Soccer is in Denial About its Racism Problem

hand2handking

hand2handking

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Soccer is in Denial About its Racism Problem
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https://sports.yahoo.com/soccer-denial-racism-problem-150316609.html

Michy Batshuayi couldn’t contain his ire.

UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, had set out to investigate the monkey noises the Belgian Borussia Dortmund striker said he heard in an away game at Italian club Atalanta last month. And then it dropped its investigation into racist or discriminatory behavior on Thursday, without explanation.

Batshuayi didn’t hold back in showing his dismay in a pair of tweets.

It’s tough to say if Batshuayi really was racially abused. It’s also unlikely that he’d call that kind of attention to himself for no good reason. He deserves the benefit of the doubt. Because such an incident would hardly stand alone.

If you look for it, it’s everywhere.

Stories of the rampant racism in soccer, pulled from the earth in one place, only to pop up elsewhere, are constant.

Less than three months before the World Cup will kick off in their country, Russian fans made monkey noises at France stars Paul Pogba and Ousmane Dembele during their friendly on Tuesday. That’s doubly alarming because there’s widespread concern that racism will pervade soccer’s signature event this summer.

Russia has denied that racism is even a thing in its soccer stadiums and promises that the World Cup will be free of it. Russia manager Stanislav Cherchesov has arguedthat racism in Russian soccer isn’t a big enough issue to merit fighting it.

Russian giants Zenit St. Petersburg, a club with a long history of racist crowd behavior, faces UEFA discipline for the way its fans racially taunted an injured RB Leipzig player during a recent game. In December, Zenit was finedafter its fans unfurled a banner glorifying Ratko Mladic, a Serbian army officer responsible for the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys during the genocide in Bosnia.

But the problem is hardly Russian alone.

Laureled French club Olympique Lyon faces the daunting prospect of a year-long expulsion from UEFA’s continental competition for recent “racist behavior” by its fans. Long-time Chelsea coach Gwyn Williams has been accused of persistent “racist bullying” by at least four former Chelsea youth players. Batshuayi heard monkey chants from Atalanta fans earlier this month, and was then taunted on Twitter with monkey and banana emojis.

Dig deeper. Look harder. There’s more of this stuff. Much more. These are just the recent incidents. Soccer has an almost institutional racism problem.

Yet FIFA closed down its anti-racism taskforce in the fall of 2016, claiming that there was no racism left to fight. Because FIFA.

Sports have been a driver and accelerator of social causes, especially stateside. But sometimes they lag behind our larger culture and the evolution of our behavioral standards and mores. Soccer seems to be a haven for the bigoted, rather than a proactive factor of ridding ourselves of this baseless hatred.

Racism has always been an issue in soccer. Always. The sport was slow to integrate, and only recently have we come to appreciate just how much a soft, unspoken — or, in a recent French Football Federation scandal, spoken — racism precluded minority players from national team opportunities. And there’s an argument to be made that managers still pigeonhole black players into certain positions and roles.

Even the sport’s nomenclature buries its bias only barely below the surface. Black strikers are mostly described as “powerful” while white playmakers tend to be “technical.” It’s very rarely the other way around. In 2018, there still aren’t a whole lot of black playmakers at the highest level, akin to the preference for white quarterbacks that long prevailed in the NFL.

But, if anything, the sport’s reaction to these racist behaviors — both overt and subliminal, and both aggressive and possibly subconscious — is brief outrage. Disciplinary action from UEFA or the other governing bodies tends to be limited to a fine or a mere wrist-slap like probation or a warning. That’s what makes the possible Lyon ban significant, it would actually constitute a real penalty.

Such assertive punishments are depressingly rare, though. Soccer isn’t dealing with its racism problem largely because it rarely acknowledges that it has a racism problem. Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter once suggested seriously, and on the record, that if one player had racially abused another, they should simply shake hands following the game. Problem solved.

It’s hard to deal with an issue if you don’t recognize it or indeed acknowledge its scope. Many in soccer don’t seem to think that it has a problem at all. Which leaves its victims with no better recourse than to get angry on Twitter.
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thoughts? :nerd:
 
39 views and no posts.....

OP...no one cares because this incident/story isn't about Boston and an incident of racism :lol:
 
its been posted in the soccer thread. this topic comes up a lot unfortunately
 
A lot of Europe is racist as hell, no surprise but disappointing that an organization like with FIFA with so much influence can care less. If leagues and team could be sanctioned by FIFA for misconduct of fans that’ll be dope. You got fans that want to act like idiots and constantly throw bananas? Fine organizations heavily if they don’t ban folks from stadiums. You want to chant racist **** and we have video? Ban.

