Racism in Football (soccer)

The issue of racism in football has been a controversial issue for some decades now and it never seems to be an unending saga with some insinuating that it never exists in the game.



Sepp Blatter, the head of the world’s governing body FIFA is the latest proponent to wage into this debate with his assertion that if any such issue crops up during the cause of a game, it should be settled by a handshake after the game.



According to the Swiss, he does not believe racism exits in the game and concludes that words passed during the cause of a game referred to as racism, are said in the heat of the moment.



Mr. Blatter has come in for a lot of flock from all spheres of the game for the unsavory comments he passed with some describing him as out of touch with the pace of the game.



Others have called for his resignation or for a vote of no confidence to be passed on him by the FIFA Executive Committee for his luck of manners as far as the running of the game are concerned.



These strong opinions raised have forced him to backtrack on these assertions and has apologized for any wrong impressions it might have created within the corridors of the sport.



Clearly, the FIFA boss got it wrong here as far as the issue of racism in football is concerned for there have been countless examples to show that it is an ongoing feature in football.



If not, the English FA would not have charged the Liverpool player Luis Suarez for allegedly racially abusing Patrice Evra of Manchester United when the two English giants met in a premiership game in October.



Another case is being investigated by the British Metropolitan Police involving captain of the English national team John Terry and Anton Ferdinand of Queens Park Rangers (QPR) who has accused the Chelsea player of racially abusing him when the two teams recently met in a league game at Loftus Road.



These examples plus others elsewhere gives semblance to the fact that racism still remains a major talking point in the annals of football and Mr. Blatter should have taught it wise before making that loose statement.



Calls for his resignation are a bit premature and these are mainly being championed by the English who are still furious with FIFA for not awarding them hosting rights for the 2018 World Cup.



However, Mr. Blatter must know that he went too far with his comments and deserves all the trash that has come his way.



He claims not to be a racist and I am tempted to agree with him. What FIFA must look at now is how to do away with the racial chants that emanates from the stands and on the pitch whose examples ranges from Bulgarian fans abusing English (black) players to Zinedine Zidane head butting Marco Matarazzi on the pitch.



FIFA and Mr. Blatter must device ways of limiting or doing away with the issue of racism in football and it must start at the grassroots level moving on through the ranks.



They therefore have a lot of work to do in this direction in ensuring that the game is played fairly in a truly sporting atmosphere in the future for this is what the world needs.



Football has traveled a long distance in history for such tendencies and acts to still persist in this modern era – the game deserves better.