FOOTBALL: F*CK RACISM!
(WARNING! THIS IS A SENSITIVE & LONG POST!)
(Some information are taken from http://www.soccernet.com/)



Those who play Championship Manager will be very familiar with the logo. Racism has been a very big issue and problem in football nowadays. Spain seems to have a lot of the problem of late but only little action is taken by the Spanish FA. They seem to be reluctant to do anything about it and that made everybody in the football world furious. It is ridiculous to hear racist chants almost every week in the stadiums in Spain.

MALAYSIA A MULTIRACIAL COUNTRY

Why racism is such a problem? What do you guys think? Are we ourselves racist too? Let’s think about it. We live in Malaysia which boasts a multiracial community leaving ‘harmoniously’ together. Or are we? Are all our rights being protected and at least, somehow ‘equal’? Equality and fairness will never exist if two races live together in a place, it is a known fact in this world that one must be superior and another inferior. These are very sensitive issues which I don’t want to talk further but just to give you guys something to think about. Are we proud of our multiracial country? Is it solely because of the political control that we are at peace? It is therefore not our true character but just because we fear the consequences of expressing our heart's discontent and being put behind bars and fined seriously? Is this freedom?

We already have fights among people from the same race. We don’t have to say with other races. Now, every race is unique and thus we are all different. These differences can sometimes be a negative thing to other races. It can be intellectual abilities, physical abilities, cultures, costumes, habits, physical appearance, smell, skin colour and hairdo. You and I know that as Chinese, we already are looking down on some races that are different from us in our country. I will not talk more than this. Mentioning them will automatically have a sense of superiority of us over them. We despise them to such an extent that you can only have negative comments on them everytime a subject of them is being brought up. This will probably be the same on other races who are more superior than us in terms of wealth, status, development and also look down on us.

In this world, unfortunately, we are already being classified in the first place because of our race identity. Racism in football is primarily targeted at those with black skin or darker shade of brown colour. This is most specifically targeted at African footballers and secondarily targeted at South American footballers. As long as you are not white, you will most highly get a racist chant from the stadium. It has always been a problem and we all just have to accept that it is human nature to look down on others who are different from us as well as look highly on another particular race because they are far more wealthy.

FOOTBALL ORIGIN

Why racism? Simple. Modern football or soccer is first invented by the British and grew from there. The whites are always the richer and more civilized people who will always be on top of the world order. What if a black comes in, overtake their ability, overtakes them in terms of money earned and became far richer? When your place is taken by someone else, naturally you will feel unhappy and jealous. You will feel uncomfortable that all this while, in a game that is dominated only by your kind has new people from other races coming in and become just as famous. People who suppose to be from the lower level of the 3rd world countries earn and stand at the same level as you who comes from the 1st world country?

This feeling of inferiority and your position on the top of the world being threatened is why in my opinion, created racism in football. It is this inability to accept the fact that these people who are never superior to the Europeans can suddenly play at their level and commanding the same value and salary as them. Jealousy created racism. This is my theory of why this thing is happening. In the past, the problem is not so serious probably because you have less foreign immigrants playing the game for another country. This is just my assumptions. Do you think there are more foreigners playing for England, France and Holland in the past compare to now?

SPAIN VS. ENGLAND FRIENDLY

Let us recap back the clash between Spain and England in Madrid where monkey chants by portions of the crowd directed towards the blacks like Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Roberto Carlos and Samuel Eto’o are another two who always getting monkey chants from the crowd. They seem to be so used with it with Eto’o even coming to an extend of making monkey actions to the crowd after scoring the goals. Asian footballers are so far spared from these kind of treatment probably because they have not really excelled much in football achievements yet in the world stage. One day if an Asian is to be so great in Europe, I won’t be surprised if he should get the same treatment.

My take in this is that the world today is getting more and more mixed. So much so that you have people from your different skin colour having the same nationality status as you do. Zinedine Zidane is an Algerian but he is now French. The world is taking it hard to accept people who are of different race to get the same nationality as them. Especially if such a person is from a race which is less superior than theirs. If they are to stand at the same level, they will think that these people are not worthy!

NEVILLE VS. NIKE

Let’s recap also on Neville’s opinion on Nike’s advertisement. Gary Neville's claims that Nike might look to gain commercial advantage from football's latest anti-racism campaign is something interesting to think about. People actually take the opportunity to fight racism that will have potential to give them the commercial edge of selling their products. Smart marketing people! To sponsor an event like this, it is to help for publicity of your brand name. It is to brainwash people so that when you see a Nike brand when you go shopping, you will only think of positive things about them.

“I will support this brand! It is supporting anti-racism! I am also supporting it 100%! Go Nike! You are the best!”

