SAM MUKWAMU
Racism has been ever-present for many years, but has been an increasing problem for the sport’s governing bodies, as incidents have started to receive more and more media attention in an a more socially conscious world. 2019 saw numerous reports of discrimination that have brought more of a focus to the level of discrimination in the sport, all of which brought on calls for bodies such as FIFA, EUFA and other football associations to do more to tackle the issue.
Racist chanting and monkey gestures aimed at black players have been the most persistent form of abuse reported, while cases of anti-Semitic and homophobic chants were also reported in 2019. Players had previously, and do still, take action into their own hands, by walking off the pitch in response to the abuse. Earlier in the decade, as more cases started to be reported, football’s governing body FIFA started looking at ways to cut out discriminatory behaviour in stadia, and ahead of the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia they came up with a three step procedure in case any discriminatory behaviour took place: the referee was given authority to stop the match and request a public announcement to insist the behaviour cease, then suspend the match until the behaviour stops, and finally if the behaviour still persists, the referee would have to abandon the match.
Despite the implementation of the three-step procedure, discrimination in stadia is stile rife. European football leagues, more specifically the top five leagues (England, Spain, Germany, France, Italy), have the biggest viewership and have therefore faced the most scrutiny. English media has started to report more cases of discrimination, with perpetrators receiving lifetime bans and being reported to authorities. According to BBC News, in the 2018-19 season, the number of matches in England and Wales where a hate crime was reported increased by 47%, from 131 matches to 193. Last year, black players on the English national team faced abuse from fans in matches against Montenegro (26 April), and Bulgaria (4 October).
Italy has had recurring incidents of racist behaviour targeting black players. Speaking on Italian TV Show Quelli Che Il Calcio, Italian striker Mario Balotelli, who is of Ghanaian descent, said Italy is the worst country he’s played in when it comes to discrimination. “In England, on a football level, I never saw anything like this. In France I’ve not seen much, but no one is like Italy. In Italy, it is really extreme.”
Abuse towards players has not been limited to stadia. There has been an increase in the amount of abuse aimed at players on social media. Tammy Abraham (Chelsea and England), Paul Pogba (Manchester United and France) and Marcus Rashford (Manchester United and England) faced racist abuse on social media in the same week in August. Speaking about the abuse, Rashford said, “It seems to me like things have been going backwards rather than forwards”.
On 4 September, Twitter said it had taken down “more than 700 examples of hateful conduct” in two weeks, after several English Premier League players were abused. “This vile content has no place on our service,” it said in a statement. “We want to play our part in curbing this unacceptable behaviour.”
Various campaigns have been initiated to raise awareness for the issue, such as FIFA’s “Say No to Racism” and EUFA’s “Equal Game”. Kick It Out, formed as “Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football” in 1993, is an organisation that works to challenge discrimination and encourage inclusive practices in football, educational and community sectors.
However, not all campaigns have been as well thought out as others. In December, Italy’s top league, the Serie A, revealed a poster showing three monkeys with painted faces for an anti-racism campaign. The “No to Racism” poster was done by Italian artist, Simone Fugazzotto, who defended his creation, saying “we are all monkeys”. Fugazzotto said: “I decided to portray monkeys to talk about racism because they are the metaphor for human beings. Last year I was at the stadium to see Inter v Napoli [a match in which Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly was racially abused] and I felt humiliated, everyone was shouting ‘monkey’ at Koulibaly, a player I respect.”
He added: “I’ve always been painting monkeys for five to six years, so I thought I’d make this work to teach that we’re all apes […] The monkey becomes the spark to teach everyone that there is no difference, there is no man or monkey, we are all alike. If anything we are all monkeys.” However, Fare, a network set up to counter discrimination in European football, said: “In a country in which the authorities fail to deal with racism week after week, Serie A have launched a campaign that looks like a sick joke.”
As much as racism and discrimination is rife in football, it isn’t necessarily only a football problem, but a societal one. In a column in the Guardian, Kick It Out chair, Sanjay Bhandari said that the “public discourse has coarsened and dog-whistle racism has become normalised”. Bhandari says that society’s tone has become “fiercely tribal”, much like football. Bhandari also attributes the persistent presence of discrimination to anonymity in crowds and social media. “The anonymity of the physical crowd mirrors the anonymity of the virtual social media crowd so that football is on the receiving end of a double whammy of hate. Some of our football pitches, from grassroots through to the professional level, have become spaces for expressing hate and prejudice,” said Bhandari.
The artwork submitted by Italian artist Simone Fugazzotto as part of the Serie A’s attempt to combat racism in football. The poster was for an anti-racism, “No to Racism” campaign.
Image: Global News
