Football
The Changing Face of Football: Racism, Identity and Multiculture in the English Game
WEBSITES
www.theguardian.com/football/series/saidanddone