Racism

(P4) Racism is something that happens a lot in football but it has been cut down massively over the last decade. Players are always going to be subject to positive or negative comments because different people have different views. Racism is a very shallow way of abusing someone and it is unfair views on someone because of their ethnicity or their nationality and in some cases their religion. There are many organisations running at the moment in order to remove racism from football. As time goes by people’s views and opinions are becoming more accepting over racial equality but it still occurs in some cases.

(M4) People may use racism as a form of abusing someone they do not like or do not share the same views as. People that believe in a different religion or culture will be subject to racism by people of different religion and culture. The association ‘Let’s kick racism out of football’ is working to prevent racism happening in football. They will get teams and players to promote the association so that people will see their role models supporting it. This is a way of trying to get people to stop being racist. It is difficult to prevent it from happening because there are many people that have really strong views about other cultures.

During the Barcelona vs. Villarreal game Dani Alves was racially abused when he was about to take a corner kick. A fan threw a banana at him, to which Dani Alves responded by picking the banana up and eating it. This was Alves’ way of saying “We are all monkeys, we do not care.” The quote trended on social media and it made a big stand on racism. Showing that the players do not care about it is a way of slowly removing racism from football. The fan received a life ban from attending football games as well which showed that the club will not tolerate any form of racism.

(D1) A short term effect of racism is that the FA work to combat the issue immediately after it is done. As soon as something happens that it racially abusive in football the FA will take action against the offender and then organisations like ‘let’s kick racism out of football’ will be promoted. They will promote it on TV, banners, newspapers, social media everything to make sure people get the message that it is unacceptable. Offenders of racism will more than likely get life time bans from going to watch football which shows fans it is not acceptable. For example the Villarreal fan that threw the banana at Dani Alves will never be able to watch his favourite team play live again. Since this event happening there has not been a case of racism in football which proves the sport responded well. Although, it could be argued that racism should be shown it is not acceptable all the time to stop it happening at all. After weeks have passed you do not see as much coverage of ‘let’s kick racism out of football’ because they think the issue has been resolved. Although, in the past it has happened again but a long time after. This is why it should be covered and promoted all the time.

A long term effect of the FA preventing racism is that players will no longer get the racist abuse they do. Racist abuse can have a huge psychological impact on a player and it can stop them from wanting to play anymore. During a friendly game the AC Milan striker Boateng was racially abused by a section of fans. He picked up the ball and kicked it in to the stand where the fans were positioned. The player then led his team off the pitch and the game was abandoned. The long term effect of this action happening is that the FA have taken action and not left it up to the players to have to do this. It also shows that the players will not put up with it anymore. If actions like this happen in future then the fans will lose out and the sport will lose out because players will not play. Although when the action happened with Alves he showed that it doesn’t bother him. This will have helped prevent it happening because one reason why people are racist is to try and wind up the players. Alves’ action showed it doesn’t bother him therefore why would the fans bother doing it? If they are not winding a player up then it’s not worth getting a life ban.

The fans now know that it is unacceptable to be racist towards a player and if they are they will get a life ban from watching matches. When player’s show that they are not bothered it gives the fans no reason to be racist. Therefore as long as players stay professional and cope with racism if it happens again, it will eventually die out. Although, it will be difficult for players to have to put up with it if it happens and they shouldn’t have too in the first place. Sadly, it is something that may occur again in the future because there are fans that have really strong views on religion, culture or race. The FA needs to keep up work making sure that fans know it is unacceptable and they will be banned for life if they are racist.