Well, can racism be overcome? All those anti-racism campaigns that made people spent tones of money. Will all these money spent be flushed into the drains? Can all these campaigns really create awareness of racism and made football free of racial abuse and harassment? Do people actually care?

THIERRY HENRY VS. LUIS ARAGONES

Let’s recap on another famous news regarding Thierry Henry against Spanish coach Luis Aragones. The Spain coach was fined £2,060 for his misguided comment in telling Jose Antonio Reyes he was better than 'that black ****' Henry. The comment was made last October during a training session ahead of a World Cup qualifying match against Belgium, with a television crew capturing his outburst. Unfortunately to me, Aragones speaks of his heart at the wrong place and at the wrong time. I am sure many people give racist opinions but just that they said it at the right time and at the right place.

Although Gunners goalkeeper Manuel Almunia insists that Aragones is not a racist, his Highbury team-mate Henry - at the centre of the controversy - was furious at the size of the fine handed to the Spain coach. Henry feels that the fine is peanuts and will not instill any feeling of guilt to Aragones to learn a lesson and give a warning to others. FIFA fines him for the sake of pressure from the public for his racist comments so that FIFA will have a positive outlook from the public for acting responsible for the outburst. He also thinks that the Spanish FA should fine him far more severely because his fine equates to only a day of his wages.

Their verdict indicated that they found Aragones in the wrong, but his offence has not been deemed serious enough to warrant a suspension or sacking. Aragones did apologise publicly for causing offence to Henry after the whole incident. However, he also stressed, in the run-up to November's friendly match against England, that his conscience was clear. That comment could be the real reasont that is creating such an outrage!

'To fine Aragones £2,000 is absolutely ridiculous. You really have to look at the Spanish authorities and they must take a long look at themselves,' he said.

'They obviously don't care about racism. There have been other times when they have fined clubs a few hundred quid for racism.

'It is laughable. They fined him for the sake of it, not because they felt he said something wrong.'
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has also criticised the Spanish authorities for their treatment of the situation. Wenger was fined £15,000 in December and 'severely reprimanded' by the Football Association after being found guilty of an improper conduct charge for accusing Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy of `cheating'. But speaking on Tuesday evening, after his side's FA Cup win over Sheffield United, Wenger was at a loss to understand the Spanish FA's decision.

'You compare his fine and my fine, and if you consider his was for racist abuse, then you seem to get away with it more in Spain than you should,' said Wenger.

'He shouldn't have said what he said, and how much money is enough, I don't know. But it doesn't look a big punishment.'

SAMUEL ETO'O VS. CHELSEA STEWARD

The latest racial abuse was during match between Chelsea and Barcelona in Stamford Bridge just recently. We read about claims by Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o that he was racially abused by a steward which Chelsea strongly denied. Several Barca players, including Ronaldinho and manager Frank Rijkaard, became embroiled in a scuffle on the touchline after the final whistle. Eto'o insists he was on the end of a racially-motivated insult, and took a swipe at Blues boss Jose Mourinho who he felt helped create such a volatile atmosphere.

"A security guard told me that I was a monkey, but the disgraced one is him," stormed Eto'o.

"You only have to look at the face of the manager they have here."

However, Chelsea have hit back at the Cameroonian striker's allegations and released a statement dismissing any wrongdoing.

"Chelsea utterly refute any racist comments were made by any of its permanent or match-day staff," it read.

"Chelsea has an excellent record of supporting anti-racism campaigns and condemns all forms of racism."

FINALLY

My conclusion? I think as human beings, we will forever have the superior and inferior judgment of every race to ours. We may not admit but deep inside us, whenever we see people different from us, there is always a judgment passed. The most we can do to protect our reputation is to tolerate. For the sake of peace and harmony, be patient and tolerate. It is a win-win situation.

If they really get on your nerves, than you may accidentally speak out your heart’s hatred on a particular race. It is all about how much you can control yourself from insulting others. If you are really unhappy, you should speak of your heart’s discontent. However, this world is ULTRA SENSITIVE when it comes to racism. So next time when you want to say it, you better make sure you are at the right place and right time. You don’t want to get into the trouble that Aragones had gone through.

I personally don’t know Aragones so I won’t know whether he is a racist. All I know is that this racism problem will forever be there as long as there are divides between human beings. As long as we are from different level of wealth, status, economy, power and standing on this planet, racism will always be there. Like it or not, I don’t believe this problem can ever be terminated completely because it is human nature.

Yeah, it is easy to say “I AM NOT A RACIST!” but are you really? Cross your heart? Are you sure you are not what the definition of racist means?

1.The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.

2.Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

You can give all the excuses in the world that you don’t mean it. In Malaysia, probably you can say it more casually and not suffer the consequences but in the Western world, you will be brought to court for the same accusations. People enjoy suing each other more. Unfortunately, once you say it, it is too late!