After the previous week in football both here and abroad, I have felt the need to check and double check my calendar to make sure the year is 2012 and not 1982. It seems that racism has unfortunately been thrust into the spotlight in the past year, starting with Liverpool striker Luis Suarez being banned for eight games after being found guilty by the Football Association for racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra in October last year.
In the same month in 2011, Chelsea captain John Terry was accused of using abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand which included a reference to his colour and/or race. Terry was found guilty of these charges and subsequently banned for four Premier League matches, 'disciplined' by Chelsea, stripped of his England captaincy and fined £220,000 by the FA.
Are four and eight match bans enough of a punishment to stop this happening in English football again? QPR midfielder Joey Barton (currently on-loan at Marseille) was banned for twelve league fixtures after getting sent-off against Manchester City on the last day of the 2011/12 season for violent conduct and subsequent actions after being dismissed. I am not condoning violence anywhere however should that offence carry the same punishment as a combined ban for racially abusing an opponent? After Barton was punished (dismissed as club captain and fined six weeks wages) his club banished him to France for a year but Liverpool players wore t-shirts bearing the image of Suarez in support of their player and we are still waiting to see if Chelsea will strip Terry of his captaincy.
Are clubs sending out the right messages when it comes to racist incidents involving their players?
Some black footballers have expressed their dissatisfaction at the length of bans for both Suarez and Terry along with the belief that the FA are not doing enough to combat the problems the have risen recently.
Reading striker and BBC Radio Five Live pundit Jason Roberts has refused to wear a ‘Kick It Out’ shirt before his team play Liverpool on Saturday.
Roberts explained his boycott of the shirts to BBC Sport, he said: “I won’t wear one. I find it hard to wear a t-shirt after what happened last year.”
He also believed that Terry’s ban was “a year to late” and that The FA should have given him a “longer ban” as the sanction was “nowhere near harsh enough.”
To say English football has a problem with racism would be an overstatement but football is a global game and the scenes in Serbia on Tuesday show that other countries are miles behind us when it comes to dealing with racism on and off the pitch.
Instead of celebrating qualifying for the Under-21’s Euro 2013 Tournament next year being held in Israel after a 1-0 victory, the England Under-21 team were involved with scenes more suited to WWE’s Royal Rumble.
England’s left-back Danny Rose was subjected to appalling racist abuse before, during and after the match by Serbia fans (watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ15jQt4kmg).
Rose told thefa.com: “It started when we went out for the warm-up, they started the monkey chanting straight away.
“In the first half I went down to get the ball for a throw-in and the fans started again with the monkey chants, but the first half was nowhere near as bad as the second half.
“In the second half I had two stones hit me on the head when I went to get the ball for a throw-in. Every time I touched the ball there was monkey chanting again.”
The shocking behavior of the Serbia fans was bad enough but for their coach Aleksandar Jankovic to say “both sides” were to blame for the ugly scenes and the Serbia captain Slobodan Medojevic to be oblivious to any racial chanting is beyond alarming.
The FA and Prime Minister David Cameron demanded UEFA hand out “tough sanctions” to the Serbia fans if found guilty of racist chanting.
However let’s not hold our breath on those sanctions being tougher than the £16,000 the Serbian Football Federation was fined in 2007 after their fans racially abused then Manchester City defender Nedum Onouha at the Under-21 European Championship in Holland.
This is the same UEFA that recently fined S.S. Lazio just £32,000 for their fans racially abusing Tottenham Hotspurs players in a Europa League match earlier this season.
UEFA would rather fine Denmark’s Nicklas Bendtner £80,000 for revealing underpants carrying an unauthorised sponsor’s logo during the summer’s European Championship. Just that example alone shows how seriously one of the games administrative bodies takes racism.
How can we forget the comments from FIFA president Sepp Blatter who claimed racism could be solved with a simple “handshake” at the end of a match?
With comments like that and the pathetic fines handed out you cannot blame players and fans alike who feel disillusioned with the way racism is being handled.
The day after the Serbia against England Under-21 match, Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand wrote on Twitter: “The only way to start stopping racism + violence in stadiums is BIG bans... fines means nothing.”
It’s hard to disagree with the former England captain opinion and with the FA funded and supported 'Kick It Out' awareness week beginning yesterday it could be more important than ever for the FA, FIFA and UEFA to do more to kick racism out of football forever.
It's solely down to the governing bodies to pull their finger out and stop insisting on these paltry fines. To companies worth millions and millions, how can they justify 5-figure sums as an acceptable deterrent? It's almost encouraging that such vile actions of racism and prejudice are combated in these ways. It's a no-brainer that banning these morons from extended periods of competitive action would ensure their respective FA's pull their fingers out, as the long-term ramifications would be much more costly. That said, it still doesn't actually do anything the combat the fact that certain countries are vastly ignorant and resemble a throw-back to some 40-50 years ago in England with their vile and vicious views. Their education system needs to be looked act to ensure they are teaching people that colour is irrelevant in this day an age. Or maybe we are just fortunate to be in such a forward thinking country that, with the exception of John Terry and the BNP, are accepting of all nationalities and races...
ReplyDeleteThese stupid fines wont affect someone who can make a six digit sum of money in a week!!!! £80,000 is like pocket money to them!!!!Other methods of punishments would have the desired effect,such as long bans plus fines. Banning someone who lives and loves football from playing will cut them deep. Remember football runs in the blood of these men, so takng it away from them will make them fully aware of their disgusting behavior. Just like when a mother takes her childs favourite toy away for misbehaving. That child puts two and two together and it is an example for the other children. Serious punishments need to be given to remind ignorant and prejudice people that we live in a mixed multicultral society and theres nothing they can do about it. And football is a universal language and brings different types of people together. The racist veiws of these people isn't going to stop these talented black men shining at what they do best.
ReplyDeleteVery good blog, highlighting an issue that has unfortunately crept back in the game. The John Terry case was significant to see the outcome, with him being such a h.igh profile player and national captain. Unfortunately the FA failed to give an adequate punish . ment to show that there is zero tolerance when it comes to racism. These footballers are millionaires, some of these fines are extremely low. the point raised by you about joey bartons ban really sinks in on how seriously racism is being dealt with. By now someone should have been used as a deterrent for others to show that in this day and age racism is unacceptable and that goes for all type of discrimination. If this behaviour was replicated at the workplace people would b losing their jobs. The media coverage at present is very extensive on the subject, lets wait and see if the authorities respond in a manner that fits the issue.
ReplyDeletei agree bans and tough fines are the only way for the for the football organisations of these countries to be forced to take this issue seriously. The truth is they may be just as ignorant and racist as their fans but you have to hit them where it hurts for them to stop being negligent of the matter. At the end of the day the only thing we know all these people have in common is they love football...and the football authorities love money. Therefore dealing with this is more straightforward than they let on...uefa just have to be ruthless and no one is convinced they are willing to do so.
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