Solo poppin off but she’s not wrong about the whole rich white kid thing. They got clubs out here trying to charge U8-U9 development programs for a grand (May-Nov). That’s not including uniform costs and rinky dink tournaments. Don’t even get me started on costs for kids who are older, like “College showcases”, tryout fees, etc. Meanwhile, youth clubs are selling team success (Win-Loss) instead of evidence of personal technical development.
 
Manchester City Star Subjected to Vile Racist Abuse After World Cup Elimination



https://www.mcfcwatch.com/2018/07/0...ile-racist-abuse-after-world-cup-elimination/

Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has been the victim of racial abuse in the wake of Brazil’s World Cup exit at the hands of Belgium on Friday.

The 33-year-old was one of several poor performers for the Seleção, with his own goal singling him out for extreme criticism from angry Brazil fans.

According to UOL Esporte, Fernandinho’s social media accounts (Twitter and Instagram) have been bombarded with abuse since the game, including racially fueled attacks. The player has been called a ‘monkey’ among other things by furious supporters.
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It is the second World Cup running which has ended in upset for the two-time Premier League winner, as he was part of the Brazil side that was beaten 7-1 at the 2014 World Cup at the hands of Germany.

Fernandinho will now head off for his summer holiday before returning belatedly, like other Blues at the World Cup, for pre-season training.
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Spain is one of the biggest culprits of the blatank racism. It's why I don't watch soccer don't care for soccer or will ever watch an entire soccer match....


Spain still mad the moors had them on lock....
 
hand2handking said:
no i posted it to say the racism in america is why its a rich white kid sport in america
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Racism? What do you know about the (infra)structure of youth football in the US? There are a LOT of issues with the current set up but racism is not one of them.
 
don adidada said:
Racism? What do you know about the (infra)structure of youth football in the US? There are a LOT of issues with the current set up but racism is not one of them.
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im not talking about the infrastructure or whatever

im saying that the economic barriers that are instilled through racist institutions create the idea that soccer is a rich white kids sport

are there soccer teams in inner city schools that are predominantely black?

is traveling teams etc economically feasible for a an inner city child interested in soccer that may not have the means a white private school kid would?

since you the damn expert instead of just quoting me why dont you post what you know and educate the thread instead of questioning me??

foh
 
You have to look deeper if you don't believe there's a little bit of racism in the exclusivity that is travel soccer. The fact that soccer doesn't operate like other major sports (baseball, football, basketball) at adolescent levels is pretty indicative, in my opinion. Not only is high school soccer not really relevant, for those who are trying to pursue the sport at a higher level, the damn USSFDA doesn't even allow for its players to participate in it.

Pay-to-play is one of the biggest problems and guess which population is best positioned for pay-to-play? Also, finances is just one thing. Imagine being a minority parent that can maybe afford to pay the required costs for their kids to play, but now having to deal with the elitist culture that consists of soccer moms in Range Rovers and dads who "go back" with some of these youth academy directors or coaches, that have legit influence over whether or not a less talented kid is playing and getting exposure because of who his parents are/what they can pay.
 
hand2handking said:
im not talking about the infrastructure or whatever

im saying that the economic barriers that are instilled through racist institutions create the idea that soccer is a rich white kids sport

are there soccer teams in inner city schools that are predominantely black?

is traveling teams etc economically feasible for a an inner city child interested in soccer that may not have the means a white private school kid would?

since you the damn expert instead of just quoting me why dont you post what you know and educate the thread instead of questioning me??

foh
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Yes.

Depends.

Sure. A combination of geography, infrastructure, poor governance and culture cause the problems that impact poorer players the most.

First, geography. Unlike in Europe, a 4 hour drive doesn't get you across the country. In some places in the US you don't even leave your state driving four hours. So it's hard for travel teams to operate without asking for money. Travel and associated expenses are just higher here. Asking teams to fund that out of pocket when we don't have any Abramovich's is a bit unreasonable. The fact that leagues aren't limited by geography (below tournament level) ties in with my point about governance which I'll get to in a second.


Second, infrastructure. Soccer is still a niche sport outside of immigrant heavy cities/neighborhoods and as you put it "rich white kid" areas. That means finding a regulation field is gonna be tough. Park departments charge for playing space. Private venues (if there even is one) definitely charge for play space. This to me seems to be more an issue of time and political pressure. As the culture evolves and grows, parks and other venues will begin to feature more fields.

Third, governance. This is the biggest issue. The USSF has allowed the youth league system to be the wild wild west. In a country that spans a continent, why aren't leagues locked to states/small regions (below tourny level)? That would significantly decrease travel costs. There should be a fully organized table of leagues and tournaments governed by USSF. Why is it so difficult to get licensing for coaches and refs? Would decrease the shortage and thus decrease costs to have personnel. Why doesn't the USSF use it's political clout to get more field space available? Other sports influence Parks and Board of Ed departments all the time. Why are those in charge of soccer such wimps about it?

