UEFA's continued failure to deal with the problem of racism
One handshake, one
international retirement, one message; one game, one community – kick racism
out of football. Sunday September 23rd and we saw Luis and Patrice
do what John and Anton couldn’t do a week earlier and that was simply to shake
the hand of an opponent before today’s game with Liverpool and Manchester
United. Whether the pair would have followed the same path as a week earlier if
the game hadn’t been the first at Anfield following the release of the Hillsborough
verdict we will never know, but the history books will show that a hand shake
took place and it’s a start. Fast forward into the evening and the ex-England
Captain John Terry retires from international football ahead of this week’s FA
hearing into allegations that he racially abused Anton Ferdinand last season, something
he had previously been cleared of in a court of law. He claims his position has
been made untenable by the accusations levelled against him. The bigger man
would surely have realised that his own actions had made his own position
untenable in the first instance. Let’s face it had he been the average man on
the street who couldn’t have afforded the same law team he would surely have
been found guilty in the court of law before footballs governing body The FA finally
got a chance to act on the matter. The fact that a court of law found Terry not
guilty in the first place is irrelevant to the message that calling a fellow
human being a ‘black c*nt’ has any place in society, let alone on a football
pitch in a league watched worldwide weekly by millions all over the globe.
The electronic
advertising hoardings at Anfield showed the message ‘One Game, One Community
Kick racism out of football.’ We’ve seen the signs and we’ve seen the T Shirts
pre-game but are the relevant authorities really doing everything in their
power to eradicate this problem from the sport? Racism is nothing new in
football but will it ever become a thing of the past domestically or
internationally? Could football’s governing bodies be doing more to crack down
harder on the blight that is racism or is it more of a case that they turn a
blind eye to the problem time and time again and hope that the role of society will
play a bigger part in changing people’s attitudes towards their fellow human
beings?
This summer the
European Championships were awarded to two countries with known racial problems
not only in society but also at a domestic level in their relevant football
leagues; Poland and Ukraine. Whilst Sol Campbell wasn’t correct in the
assumption that fans would return home in coffins, it came as no real surprise
that there were reported instances of racial abuse recorded several times
during the tournament. That these two nations should have ever been awarded the
tournament in the first place is somewhat unforgiving, though compared to the lackadaisical
punishments handed out to the offenders after the horse had bolted from the stables
as expected, can we ever believe that any governing body really wants to kick out
racism from football?
The following has
been lifted from a post made on June 19th 2012;
What
sort of message if EUFA sending out in its attempt to combat racism in
football?
Think of the worst scenes
you’ve scenes so far during Euro 2012; Whilst the sight of Denmark’s Nicklas
Bendtner baring his underwear during a goal celebration might have not been to
great on the eye it pails into insignificance compared to the sight of Croatia’s
fans racially abusing Italy’s Mario Balotelli. So you would think that UEFA’s
stance would reflect this when handing out the punishments for two very
different rules being broke. UEFA fined Croatia’s football association 80,000
Euro’s ($101,000). The charges related to the “setting off and throwing of
fireworks, and the improper conduct of supports (racist chants, racist
symbols),” UEFA announced in a statement. Unbelievably the fine is 20,000 Euros
($25,000) less than the one handed done to Bendtner for revealing the name of
betting firm Paddy Power on his underpants.
UEFA received reports from monitors based inside
the stadium that around 300 Croatia fans made monkey noises at Balotelli. The
Croatia association was also fined 25,000 Euros ($31,500) last week for the
behaviour of its fans during the match played against the Republic of Ireland.
UEFA announced that the fine was imposed for “the setting off and throwing of
fireworks and missiles, and a pitch invasion by a supporter.”
In comparison Bendtners goal celebration with no
racial undertones or fireworks being set off causing games to be held up whilst
they were cleared resulted in a fine of 100,000 Euro’s ($126,000) the maximum
that UEFA could impose on the player under disciplinary rules.
National football associations can be fined up to 1
million Euro’s ($1.26 million) by UEFA. What sort of message is UEFA sending
out to the world in a bid to combat the problem of racism when it imposes a
higher fine for showing the name of a sponsor that it does for punishing fans
found guilty of racist abuse? To compound matters Paddy Power have offered to
pay the fine after receiving several days of worldwide exposure for its
company.
Russia’s FA have also been fined 120,000 Euro’s ($151,000)
following the attack by their fans on stewards in Wroclaw after the end of a
Euro 2012 match. UEFA are able to impose several sanctions upon national bodies
which are held responsible for their fans behaviour. They range from warnings,
a sliding scale of fines to points deductions and can even go as far as
expulsion of sides from competitions. With the latter in mind wouldn’t kicking
out sides out of a tournament send out a message that a change has got to come
about and that this needs to come from UEFA and go down to the grass roots of
the game and onto the stands of the stadiums.
This isn’t the first time that the Croatian FA has
been charged by UEFA for the behaviour of its fans. Four years ago they
received a fine of 20,000 Swiss francs which at the time was about 12,450 Euros
($19,600) after fans unveiled Neo-Nazi flags and for chants during a game
against Turkey in Vienna, Austria.
In 2008 world football governing body FIFA imposed
a fine of 30,000 Swiss francs, then 18,800 Euros ($27,700) after Croatian fans
directed racist chants at English forward Emile Heskey during a World Cup
qualifier in Zagreb.
UEFA Head Michel Platini had previously urged
Croatian political and football leaders to pass laws which would help control
their problem fans. Possible sanctions muted included suspending both national
and club sides from European Competitions. So with this threat having been made
to the national federation we see things haven’t improved any and surely calls
have to be made from other footballing nations for UEFA to finally take a
proper stand against racism.
