Football, known as soccer in the United States, is ranked as the most watched and played sport in the world. With more than 240 million people who regularly play it, the sport has grown to be the most popular in the world (FIFA). What no one acknowledges after all, is the dark side of football, which includes homophobia, corruption, and most commonly racism. Racism has been a persistent problem, especially in Europe since it “first appeared around the 1970’s when England’s black players were habitually pelted with bananas, ridiculed with monkey-type grants, and subjected to chanting for no other reason than their ethnicity” (Cashmore, and Cleland 11). Since then, there have been countless anti-racism campaigns that attempt to minimize and eventually
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It is the most common problem currently in the world of football, and there has been an extended amount of effort to try and minimize it from many different organizations. Nonetheless, there has still yet to be a significant impact on the amount of racism seen in football. Players of certain nationalities, ethnicities, and skin colors have continually been physically and verbally abused by fans, referees, and other players. Due to the subservient portrayal of blacks in media, many people believe themselves to be superior to those of darker skin, resulting in increased violence during mixed race football games. The racism in football has not only spread abroad from Europe, but it has plagued the sport as a whole. Institutions such as FIFA, The FA and UEFA have collaborated with smaller organizations such as FARE in several attempts at getting rid of the pandemic with campaigns such as Kick It Out, and Say No to Racism. Despite the wealth of evidence that suggests that they have made tremendous progress and that their partnerships have produced results, their critics claim that they haven’t done enough. They have complained about inconsistencies, unfairness and the lack of punishment. UEFA was specifically criticized because they did not acknowledge the fact that during one AC Milan versus Pro Patria, Kevin Prince-Boateng was racially abused by fans, which he later complained about for being intolerable and unspeakable (telegraph.co.uk). On the other hand, they fined Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner 80,000 Euros ($88,000) because he was wearing spandex with an unauthorized sponsorship on them and was also handed a one match ban (telegraph.co.uk). There is a clear inconsistency and an unfair punishment in this case, especially given that racism is the main problem and no action was taken, but someone was wearing an unauthorized sponsorship and they intervened to
It is the most common problem currently in the world of football, and there has been an extended amount of effort to try and minimize it from many different organizations. Nonetheless, there has still yet to be a significant impact on the amount of racism seen in football. Players of certain nationalities, ethnicities, and skin colors have continually been physically and verbally abused by fans, referees, and other players. Due to the subservient portrayal of blacks in media, many people believe themselves to be superior to those of darker skin, resulting in increased violence during mixed race football games. The racism in football has not only spread abroad from Europe, but it has plagued the sport as a whole. Institutions such as FIFA, The FA and UEFA have collaborated with smaller organizations such as FARE in several attempts at getting rid of the pandemic with campaigns such as Kick It Out, and Say No to Racism. Despite the wealth of evidence that suggests that they have made tremendous progress and that their partnerships have produced results, their critics claim that they haven’t done enough. They have complained about inconsistencies, unfairness and the lack of punishment. UEFA was specifically criticized because they did not acknowledge the fact that during one AC Milan versus Pro Patria, Kevin Prince-Boateng was racially abused by fans, which he later complained about for being intolerable and unspeakable (telegraph.co.uk). On the other hand, they fined Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner 80,000 Euros ($88,000) because he was wearing spandex with an unauthorized sponsorship on them and was also handed a one match ban (telegraph.co.uk). There is a clear inconsistency and an unfair punishment in this case, especially given that racism is the main problem and no action was taken, but someone was wearing an unauthorized sponsorship and they intervened to