Lastly, culture. Most clubs both major and minor in Europe and South America, were and some still are, founded as community teams, church teams, pub teams, after work teams. People volunteer, people own community shares. If more people put effort into their local squad(s), there would be more growth in the sport at the grass roots level. But people as a community can only do so much when matches require teams to go to other states overnight for a weekend. And in terms of getting play space, a volunteer based team or league is actually hurt by community activism because pay to play leagues can afford to spend more for field space.

Everything ties together and compounds on one another with the only one cultprit: the USSF. I have my a lot of my own ideas for solutions (but who am I to the USSF?) and so do many other commentators and pundits. But the only thing is for sure as that the USSF turns a blind eye to a lot of hard problems. Even at international level, they can't get their act together. Until governance is solved, these problems can't be adequately addressed at a national level.
 
Football is very racist. It’s a dark cloud that overshadows the beautiful game.

Just look at Mesut Ozil or Raheem Sterling after this summers World Cup.

Or how players are treated in Italy
 
'DIDN'T REALISE'
Bollywood’s Esha Gupta ‘Sorry’ for Comparing Alex Iwobi to Gorilla as Fans Demand She is Sacked as Arsenal Ambassador
Former Miss India and Hector Bellerin's ex shared a screenshot of a conversation which cruelly claimed 'evolution stopped' for the Nigerian star



https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8294358/esha-gupta-arsenal-iwobi-gorilla/

ARSENAL club ambassador Esha Gupta has apologised after she shared comments on Twitter that compared Alex Iwobi to a gorilla.

The Bollywood star claimed she did not realise it was racist, but furious Gunners fans have called for the club to sack her.

The 33-year-old shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation to her Instagram profile, which has 3.4 million followers.

In the image, she recieved messages from Varun_Gupta17 which read: "Solves our winger issues. I can't see that gorilla faced Iwobi running down the flank again. He's so bad ya."

She replied: "Hahahahahaha I honestly dunno why they don't bench him more."

Varun_Gupta17 then responded: "It's like evolution stopped for him. Didn't change from Neanderthal to man."



She quickly deleted the image from her profile when she realised her mistake, but it had already been screenshotted by fans.

After she was called out for the racist remarks on Twitter, she said: "Guys I'm sorry you thought it was racist. Was bad on my part, being a sports love, Wallah meant it. Sorry guys forgive the stupidity."

The 33-year-old then added: "Well it was my fault. So gotta own up to my s***...sorry."

Gupta, who previously dated defender Hector Bellerin, then claimed she was just venting her frustration after the 3-1 defeat to Manchester United.

She said: "It was us discussing our frustration during the game. Sorry as I didn't realise it was directed towards racism.

"Laughed over spur of the moment, which was the games result guys. Been victim of racism myself before.

"But this is not something I'm proud of. It was a fault, sorry guys."

Gupta is an ambassador for the North London club and she claimed her passion for the Gunners came from her father.

But infuriated supporters online have urged the club to take action against the Indian model and actress.

One said: "This needs to be investigated further. A lot of us Nigerian Gooners aren't taking it. @alexiwobi is our boy. We will not stand and watch him be dehumanised and not act. Take note @Arsenal."

After she started to block fans that had called her out, one said: "Esha Gupta can block everyone calling her out on racism. @Arsenal time to drop this woman as an ambassador."

One supporter tweeted her and asked her to prove she was sorry by donating money towards Arsenal's transfer funds.

She bluntly replied: "I wish."









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We call racist nonsense out with a quickness in the regular soccer thread. Raheem Sterling has to be one of the first major names mentioned here. He's dealt with multitudes of racism for club with Liverpool and Manchester City, and also internationally for England. The papers often treat him terribly and it's unfairly due to the color of his skin.

A previous post in this thread alluded to racism against Brasilians also, like Fernandinho. There was an incident in which banana(s) were thrown on the pitch in the direction of Dani Alves, insinuating he's a monkey, and he responded by eating the banana defiantly.

Mario Balotelli has dealt with many acts of racism in Italy, perhaps even France while he was with Nice. As much as I love traveling to parts of Italy, such as Venice, Firenze and the Amalfi Coast, the country has a major problem with racism. There's a historical divide, for some, in which Northern Italians don't consider southerners "real Italians." Like Sicily, for example. I've also heard a vicious racial slur thrown around by a handful of Italians, mulignan or "moolie," which translates to eggplant.
 
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