UEFA Efforts to Eliminate Racism

By Christos Kassimeris

Racism has long tarnished the game of football in quite a few European countries, though it seems that it has recently emerged with a new -– even uglier -– face, since a number of racist incidents now involve not only fans but players and officials as well. The apparent lack of ethos that characterizes a section of fans, predominantly, has certainly disturbed national and European football governing bodies alike. Nevertheless, their attempts to rid the popular game off all forms of discrimination have rarely been crowned with success. Even though some players and clubs have already been fined by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), racist incidents across the continent continue to blemish football. It is not surprising, therefore, that Michel Platini, President of UEFA, has condemned the phenomenon of racism in football on more than one occasion, ever since his election on January 2007, while also emphasizing UEFA’s commitment to secure a racism-free environment in all European stadiums. In this respect, it is important to note that his determination to combat racism in European football is likely to materialize following his latest statements. Platini recently declared that UEFA would openly support any referee’s decision to bring a football match to an abrupt end, after having consulted the match delegate, when fans engage in racist chanting or abuse a player in a similar fashion. For the record, Rene Temmink belongs to that rare breed of referees that took such action in a game between ADO Den Haag and PSV Eindhoven during the 2005-2006 Dutch football season. Such measures may, indeed, prove more successful than previous UEFA-sponsored tactics to eliminate racism from football, such as the Ten Point Plan of Action for Professional Football Clubs, intended to promote the participation of ethnic minority communities in football. In any case, Platini’s remarks should be treated with some skepticism. Unless referees are officially backed by UEFA the popular game will only suffer more, given that certain supporters of clubs may not hesitate to resort to racist abuse in order to halt a game that is likely to find their beloved team on the losing side. Hence, supporting such courageous referees should definitely be regarded as the starting point of what would be a promising anti-racism campaign in European football, but ‘support’ alone is clearly insufficient. It is essential that the actions of the men-in-black are followed by severe penalties imposed by the European governing body, regardless of the clubs’ record and status in national or continental competitions. Racism has no place in football and must be eliminated with effect.

Christos Kassimeris is assistant professor in political science and heads the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Cyprus College in Nicosia and author of European Football in Black and White: Tackling Racism in Football forthcoming in December 2007.

Comments

[enrichco]

no for racism, forever..