OPINION: Better Action is Needed to Combat Growing Racism in European Soccer
Ayushman Ghosh (SFS ‘23) is an editor for the Indo-Asia-Pacific section and a guest writer for the Caravel's opinion section. The content and opinions of this piece are the writer’s and the writer’s alone. They do not reflect the opinions of the Caravel or its staff.
Increasing incidents of racism are tarnishing the beautiful game.
Since the Premier League restarted on June 17, players and referees alike have taken a knee before kicking off every game. Kneeling represents players’ increased efforts to fight racism on and off the pitch, stemming from the global Black Lives Matter movement. Many notable players had worked to combat racism in soccer well before the Black Lives Matter movement became popular. Despite their attempts to spread a message of equality and unity, increasing incidents of racism are tarnishing the beautiful game.
Recently, the Premier League has been in the spotlight, as racist incidents have reportedly increased by 32 percent. In late 2018, several Chelsea supporters racially abused Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling, while a Tottenham Hotspurs supporter targeted Arsenal star Pierre Emerick Aubameyang with a banana. Since then, opposition fans have targeted Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger and Tottenham’s Heung Min Son with racist gestures. The issue has worsened off the pitch as well, most notably when Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford and Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham received online racist abuse from their own fans after missing penalty kicks.
Along with England, countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain have seen racist incidents against soccer players as well. However, racist sentiment is much more widespread among fans in particular countries and leagues. Italy’s Serie A, where racism is perpetrated by large fan sections and is usually responded to with apathy, is a prime example. When opposition Cagliari fans bombarded Juventus forward Moise Kean with “monkey” chants while he was celebrating a goal in April 2019, his teammate Leonardo Bonucci implied that he would not have been abused had he celebrated less emphatically. Five months later, Cagliari fans gave Inter Milan’s Romelu Lukaku similar treatment after he scored against them, and it was even accompanied by a statement from his own fans explaining how the behavior he faced was not racist. Later that year, Brescia player Mario Balotelli reacted to racist chants from Hellas Verona fans by threatening to walk off the field, and received criticism for it by his own fans.
These are only a few examples of soccer-related racist incidents in Italy. The problem is that Serie A is doing little to combat these few, but dangerous, incidents. Unlike in England, where the Premier League’s governing body swiftly meets racism by fans with strict action, Serie A’s governing body refused to fine teams or ban fans for their treatment of Kean, Lukaku, and Balotelli. Serie A not taking significant action against Cagliari itself despite continued racism from its fans further highlights this incompetence. In fact, referees in Italy have worked to silence players’ protests against racism from fans by giving them yellow cards, which was the case for Balotelli and other players. In terms of anti-racism initiatives, the teams have started major efforts to combat racism within the game rather than the league itself. For example, AC Milan launched an anti-racism task-force within the team. Serie A’s lack of its own similar group, despite the prominence of the issue, demonstrates that a hands-on approach is necessary. One of the few actions Serie A took included an insensitive and heavily criticized campaign that tried to push equality using paintings of monkeys, revealing how out of touch they are with the issue. It shows how far Serie A needs to go to understand that racist actions are wholly unacceptable. Holding teams accountable for their fans’ racist actions would be an important start.
Both the Premier League and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) have taken more urgent stances against racism, signified by their No Room for Racism and No to Racism campaigns, respectively. Despite these new initiatives, the problem of racism remains, and these organizations can do more to combat it. For example, when the English National Football Team was greeted with racist chants from Bulgaria fans in 2019, the UEFA fined the Bulgarian FA 75,000 euros ($88,731). In comparison, it fined Danish forward Nicklas Bendtner 100,000 euros ($118,308) for showing marketed underwear during EURO 2012. This shows how UEFA clearly needs to prioritize combatting racism itself in order for its campaign to succeed. Although the Premier League is a step ahead of most soccer organizations in terms of handling racism, as it is quick to hand out fines and bans to teams right after incidents, it still persists. The Premier League’s current one-dimensional approach, which has not resulted in any reduction in racism from fans, is not enough. They need to put in more effort and innovate more dynamic and impactful solutions to combat this complicated issue. While it is refreshing to see that some leagues and federations have started taking racism within the game seriously, they need to adopt more useful techniques to combat this issue. As for the leagues and federations who have a very lax or even non-existent anti-racism policy, they need to start acting fast to protect people of color within the game, especially given the rise in racist incidents.
Players themselves have long been at the forefront of this fight. Now, it is up to the leagues and federations to do their part to eradicate such heinous attitudes from the beautiful game.
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