This Is The Last…

The following issue has been eating at me for awhile now. Racism is more prevalent in the world of football (soccer) than you might be aware of. It’s not just an unspoken thing which people demonstrate at “happy hour at the bar with their closest associates and friends.” It’s blatant and disgusting!

In Rio De Janeiro, Brazil a football player was recently suspended for it. The Sports Justice Tribunal punished Juventude defender Antonio Carlos (white player) for “moral offences” against Grenio’s Jeovanio (black player) on March 5th. Antonio was expelled from the game for a foul against Jeovanio and as he walked off the field shouted the word “MONKEY” as he rubbed his hand over his skin.

Antonio was suspended for a total of 120 days though this hardly seems severe enough when the maximum punishment is 540 days. In a television interview Jeovanio said, “From what I can see, you’ll do much better if you punch a player in the face than if you’re a victim of discrimination.” It’s difficult to be excited about these kinds of punishments because the words “at least” and “finally” come to mind as if we should feel satisfied whenever someone shows even the slightest sign of empathy and outrage.

This is not an isolated incident. Racism has been a constant presence in the world of football. For intance it’s common for anti-Semitic groups in Argentina to wave swastika flags at football games despite the fact and probably because there is a large Jewish population in Argentina. During football matches in Spain visiting black players will often hear racist chanting from the fans.

In our comfortable little world anytime someone displays such ignorance the word vile is usually the common consensus. So think of how apauling it is that all those people chant racist insults in agreement with one another. I can’t even begin to process the idea of standing in the middle of a stadium and having the force of hundreds of voices attack me. Just the thought of it makes me want to vomit.

Players have literaly been taunted to tears by football audiences. Think of how crushing the image of a grown crying man is. If you don’t see that as a big deal just think back to when you saw your father cry for the first time. Remember the amount of confusion and hopelessness you felt; for me it was as if the Earth cracked in half.

“Finally” it seems as though FIFA (Federacion Internationale de Football Association) is taking action by passing an anti-racism legislation that could exclude teams for up to two years for violations. FIFA’s spokesman Andreas Herren has said that it applies to all competitions throughout the world at any level for any matches of any kind. This passed two days after the European Parliament declared that all football clubs whose members or players committed racist acts would be excluded from competition.

Yes, I know it sounds as if this is an issue of yester-year but just so you get an idea of how real this is, just 17 months ago in an interview a Spanish coach non-chalantly used racist language to describe Arsenal’s striker Thierry Henry. Earlier this year Argentinian player Leandro Desabato was arrested for racially sledging a Brazilian player.

Legendary football player Diego Maradona publicly stated he was incensed over the incident. If you can believe it, his anger was actually caused by Leandro’s arrest, not by his behavior. He said that in the heat of the moment a player will say anything to get on top of his opponent and went so far as to advise Brazil to combat racism elsewhere in society. I am in shock that he wasn’t afraid to openly make that comment on a televison interview. What a wake up call that is!

Stories like this remind us that the worlds view on racism isn’t as forward as we naively expect it to be. This isn’t just a problem in football or just in sports for that matter. This is an epidemic spreading in all walks of life. How much of it are we willing to take part of? For the most part everyone reading this probably doesn’t yell out racist words in public. We probably aren’t physically violent towards someone of a different race. We most likely don’t think of ourselves as racist in the least but what about those innocent “jokes” that get tossed around among close friends. You know the kind, the “don’t be so sensitive, it’s just a joke” kind. “It’s just a joke”…I wonder if that explanation would work for those victimized football players.

Ok so maybe it doesn’t come from a malicious place maybe it is just a joke. Do you honsetly believe we live in a world enlighted enough to guarantee those jokes are just jokes? When does laughing too much or too hard mean something more? What’s the difference between the same joke at a clan meeting and in your living room? Who gave you the right to draw that distinction? What if you’re just the person chuckling, are you just laughing or are you agreeing with something?

I am not pointing fingers at anyone because I know I have been guilty. I am just hoping that the next time the opportunity for any of us to take a stand against racism presents itself we can make the right choice. It isn’t enough to raise an eyebrow to this kind of mental disease, it must be eradicated. The only way to achieve that is to have no tolerance whatsoever to it. Even if it is just the small gesture of not laughing at one of those “jokes”.