Fining them less than a player showing a betting
firms name on his underwear puts out a message that UEFA is either unwilling to
tackle the problem or head on or doesn’t accept the seriousness of the
situation. The world is watching – It’s time to take a stand and get tough on
racism.
Three months on from
the original post and the build up to two games in the past two weekends in the
English Premier League has seen considerable focus and column inches devoted to
whether between four adult professional footballers, they would be able to make
two handshakes between them? In the end only one was achieved. Please don’t
think I’m knocking Anton Ferdinand in any way shape or form because had I been
in his position I wouldn’t have wanted to have shook John Terry’s hand either
but why has it taken so many months for the FA to hear the case in the first
place and what sort of a message has that sent out to footballers and the world
that exists beyond? Should John Terry have been allowed to represent his
country in any game or during the Euro 2012 Finals with such a large FA charge
hanging over his head? Should the FA have done more to ensure that the case was
heard months ago when it first arose? Should the FA still be pressing ahead
with the case after he was found innocent in a court of law? I guess you can
only decide the questions you believe should be asked and the answers that are
given to them.
Whatever the
questions you would hope would be asked and dare I suggest possibly ever
answered if they were asked in the right places to the relevant authorities,
alongside the examples given from the blog lifted above, nothing is really
being done to stamp out the problem of racism. Yes I know we have some things
being done – I mean really, really being done!
When Manchester City
took on Porto in their Europa Cup tie last season both Mario Balotelli and Yaya
Touré were both subjected to racial abuse. So UEFA stood up to be
counted right? Because kicking racism out of football is an important message
to send out to those who take part in the game and to those who watch it? I am
right aren’t I?
A
Uefa statement said: “The Uefa Control and Disciplinary Body has imposed a fine
of 20,000 euros on FC Porto for racist conduct of their supporters (Article
11bis – Discrimination and similar conduct) at their first-leg round of 32 Uefa
Europa League match against Manchester City FC on 16 February in Porto.
That’s right a fine
of 20,000 euro’s or in pounds and pennies just a paltry £16,700 to show to the
world that making monkey noises towards black players in 2012 is totally
unacceptable. So what happened when the same side Manchester City fielded the
football pitch a little later than was expected of them in their Europa Cup tie
against Sporting Lisbon in the second half? Don’t quote me because I’m unsure
of the exact time they were late but it was I believe no more than a minute and
for that they received a fine. OK fair enough, they were late and rules are
rules and have to be adhered to so they got fined. When you’re Sheikh Mansour
paying fines isn’t really a problem let’s face it. What is a problem is the
amount and the relevance the context has against other things you could be
fined for… For example fans chanting monkey noises at black players.
Does anyone reading
this rank being late for the second half of a game by one minute a bigger
offence or crime than racist abuse?
Does anyone reading
this rank flashing a sponsor’s name on your underpants as being a bigger
offence or crime than racist abuse? Honestly? Either question; Are either of
these offences deemed worse than racist abuse in your book or own mind because
neither are in my mind.
For the offence of
being one minute late onto the pitch Manchester City were fined 30,000 euros or
£24,740 in pounds sterling, a total of 10,000 euros or £ 8,040 more than Porto
FC were for their fans racially abusing black players on the field of play in a
Europa Cup tie being televised to millions around the globe. Once again I can
only slow clap in a mocking fashion UEFA’s inability to grab the problem of
racist abuse by the scruff of the neck and show to the world that it treats it
as a serious issue and is prepared to start to do something about it at any
point in the near future. It’s an utter disgrace on their part. You wouldn’t
mind if they didn’t have the powers to force clubs to play games behind closed
doors for example as a punishment but they do. For some reason though UEFA have
decided to have a three strikes policy before implementing such offences.
Take the Italian side
Lazio as an example. Their hooligan following The Irriducibili is well known
for their fascist following and for having had problems with racist chants
during matches at a domestic level and European level. UEFA have charged Lazio with
improper conduct in relation to accusations that racist chants were aimed at
Aaron Lennon and Jermaine Defoe during last week’s Europa Cup tie away to
Tottenham Hotspur. Piara Powar, executive director of Football Against Racism
in Europe has implored UEFA to hand down a stiffer sentence than a fine of
20,000 Euros and force the club to play behind closed doors as a punishment. Powar
is quoted as saying;
"Lazio
are a strong club. They have been part of the European football scene for a
long time. There needs to be quite a hard symbolic action taken when these
instances occur.
"This
punishment is one way of waking the club and the fans up to some of the
problems that they face."
This is the same
Lazio that have allowed The Irriducibili to not only have an office within the
Stadio Olimpico but also have direct contact or certainly did at one stage with
the son of the Lazio President who would choose which Nordic and Celtic banners
could be displayed during their home games and which were - how should we put
it? A little bit to risqué or pushing the boundaries of good taste and could be
possible be seen as a little too right wing for some. Yes this is the same
Lazio that the now Swindon Town manager Paolo Di Canio gave the fascist salute
to their home fans during one game when playing for them and they all lovingly
saluted him back in the same fashion. This took place in 2005 after the Rome
Derby way back in 2005 some seven years ago. Seven years to have tried to eradicate
the problem of racist behaviour and here we are in 2012 with them still only
facing a fine of 20,000 Euros. That’s over 2,500 days in which to have tried to
address the issue of racism and or fascism more seriously. Take that in the
context of hours passed and that’s over 60,000 and let’s not even start to
break it down into minutes or further because it really does become quite
frankly a major embarrassment that in 2012 UEFA are failing spectacularly with
their attempts to kick racism out of football.
One handshake, one
international retirement, one message; one game, one community – kick racism
out of football. Sunday September 23rd and we still have years of
work ahead of us unless the relevant authorities really and truly start to act
properly, forcefully and quickly to kick racism out of football once and for
all.
