Racism
in football has become a hot topic in recent times, particularly in England but
also across Europe. There have been
several high profile incidents over the last couple of seasons where the issue
of race has been a factor and allegations of racism against players and fans
have been reported and investigated, leading to various consequences for those
involved.
Luis
Suarez was handed and eight game ban by an F.A. disciplinary committee for an
incident with Patrice Evra, despite the case boiling down to one man’s word
against the other’s. John Terry, on the other hand, was only given a four game
ban for using racist language against Anton Ferdinand, even though the words
spoken by the disgraced former England captain were clearly caught on camera,
providing clear evidence of what was said. Suarez’s charge was brought
immediately and after a month long “investigation” the F.A. went ahead with a
show trial before condemning the Uruguayan and handing out the lengthy ban
which was then served.
In
Terry’s case however, the F.A. chose, and this is the key point, they chose to
allow a police investigation rather than investigating themselves. The case
dragged on for months, it was postponed, Terry was named in the England squad
for the Euros with the allegations hanging over him and many felt that Rio
Ferdinand, the victim’s brother, was passed over for the tournament in order to
avoid conflict within the squad.
When
Terry’s case was finally heard in court, his legal team used the full extent of
the law to get their client off the charges. Terry won his case in court,
however, the F.A.s hand was then forced into finally taking some action against
their former poster boy, mainly due to the fact that the court of public
opinion, having seen the video evidence,
had convicted the Chelsea player almost whole heartedly. The ban that followed
was half that given to Suarez and, due to the F.A.s unwillingness to pursue the
case initially, the delays, the fact that Terry represented England, his line
of defence in court, his penchant for bending the truth and the severity of the
language used, many, both inside and outside the game, felt that the punishment
was far too lenient for the offence committed. What’s more many onlookers were
left with the feeling that the whole episode had been farcical and could easily
have been avoided had the F.A. had the courage to do its job in the first
place.
The
decision last weekend, in the wake of the John Terry affair and other F.A.
failures, by Jason Roberts, Rio Ferdinand, Joleon Lescott and many other
Premier League players to refrain from wearing T-shirts in support of the F.A.
and P.F.A. sponsored anti-racism charity “Kick-it-Out”, has brought racism in
the game right back to the top of the agenda. The protest was not against the
charity itself but against the authorities who are meant to support it and lead
by example. The issue this time however is whether the F.A./P.F.A. really want
to rid the game of racism or whether they are simply paying the cause lip service.
The
big surprise for me, when the issue first exploded back into the public
consciousness in late 2011, was the
shock with which the alleged racism was reported. It was as if the
press, footballing authorities and some of the general public actually had
thought that racism, both in society and football, was a thing of the past. As
if they arrogantly believed that it was something that had been dealt with a
long time ago, had almost been forgotten about and was almost certainly soon to
be confined to history. Not so; racism/xenophobia, whatever you wish to call it
occurs naturally in the human psyche. It is not something can be taken away, it
is something that has to be overridden by education and personal experience,
and this education must begin at a very young age and continue with every
generation.
The
level of overt racism from fans has declined hugely over the last twenty-five
years or so. Gone are the days of banana’s being thrown at black players or of
monkey chants being aimed at them on a regular basis, but racism is still there
and complacency on behalf of the authorities is a casual racist’s best friend.
There have been several instances recently of fans aiming racist abuse at
players on Twitter, including at Papiss Cisse and Stan Collymore. Attempting to
hide behind keyboard doesn’t make the crime any less despicable. At a time when
the BNP are gaining ground, when xenophobia and islamophobia are on the rise, when
Europe seems to be lurching to the right, now is the time that Kick it Out and
the other anti-racism charities (not just in football) need the support of
those who fund them and claim to be fully behind them.
Kick
it Out and other charities such as Show Racism the Red Card have done some
fantastic work in raising awareness and carrying the message that racism is not
to be tolerated in football, however, they can’t be expected to do it all on
their own. They must be backed up sufficiently by the F.A., the P.F.A. and the
government.
Kick
it Out only employs five permanent full-time staff. Funded by the F.A. and the
P.F.A. their budget is a miserly £300,000 a year, slightly more than John Terry
earns in a week. This budget is to cover the entire game in England, from grass
roots level all the way up to the Barclays Premier League. Yes they do good
work and have done so in the past but how can they be expected to advance the
cause in the best possible way with such monetary restrictions? Considering the
amount of money in the game, it’s shameful to think that an organisation doing
its best to promote an end to discrimination in the country’s number one sport
has to work of such a paltry sum. If the football authorities are serious about
tackling racism or at the very least, want to be seen to be serious about
taking it on, this figure needs to multiply and rapidly.
The
government has its part to play here too. Show Racism the Red Card, a Newcastle
based anti-racism charity is threatened with having to close its doors after
fifteen years of exemplary work in its field. The charity works with schools,
using football and other sports stars to deliver a strong anti-racism message
to kids from a young age, exactly the kind of work which desperately needs to
be done on a much larger scale. Despite diversifying and spreading its funding
to try to stay afloat, the charity is in a major hole and needs government
funding to continue its work. Show Racism the Red Card currently receives
funding from the Scottish government but not from the British government at
Westminster. The group employs twenty-five full-time staff around the country
and has had support from Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer.
Chief
executive Ged Grebby said recently in an interview with ChronicleLive.co.uk:
“We have diversified
our funding quite a lot and that’s why we’ve been able to survive in the
current climate.
“ ….if the Government were not to support us
that would mean we would have a very serious financial problem.
“We need to get out
there and get on with combating the problem of racism, not just within the game
but as a society as a whole. If we don’t have the troops on the ground then
society isn’t going to be able to move forward.”
You
would think that this is a cause the government ought to support, given the
excellent and increasingly vital work the charity does and particularly in
light of the strong stance taken by the government when condemning the recent
behaviour of Serbian fans during their country’s U21 match with England last week.
Quite simply, it’s time for the Tories to put their money where their mouth is
on this issue or risk similar scenes from England fans of the future.
Blaydon
MP Blair Anderson has urged the government to “pull their finger out” and went
on to say that the work done in schools is vital in the fight against racism.
“Ultimately it’s the
young people that can make a real difference.
“The more we can get
young people to understand the issues around racism the more likely it is to
become a way of life.”
These
comments further reinforce the point that racism is something that must be
overridden by education and tackled at a young age before prejudice has time to
form and fester. More money must be spent on these charities, not less. Racism
is not something that can ever truly be said to have been defeated, it has many
different facets and can take on a variety of forms, both covert and overt. As
long as humans continue to be born, racism will be a problem, the process of
conquering it is continuous and never-ending and it is our responsibility to
ensure that our commitment to the cause never wanes. It is this that must be
understood, by the F.A./P.F.A, by the government, by the media, by fans and by
the public at large.
Former
Newcastle defender John Anderson, a member of Show Racism the Red Card, summed
this point up perfectly.
By Neil Patterson
