Racism...In Football If someone is walking down the street and  someone shouts abuse because of the colour of there skin then people start to protest and make a fuss. Yet if the same happens in a football ground, thousands of people shout the same abuse, jeer the same players, just because of something people have no control over.  Racism in football happens at all levels of the game, from aggressive fans jeering ten year olds because they are black, to thousands of thuggish idiots throwing bananas at professional footballers. When John Barnes, one of England’s greatest footballers made his debut against Everton, bananas were thrown onto the pitch at him and monkey sounds were made, not by the opposing fans but by his own Liverpool supporters. Racism isn’t confined to football, every sport has its demons.
Everyone can be a victim of racism. It doesn’t matter what colour or race you are. Below is an interview with Dev Patel, a local footballer, about his experiences. -
What evidence have you had of racial abuse during football matches? Whilst playing for a non-competitive football team I was being called many different racial names from adults. Later on during the match the children of the adults started to call me names, getting influenced by the adults. This has also happened to many of my friends. -
How do you cope with the abuse? Do you respond to verbal abuse or do you ignore it? After the match in question finished I complained to the official. The official replied, "something will be done about this", but nothing was done. After a while I had to leave the team because of racial pressure, now I am not sure if I should go back and play football. When I was younger I used to argue with the supporters but I found that this was not sensible. Now I just ignore racial abuse. -
 Have you heard of any incidents to do with racial discrimination?
When I was at school I was a very keen cricket player with many of my friends, six of us played in the county but not in the school team. -
What should be done about it? Some sort of educational programme should be brought in to try and influence young children. -
Does it affect your play? In past games it has affected my play; I have walked off the pitch twice. Because of the abuse that I got during play I have lost my confidence and I don't know whether I want to play anymore. Yet we should ask, should racism still be rife in the multi-cultural society we live in today? Is the fact that someone else is a different colour that bigger deal? I believe that we should stamp out racism not just in sport but in every aspect of our life. Racism isn’t just a colour issue. People from different countries also face racism when they go abroad or are visited by people from other countries. In the past when football teams have gone abroad on football tours, as many teams do, some teams seem so obsessed with the fact that the opposition are foreign that they treat football like war.  I play for West Lindsey J.F.C. and we have been to Holland on tour three times and we have faced racism from some of the teams we were playing. Some teams seemed to consider us as walking targets just because we were English, but fortunately this is a rare occurrence as normally we have received nothing but friendship from the teams and people abroad.
Sport is supposed to be about enjoyment and fun and as serious as it can be for everybody I don't feel that people have to be ridiculed just because they are black, white or foreign.
-Dom
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