By Andrew Warshaw, in Mauritius
May 29 – The man leading the global fight to wipe racism out of football has confirmed that players and officials face five-match bans and that clubs and national teams face points deductions, stadium closures, relegation and being thrown out of competitions if found guilty of abuse.
Although FIFA has direct responsibility only for its own competitions, Task Force chairman Jeffrey Webb (pictured) wants all federations to follow suit at domestic level, if the resolution is adopted, and made clear they will not be allowed to arbitrarily impose weaker punishments.
Webb concedes that a majority of cases of racist abuse occur in domestic leagues rather than in FIFA competitions and recognises that cultures across the world are different and diverse.
Nevertheless, he said in the first of a two-part interview with Insideworldfootball, all national federations will be expected to apply the new measures by June 1 rather than implement their own procedures.
“Once this resolution is adopted by the Congress, it will mandate specific sanctions throughout every national association,” said Webb, President of CONCACAF and head of the Cayman Islands FA. “We recognise that to remove racism from football completely, it has to start with the clubs and the national associations. Where there is existing problems they must present us with a clear action plan as to how to stem racism.”
From September, revealed Webb, the Task Force will also set up a whistleblower hotline for anyone – whether player, official or fan – to come forward if they are a victim of racism or witness abuse during a game.
“I hope that if someone feels they are being targeted – or someone sees it in the stadium – and nothing subsequently happens at national association level, they will advise FIFA. Having a whistleblower hotline is something we are seriously looking at implementing. We are also going to be defining exactly what constitutes racism and discrimination because, it’s true, different countries have different cultures and standards.”
Although extra powers for referees, including taking players off the pitch as happened in a recent Serie A fixture, is not in Friday’s resolution, Webb says it will be discussed during the next phase of action.
“The resolution is all about sanctions. Some reports have suggested we are adopting the English FA’s five-match ban but this is not the case. What some people don’t realise is that FIFA’s own disciplinary code, which covers its various competitions, calls for five-match bans. It exists already per se but it needs to be mandated and rubber-stamped domestically across all 209 associations.”
Minimum sanctions for first offences and minor offenders will include warnings, fines and playing behind closed doors. Webb has been highly critical of some recent paltry penalties, notably Roma being fined €50,000 by the Italian FA. But he defends the concept of retaining warnings and fines. “It’s only fair because in some first-time offences, those involved have no track record for having had any problems before.”
The strictest part of the resolution affects re-offenders or serious incidents. In this case, says the resolution, “sanctions such as points deductions, expulsions from competitions or relegation shall apply. Furthermore, players and officials who commit such offences shall be suspended for at least five matches combined with a stadium ban.”
As part of the new arrangement, anti-discrimination experts will be on site at cherry-picked, high risk games to take the task of spotting racism away from referees.
Webb insists his new body will not hesitate to take unilateral action if clubs and national associations continue to impose small face-saving punishments that are not appropriate to the offense. “One of the key things we are seriously looking at is intervention to make sure the relevant sanctions are imposed.”
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