Before anybody starts throwing stones, let me clarify: there is no racism in English football only. But there is racism in England as a whole.
The most recent uproar, so very fake in many a corner of English society, about Chelsea fans behaving like low-life in Paris, while others engaged in racist chants upon arrival at St. Pancras, is dishonest to the core.
Haven’t we all heard the beer-fuelled racist “jokes” at the local pub? Haven’t we all witnessed the “maladroit” slip-ups, disguised as toff “bonmots” at the poshest of dinner parties? Are we really going to blame, as is the favourite pastime of the (rapidly disappearing) upper classes, the uneducated working class for being racist, xenophobic and worse? Does somebody really want to proclaim complete ignorance to the permanent “faux-pas” of a certain political party that rides on the waves of “let’s blame them” (because we cannot possibly be wrong, can we now), at a time when the economy is allegedly doing great, except that the vast majority does not appear to notice?
As this web magazine has stated on several earlier occasions, racism in England is by no means a “football matter”. Only some half-wits at a London radio station (that is often so right-wing that next to it there is but a precipice) would make us all believe that all is good in Britannia and racism is a thing of the past. That is not so.
Over the past few years, racism directed at the “black” members of society was joined by an increasing number of vociferous anti-Muslim apostles, and those morons who feel that every Jew in Britain is personally responsible for what Israel – a state, not a religion – is doing or not doing in Gaza or Palestine.
It has always been easier to blame minorities, particularly when the majority is doing badly. Be that economically, financially, politically or socially – or all of the above.
Racism is the result of so many societal factors that books have been written about it, movies made about it (an important one, in the cinemas at present, is ‘Selma’), and debates have been organised about it up and down the country.
But nothing has changed. Not a thing, actually.
Things are getting worse, and that has nothing to do with football.
Things are getting worse because the uneducated idiots who sing their nasty songs (be that about blacks or Jews or any other minority) are now quite openly joined by what one would have to assume are “educated folk”, who purposely point the finger, no, not at themselves for having miserably failed to run a proper economy and society, but at those, who really can’t do a thing about what the white supremacy has created: dismal failure everywhere in Europe.
Racism in football is merely a symptom of a rotting segment of society and the intent of those who call the shots to blame others for their own incompetence.
Football is a perfect scapegoat, not more and not less: a sport that is predominantly enjoyed, followed and cherished by the (vastly underprivileged) masses around the globe, while controlled by the very same people who control those masses, this sport will always be easy prey to those who have a dirty agenda or who want to divert attention from other, more sinister things in the offing.
Football is indeed a perfect target for all sorts of hypocrites who gladly forget real, massive and global corruption scandals that generate hundreds of millions in bribes for influence peddling, and rather focus on a sport that is largely badly managed by people who have no idea of corporate conduct and governance, but who have the access required to run a club, an FA or a regional and global body.
So, here we have it: everyone jumps on the bandwagon – no: not everyone, some have kept their cool and refused to entertain that idiotic mantra about mainly football being racist – and dishonestly declare that racism must be banned from football.
No. Racism must be banned from society. And until that happens, many more black youths will be shot dead by rogue cops simply because they are black, and also because the cops will always get away with it.
Or, as Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s much hated president said in a speech provocatively: “Racism will never end as long as white cars will use black tires, as long as we still wash first white clothes, then other colours later; as long as people still use black to symbolize bad luck and white for peace. Racism will never end if people still wear white clothes to a wedding and black clothes to the funerals. Racism will never end as long as those who don’t pay their bills are blacklisted, not whitelisted. Even when playing snooker, you haven’t won until you sink the black ball and the white ball must remain on the field. But I don’t care as long as I am using white toilet paper to wipe my…”
He’s got a point, old Mr Mugabe.
Only a handful years before Qatar became independent from Imperial Britain, another event, more relevant, graced the New World: in the very late sixties, black people were allowed to vote and finally had access to their constitutional right. Well, kind of. For all those who forgot, or those who are too young to know (inexcusably), the above mentioned film ‘Selma’ (typically, it’s got its Oscar not for what it stands for or the exceptional acting of its lead characters but for the music: remember, black people run fast, dance well and do music) depicts a scene that has remained the same ever since, although in somewhat milder variations: despite having the right to vote, an older black woman returned to the County Court House to register as a voter. She went there for a second time after the clerk found fault with some of her application on her first visit. This time, she was certain she had filled in everything correctly. And she had. But this time the white boy behind the counter asked her to recite the preamble to the US Constitution. No matter how unlawful that request was, she did. The increasingly agitated clerk then demanded to know how many County Judges there were in her part of Louisiana. That too, she answered correctly. The scene ends with the clerk saying: “Name them!”
As long as we pay lip-service to equality, as long as our Western societies continue to treat citizens of a different creed, skin colour or political belief with insurmountable disdain, as long as the white man treats the black man no differently than he has treated him for hundreds of years, i.e. with utter disrespect, and as long as the thickest in society, the dumbest in the West and the most fascist do not accept that there is but one race on this lowly planet, the human race, scenes like those in Paris will not be the exception but the norm.
INSIDE Editorial is Insideworldfootball’s comment on the politics and the business of football in a world that isn’t always quite what it seems. Its intention is to be thought provoking and challenging. It is often irreverent and frequently hits where it hurts – the truth often does. It is usually filed by the Editor-in-Chief. From time to time, opinions of the editorial board are summarised and occasionally, an Op-Ed piece by an invited guest writer is published. Since the INSIDE Editorial reflects our own views, it is not signed each time, except if an outside guest pens an Op-Ed piece.