British Parliamentary Committee to investigate racism in football

By Duncan Mackay

January 10 – A British Parliamentary Committee is investigate whether enough is being done to combat racism in football after incidents involving high-profile players, including England and Chelsea captain John Terry.

Terry, plus Liverpool’s Uruguay striker, Luis Suarez, have recently faced racism investigations after allegedly insulting opponents during matches.

“It is worrying that there does appear to have been a number of incidents recently,” Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairman John Whittingdale said.

“The hope that racism on and off the pitch in football was a thing of the past has been shaken by some of the incidents that have occurred.

“This is obviously something we regard very seriously.

“The Committee felt it was right to look at the whole issue to establish what is being done to counter [racism] and what more might be done.”

The House of Commons Committee hopes at a hearing on March 6 to hear evidence from people involved in the recent cases.

Terry is due to appear in court on February 1 to face a criminal charge after allegedly racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League match in October.

Also in October, Suarez was found by the English Football Association to have called Manchester United defender Patrice Evra “Negro” or “Negros” seven times, resulting in a seven-match ban and a £40,000 ($63,000/€48,000)

Liverpool was further condemned by anti-racism groups for allowing the squad and manager Kenny Dalglish to wear tee-shirts featuring Suarez’s picture in a show of solidarity ahead of a match.

In another case involving Liverpool last week, the 18-time English champions had to apologise to Oldham Athletic player Tom Adeyemi who was reduced to tears by insults from their fans during an FA Cup match at Anfield.

“It would be interesting [at the hearing] not just to hear from football administrators, but from players, ex-players and the clubs,” said Committee member Damian Collins.

“We are interested in finding out if there is a growing problem, an underlying problem, that’s been hidden or if those are one or two isolated events.

“A huge stride has been taken in the last 20-30 years to improve race relations in the UK…we are surprised this has come back in the way it has.”

Dalglish could be among those called to give evidence to the Committee.

“Although this session will not necessarily be restricted to football it will be the principle area of inquiry following the Suarez case and the concerns that have arisen from that,” said Collins.

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