How racism haunts European football It has been open season for racists as they fired off their cannons of imbecility wrapped in banality from all across Europe OM Russia with racism came the first salvo. “We have enough of these things” is what black people were reduced to by Igor Gamola, coach of Russian club FC Rostov, responding to a question whether he was going to sign a defender of Cameroon origin. One of those “things” is South African Siyanda Xulu. For a man whose forebears bore the brunt of colonialism and apartheid, Xulu took umbrage with his coach’s dehumanising comments. After all, he comes from a country where the majority of the people know all about having their humanity denied. Tavecchio rifled his racist rant in August. Uefa imposed their six-month ban in October. Fifa followed suit in November. They act swiftly hey, these anti-discrimination, anti-racism ambassadors of equality with a zero-tolerance attitude to those who hold one race inferior superior and another inferior. He led a training stayaway by the half-a-dozen African “things” at FC Rostov to send a clear message to his coach to shove such nonsense up his nether regions. For the record, their teammates of lighter persuasion did not pledge solidarity with their six “teamthings”. “Banana eaters” is all Italian Football Association president Carlo Tavecchio sees when he sees people of the hue of Mario Balotelli. In a racism-fuelled rage during his bid to become the head honcho of Italian football, Tavecchio sparked a race row with a remark making reference to a fictitious player he called “Opti Poba”. Surely the honourable Mr Tavecchio wasn’t referring to Paul Pogba, a shiny ebony man plying his trade in the Italian Serie A? Surely! The despicable comment didn’t block Tavecchio’s path to the presidency — 63% out of 278 votes confirmed his ascendancy to the IFA high office. What did the good friends at the parliament of world football, Fifa, and the Union of European Football Associations do? Stuff your face with Margherita pizza and shove as much spaghetti and meatballs all you want, because we’re banning you from holding a Fifa position for six months. If that is not stiff punishment, I don’t know what is. It is clear Fifa don’t want Tavecchio shaking the black-like-me Issa Hayatou out of his mid-meeting snooze with a “wake up you banana eater”, do they now? Tavecchio rifled his racist rant in August. Uefa imposed their six-month ban in October. Fifa followed suit in November. They act swiftly hey, these anti-discrimination, anti-racism ambassadors of equality with a zero-tolerance attitude to those who hold one race inferior superior and another inferior. Bordeaux coach Willy Sagnol added spice to the racism stew with this pearl of wisdom: “The advantage of the typical African player is that he is not expensive … he’s ready to fight and he is powerful on the pitch. But football is not just that, it’s also technique, intelligence, discipline.” Of course, the one French footballer who has technique, intelligence and discipline, and loads more, is one Zinedine Zidane. Sagnol has apologised, saying: “If through my lack of clarity and imperfect semantics, I made people feel shocked, humiliated or hurt, I am sorry.” Note the “if” from Sagnol, who is not an ignoramus imbecile. The irony is that the last time a French national side conquered the world, it was teeming with players who traced their roots to Africa: Patrick Vieira (Dakar, Senegal), Claude Makelele (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo), Marcel Desailly (Accra, Ghana) and there were black players like Lilian Thuram and Christian Karembeu. Yet Sepp Blatter, the sage, says racism sufferers should just shake hands with their abusers and remember that it’s just a game. But racism wasn’t a game for his “friend” Nelson Mandela. And Fifa is so anti-racism they make players hold banners with the words: Say No To Racism.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 05:50:12 +0000
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