Does Racism Still Exist in Sport?

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Monday, July 10, 2017

Last year, FIFA disbanded its taskforce that was formed to tackle racism in football. They proudly boasted that it had “completely fulfilled” its mission objectives. Could this be true? Has FIFA managed to solve a global problem, all on its own? I take a closer look at football and racism in sport generally.

Turning a Blind Eye to Racism

FIFA’s claims baffled a lot of people, it certainly surprised me as I’m a sports news whore and I’ve seen enough articles in the last 6 weeks to convince me that far from being eradicated, it has taken a more sinister turn. You only need to look at the issues with Russia, who will be hosting the next World Cup in 2018. Domestically, racism is very much tolerated and players are abused routinely.

Zenit St Petersburg caused a shock when they secured the services of 26-year-old Hulk from Porto. Hulk was widely expected to join Chelsea but chose the Russian club instead. Hulk has stated that he is subjected to racist abuse and chants in nearly every game.

But that’s Russia, right? Surely the situation is better in the UK?

Sadly, the figures show that is not the case. In the UK, latest figures show over 54,000 incidents of hate crime, many experts believe this figure should be closer to 300,000 but many incidents are not reported.

The Kickitout campaign exists to tackle all forms of discrimination within football. Statistics released by the group show an increase of reported incidents of 38%. In 2012/13 the group received 77 complaints. By 2014 the number had increased to 393. In their report, Kickitout state they receive a report on average, every 22 hours and 43 minutes.

As with all statistics they can be spun easily, I would add a voice that the higher numbers show public tolerance towards incidents is showing a downward trend, it also demonstrates trust or at least a willingness to report, anything is better than an attitude of apathy.

Society’s Role in Tackling Racism

It would be unfair to highlight sport without linking to public attitudes and cultures. I have been lucky in life, through work and pleasure, I’ve been to many countries and enjoyed different cultures. Culture plays an important role in societies attitudes, sometimes it takes a long time for attitudes to change but we have plenty of examples were our opinions have changed over time.

In 1966, the greatest year in our National football team’s history, if you were homosexual you could go to prison. That’s how short a timescale it is, in the armed forces, change was even slower. It wasn’t until 2000 that Gay and lesbian citizens have been allowed to serve openly in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. Seventeen short years ago, seems crazy looking back but attitudes did change and it is of course illegal now to discriminate on the grounds of sexual preference.

One of our national heroes, Alan Turing whose heroics in breaking the enigma code helped win the war for the Allies, was forced to endure chemical castration and ended up taking his own life just because he was gay. Discrimination always has consequences, even “positive discrimination” can be just as harmful.

So, Are We All a Little Bit Racist?

I must admit, I had very little exposure to multi-cultural Britain while growing up. I grew up in the seaside town of Cleethorpes and only knew two non-whites during childhood.

Watching football in the early 80’s, I remember racism being part of a normal Saturday. If the opposition had a black player, loud monkey noises could be heard. At the time, I didn’t think that much about it, it was normal to joke about differences, I just went along with the crowd – the sheep syndrome.

In my early teens, as a rebellious punk I used to listen to The Macc Lads and loved the comedian, Roy “Chubby” Brown. Both of these acts had racist, sexist (and every other word ending in ‘ist you can imagine!) messages to their songs and jokes. But to me, that was the point, they were acts. They created a fictional universe and they had these lewd, rude characters that were designed to be shocking.

I’ve met both these acts in real-life and they are nothing like their onstage persona. Genuinely nice people. Is that material appropriate now? In this day and age, no. The problem is as well, some people don’t get the joke and it becomes a vehicle for hate. Not the parody of life that it was intended as, after all, The Macc Lads were a comic strip in Fiesta, an adult “men’s magazine”, hardly Shakespeare! (that was a bard analogy – ED)

A big part of our British Culture is not to talk about things, the “stiff upper lip” and “keep calm and carry on”. We are scared to voice an opinion, we are terrified of upsetting someone but like a marriage on the rocks, no conversation doesn’t solve the issues. We need to try and not be so British and have open conversations rather than xenophobic scaremongering.

I mentioned earlier about racist chanting at games, in the last 20 years of going to games, hearing racist chants is very rare. Not totally eliminated, usually by a very small minority (like the booing of the German national anthem recently – classy guys, very classy!). I don’t feel we are all a bit racist at all but we could all do more.

Whilst researching for this page, I found a great article on the role that bystanders play when witnessing racism. Interestingly it mentions the role that seemingly benign jokes such as the artists I have mention in this article and the role they play in encouraging “everyday racism”. If you wish to read the article, you can find it here.

One thing I don’t ever think stops racism is issuing a fine to a club or organisation. Suspended sentence first occasion a ban the second time. Once a club is suspended, it will have an immediate effect, much more than hitting clubs with a £50,000 fine (.0002% of the alleged price that Lukuku will cost his new club as a comparison).

The Emergence of Social Media

In my day, Trolls used to be mini Ogres that lived-in fairy tales under bridges waiting expectantly for goats. Nowadays, they take many shapes and ages and the truth is, online you never know who you are talking to. This has given everyone a voice and unfortunately some choose hatred over singing.

Research shows that around 10,000 tweets are sent every day containing racial, religious and ethnic slurs. If you preach hate, there is always someone to listen.

I want to share a quick story of a friend, let’s call him “Dave”. Dave has inexplicably liked a hatred page against British troops. Now rather than unlike the page or ignore a view which is a million miles from his own, Dave constantly has an argument that no-one will ever win. We seem to have a “right to be offended” streak in us, we actively seek out opposing views so we can have a virtual pissing competition in a hurricane.

I mentioned before how even seemingly jokey comments can have consequences. Many readers will remember the day when Fabrice Muamba fell to the floor suffering a cardiac arrest during the Bolton v Tottenham game in 2012. A Spurs fan out drinking with friends posted, “LOL. F*ck Muamba. He’s dead!!! #haha.”

That comment would lead to a 56-day spell in prison for the Tottenham fan. Some would argue that if that message had been about a white player then would this sentence have been so severe, does giving harsh sentences out change behaviour or push it underground?

I was lucky as a kid, I never hated anyone enough to go purchase paper, buy a stamp, post it and then wait 5-6 days in the hope that they would reply to my bile filled rantings. I wonder how I would have dealt with all that power to influence at 14 if the Interweb existed back then?

There are no easy solutions, football isn’t the only sport that has racism in it. However, not talking about a problem doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It’s not as big a problem as it was, I feel but that is mainly due to the best players on the planet being non-white. Even the most hardcore hypocrite finds it hard to boo a player because he is black but then not celebrate when he scores the winning goal against their local rivals.