Football’s Cure for Racism
The world has been fighting the corona virus, but the footballing world has a huge fight on its hand in its ongoing war against racism. This is something that they have been fighting for several decades and it has left an enormous stain on “the beautiful game”. The powers that be in football have tried to keep racism on a leash, but it has always been a case of one step forward and two steps backwards.
Last night in England’s World Cup qualifier away against Hungary, Raheem Sterling received racial abuse from Hungarian supporters after firing England in front in the 55th minute. Shortly afterwards, Jude Bellingham also suffered racial abuse from their fans.
This summer alone, we saw Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, and Kylian M’bappé suffer racism at the hands of trolls on social media after missing penalties in shootouts during the Euro 2020.
Tottenham defender, Davidson Sánchez, received racial abuse on Instagram following Spurs’ 2–2 draw against Newcastle at St. James’ Park in April of this year.
Anthony Martial and Axel Tuanzebe were sent monkey emojis after Man United’s 2–1 home defeat to Sheffield United in January. Tuanzebe was once again a target from racist trolls on social media after Man United’s 3–3 home draw against Everton just four weeks later.
Sterling was racially abused by Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge in December 2018. He was then subjected to more racism by Bulgarian fans in England’s 6–0 away win against them in September 2019 during the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Fred was racially abused by City fans at The Etihad in December 2019.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a banana thrown at him in Arsenal’s 4–2 home win against Spurs in December 2018. Daniel Alves also had a banana thrown at him in April 2014 against Villarreal away.
Several players and teams have walked off the field after seeing their fans hurl racial abuse at one of their teammates.
There are far too many examples of this occurring and it has been going on for decades. To make matters worse, this barely even scratches the surface. This is just the tip of the iceberg. That is just how bad racism is in football.
Racism in football is like a virus. Every time we seem to have it under control, it mutates and spirals out of control. But the million-dollar question is, why has this been allowed to continue for so long?
There have been campaigns such as Show Racism a Red Card, No Room for Racism, and players taking the knee. But what has this accomplished? Little to nothing. The reality is that these are insignificant PR stunts.
If football is to effectively deal with racists, then the leaders of the game need to finally speak a language that they understand. Like the old saying goes, “money talks”. Clubs with racist fans need to be hit where it will hurt them the most and that is their back pockets. History has shown us that this works.
When Rosa Parks was arrested in December 1955 for failing to move to the back of the bus, Martin Luther King led a boycott against the bus company. Black people resorted to other methods of transport for two weeks. This boycott resulted in the Montgomery bus company losing a substantial amount of revenue which, along with court cases, led to them abandoning their racial segregation policy. Again, money talks.
Clubs with large sections of fans who racially abuse a player from the opposition team must be handed large fines.
Millwall were fined £10,000 following racist chants being made by their fans during their FA Cup tie against Everton in January 2019. But what sort of punishment is that? £10,000 is breadcrumbs even for a club like Millwall.
The FA should hang their head in shame because they failed English fans of ethnic minor origins along with their foreign viewers. They are more than happy to take their hard-earned money but disrespect them so blatantly by giving racists a pass. It is an absolute joke.
The time has come where such clubs need to be fined hundreds of thousands, if not millions for such an offence.
If fans of those clubs become repeat offenders in future, then the FA and even UEFA need to resort to larger fines, point deductions, stadium bans where they play behind closed doors, and clubs being eliminated and banned from both domestic and European competitions.
These actions will send a message that is loud and clear for all the other clubs and that is that racism will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
We also need to make an example out of players who are found guilty of racial abuse.
Ondřej Kúdela received a 10-match ban after racially abusing Glen Kamara last season when Slavia Prague played Rangers in the Europa League. Some people celebrated this, but in reality this was yet another insignificant punishment.
Eric Cantona was banned from football for eight months and fined £10,000 for attacking a Crystal Palace fan at Selhurst Park in January 1995.
Meanwhile, Rio Ferdinand was also handed an eight month ban in January 2004 and was fined £80,000 after failing to attend a drug test.
How is it that Kúdela received a much lighter sentence despite his offence being much greater? It makes no sense at all. Are missing drug tests and attacking fans now worse than racism? It is according to the higher ups in the FA, which speaks volumes about their archaic mindset.
Instead of slapping them on the wrist, players like Kúdela need to be given bans that will last several months and receive hefty fines. This will make racists think twice when spewing their vitriol.
Fans who are caught racially abusing players and/or officials need to be shown the red card from football altogether. They should be given lifetime bans from entering grounds around the country. There is no place for them in such a beautiful sport.
There needs to be a global crackdown on racism like there have been on drugs and terrorism. Racism has been in the game far too long now.
More fans from different countries, cultures, and religions are coming into the game. Times are changing, football is evolving, and racists need to be left behind in yesteryear where they belong. It is about time that football adopts a zero-tolerance approach to such vulgar behaviour. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can permanently eradicate this grotesque vice from the beautiful game and enjoy the game we love.
