Racism in Foreign Soccer
Posted by dapple1 on October 8, 2006
There has been a long hard struggle in our nation to get rid of racism, and while it does still exist to some extent we have succeeded pretty well. It is really pretty rare to go to a sporting event in the US and here a crowd yell racial slurs at opposing players. Most likely your own team has several of their own minority players. Most of the top players in each sport are minorities. Tiger Woods, Lebron James or Dwayne Wade, Albert Pujols or David Ortiz or Ryan Howard or just about any other top MLB player, Donovan McNabb or any NFL running back. Take your pick, and there’s a good chance that he is probably African-American or Hispanic.
In Europe, they still have the problem. It would be a common sight to go to a professional game and hear the crowd insulting opposing players either because of the color of their skin or even their nationality. In Spain, one of Barcelona’s star players Eto’o threatened to walk off the field during a game because of the crowd’s insulting racial remarks (Eto’o is from Cameroon). This occurred in February of 2006. It is just one of numerous such occurrences that are occurring across Europe. Do a google search on racial incidents in soccer and you will find plenty of examples.
This past year there has been some work by FIFA and the UEFA governing bodies to try and crack down on fighting racism. Organizations such as “Kick it Out” and “FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe)” are also working to help fix the problem. It’s too bad the US lacks a good enough league that could possibly draw some of these players to play in the US where they could play without the ridicule.
