From the pitch to the crowd to the world, there is nothing quite like football to bring people together.
Football is the third most widely played sport in the world with 211 national teams affiliated to FIFA. And while only 22 play at a time on the pitch, there are millions of people who are equally invested towards the games for each 90 minute period. With this enormous amount of participation, diversity is an integral aspect of the population associated with football. And even with the intense competition on the green, players as well as fans do not fail to provide us with beautiful moments of grace and sportsmanship which only quadruples our love for this beautiful game.
That being said, there is a very disheartening and very sombre reality about this sport we must face. It is not devoid of one of the most abhorrent evils of society. Racism. Sure, there exist many YouTube videos dedicated to showing us instances of players displaying utmost respect and warmth towards one another, but very few show us the shocking truth that is racial discrimination prevalent to this very day.
Although unsavoury and painful, it is necessary to go over some of the notable incidents of racial discrimination in football. Keep in mind, this is but a fraction of what is a dark stain on the soul of football-
- South Korea – Following Germany’s 2-0 defeat against South Korea in the 2018 World Cup, the winning team was a target of racism by Mexican television hosts from the television network Telemundo. The two hosts were seen pulling their eyes back into slits on-air, following which their employment was terminated by the network. After the same match, Mexican supporters were seen celebrating in front of the South Korean Embassy in Russia where they were also seen performing the same disrespectful antic.
- Israel – In the 1970’s, racial discrimination reached a peak when Arab-Israeli player Jimmy Turk joined Hapoel Tel Aviv. He faced anti-Arab racial slurs during almost every match he played. An account by Itzik Shanan, head of communications at the New Israel Fund, the supporters of Hapoel Tel Aviv had been chanting slogans promoting a Holocaust against Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv.
- Europe – Stereotypes surrounding players of colour, or minority caste, both physical and intellectual has been rampant in European football. As an example, South Asian players are considered “static” and black players are considered “difficult” and “bad tempered” by certain Dutch clubs.
- France – In January 2005, as part of an anti-racism initiative, players of Paris Saint-Germain and Lens wore all white and all black respectively during a Ligue 1 match. The gesture was not well-received as the crowd jeered the Lens team with monkey chants as soon as any of their players touched the ball.
- Germany – In a despicable turn of events, German midfielder Mesut Özil hung up his National team jersey after reportedly being subjected to racial discrimination owing to his Turkish origin. The Arsenal player had 92 caps for his country and had been voted the German Player of the Year a staggering five times. Mesut revealed that he felt unwelcome in his own country despite being a model citizen, paying taxes, donating to good causes and winning a World Cup with his nation.
- Italy – (i) In 2009, Italian footballer Mario Balotelli of Inernazionale was subjected to racial abuse from Juventus fans for which they received a one-game home ban. At the Euro 2012, he was victim to monkey chants during a match against Spain. After his move to Liverpool in 2014, he was the target of more than 8000 abusive posts on social media, more than half of which were racist in nature.
(ii) In a 2019 Seria A match against Inter Milan, Napoli’s centre back, Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly was victim to monkey chants and noises as a form of racial outburst by the Internazionale fans. Koulibaly was shown a second yellow and sent off for sarcastically applauding the referee who, despite repeated requests, did not suspend the match. Internazionale faced a two match home ban and had to play the third match with their north wing closed.
- Spain – In an infamous incident in 2004, Spainsh media recorded Spanish National team coach Luis Aragones trying to motivate Jose Antonio Reyes by making racist references to Reyes’ then teammate at Arsenal, Thierry Henry. The phrase used was “Demuestra que eres mejor que ese negro de mierda” which trasnlates to “Show that you’re better than that black shit”. This incident report caused an outrage resulting in the sacking of Aragones
- England – Racial slurs have been rampant in English football since the early 70’s, be it from the fans or the players on pitch. One of the most recent incidents occurred on 8th December in the Manchester City v Chelsea match at Stamford Bridge where a fan’s racial abuse against City winger Raheem Sterling was caught in a video which later went viral. Chelsea suspended the fan, pending an investigation and Sterling expressed his dissatisfaction with the English football governing body’s inability to deal with racism as well as English media’s glorification of the same.
In a global survey, it was discovered that 54% of football fans have witnessed incidents of racial discrimination at football games. That is a staggering number, considering the massive outreach of the game. Although a number of anti-racism campaigns have been launched and are being actively run by FIFA, UEFA and other organisations, racism is still prevalent, if not rampant in the footballing world. And this must be remedied so as to not leave a terrible stain on the beautiful game.
Racism is man’s greatest threat to man – the maximum hatred for a minimum reason
-Abraham Joshua Heschel
-Rishav Mukherjee
The Sport Catalogue 