The FA and Fifa have done a lot over the years to stamp out racism in football http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/WhatWeDo/Equality/RacialEquality but as Richard Sutcliffe points out in today's Yorkshire Post, there's a long way to go yet. He's talking mainly about racism in Russia and gives an example of when Lokomotiv Moscow fans unfurled a huge banner reading 'Thanks, West Brom' to mark the Baggies' signing striker Peter Odemwingie from their club.
'And just to make sure everyone got the shameful point about a player who was born in Uzbekistan of a Russian mother and a Nigerian father, the Lokomotiv racists included a picture of a banana on the banner.' Shameful indeed.
But it's not just in Russia, Italy etc that racism is an issue. Earlier this week four players from Bournemouth AFC went to Pizza Hut after training. Unlike another group who went in at the same time, the players were asked to pay for their meals 'up front.' When they asked why they were told it was because of 'the way' they looked. Unfortunately for three of them, the way they looked was black. The players quite rightly refused to pay before they'd had their meal and the police were called. Pizza Hut were quick to point out this 'policy' had nothing to do with race but it seems strange this particular group was singled out, doesn't it? The other customers all backed the players up, saying they hadn't been doing anything wrong. You can read the full story on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-11934942.
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Following on from the Russia World Cup theme, apparently FIFA are considering playing some Qatar 2022 matches in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, a country that will not allow anyone with an Israeli passport or even an Israeli stamp in their passport to enter the country. And Qatar itself still has laws against homosexuality.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know FIFA takes its campaigns against racism and homophobia in sport seriously.
Interestingly enough Robert Crompton writing in The Times addresses the criticism of homophobia in Qatar by asking this simple question: How many gay footballers can anyone name in our 92 football clubs? The answer is 0 since Justin Fashanu dared to out himself in 1990. Neither his manager (Brian Clough) nor his brother John supported him. Fashanu committed suicide 8 years later. Statistically there must be gay players but they daren't admit it. Until we welcome openly gay players in our own leagues, we've no room to talk about Qatar.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't even get me started on sexism women encounter...