Racism in European Football

Introduction

Racism in European football has reached such a dangerous level and has got so out of control that it has recently led to FIFA taking action against racist behaviour at football matches. Many athletes in Spain and Italy for example, experience repetitive abusive because of the colour of their skin which has had a very negative impact on them. Famous athletes such as Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o and Kameni have faced abuse from fans. To give you an idea of the severity of the abuse and the impact it has on people let me show you this youtube clip.

SHOW CLIP - Beautiful Game Turned Ugly: Racism in Europe's Soccer Arenas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-iRLmaZf4A

Causes

- People are naturally emotional at football matches

- Organisations such as the neo–nazis take advantage of this emotion and plant people from their groups at football who then incite the crowd to chant racist comments and behave in a racist way

- Authorities ignored racist behaviour for a long time, therefore it has grown and got out of control. No one has been held accountable until now

- People don’t see their racist behaviour as something bad

- The football stadium has always been a place for hooliganism

- Europe have very few black Europeans and so there aren’t many laws against displaying racism and the laws that do exist are not enforced consistently

Effect

· Football fans who represent their country is sending a message to the world that their country supports and promotes racism

· Gives a bad name to the club

· Makes players not want to play

· Makes players feel they do not belong

· Ruins the true meaning of the sport

· It becomes all about racism

· People are racist to people outside the game

· Children are brought up by the parents to be racist so the habit is passed on

Solution

The way to solve racism in football (well for me) seems very difficult. In Spain for example, it is deemed ‘normal’ to be racist so it is hard taking something out of their culture. Even the Spanish coach told his players before playing against France “Give it to the black, show that black piece of shit that you are better than he is.” Later he commented that it is like calling somebody fat. So even people who you think should have that respect for others don’t. So it is really an issue that should be tackled hard.

Some ways in which we can get rid of racism or at the very least control racism are:

- By penalising both teams during a game if fans insult players irrespective of which team is doing the taunting. By doing this perhaps the fans will calm down and realise the negative effects of their behaviour.

- Educate children on the effects of racism so that they learn early not to be racist.

- Instant suspension of any player or coach who displays racial behaviour

- More police surveillance and control to prevent the trouble makers and hooligans and others who represent many of the racist parties from entering a game.

- Stop the game immediately when racist behaviour reaches a certain level, for example, crowds chanting together, bananas being thrown or banners displayed with racist comments on them.

Racism sadly cannot be erased completely but at least everyone involved with the sport, as fans, coaches, players, police and FIFA, should send a clear message to the world that in this sport, football, we have zero tolerance for racism.

Why and how I picked my I-search Topic

I picked racism in European football for several reasons. I am really fond of the sport first of all, and I when I hear and see racism in football, I think it ruins the essence and true meaning of the game. It is a problem that should be tackled hard because it makes football become a war zone for racists people. The way I found this topic is that I googled 'interesting topics' found racisms (it caught my attention because it's different to something other than whaling or deforestation) and then because I like sports I changed it to racism in sports. Then because I like football I made it more specific by narrowing it down to racism in European football. I know that this is a topic I like and will enjoy writing about.

My Vision on Racism in European Football

How I want to see racism in football in the future, is that I want it to be easily controlled and in the future generations, stopped completely. When teams are abused, I want to see the big boys of football like FIFA and the (for example) FIFA Spain not hesitating to punish both teams in a match displaying racist behaviour. Future generations are able to learn the effects of racism and to see it as something as history. I wish that one day it will have permanently stop, even if the process is slow, at least one day racism in football, and all sports, will come to an end.