Racism in Football

Last week saw Uefa introduce a crackdown on racism. Michael Platini, president of Uefa, sent out a letter to referees and match officials, which detailed a zero-tolerance policy towards those guilty of racist behaviour.

The letter urges officials to “demonstrate no leniency whatsoever in the face of violent, racist or discriminatory behaviour” and expresses Platini’s desire to improve the tainted image of football. The zero-tolerance policy will see stewards searching stadiums prior to kick-off and during the match, looking for offensive banners or behaviour. As well as the letter from Platini, match referees and officials were presented with a handbook that explicitly depicts the symbols and phrases used by extremist groups.

The policy is the latest move from Uefa to combat racism. Since becoming president of the organisation, Platini has made it clear that fighting discriminatory behaviour is top of his agenda, stating that “we have an obligation to combat this phenomenon through demonstrations and development programmes”.

During the summer, Uefa introduced a new set of regulations governing discipline, which all teams at national and club level must obey. If clubs break these rules, they face a minimum fine of nearly £16,000. Fans of the club may also be prevented from watching the matches. This is not only annoying for the fans but can also have a detrimental impact upon the performance of the team, since most players are motivated, to some extent, by the crowd.

Furthermore, if a club repeatedly offends, they may be docked points and, in extreme cases, may be disqualified from the competition. Prior to the start of Euro 2008, Platini also encouraged referees to stop matches in the event of an incident of racism or discriminatory behaviour.

The latest steps from Uefa were timed to coincide with the return of the Champions League and are especially relevant given the recent abuse of Emile Heskey at the hands of racist Croatian football fans. The FA lodged an official complaint with Fifa following the behaviour of sections of the crowd at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb. Heskey, who had to endure monkey chants throughout the World Cup qualifying match, has been the victim of racist behaviour before whilst playing for his country.

Perhaps the most shocking examples of such behaviour came during the England friendly against Spain in 2004. Every time England’s black players, including Heskey, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Ashley Cole, touched the ball, they were taunted with horrendous racist chants. The Spanish Football Federation was fined £44,750 by Fifa and the organisation warned that repeat abuse would be dealt with seriously.

This punishment was seen as far too lenient by many, including Kick It Out, the anti-racism campaign group. Piara Powar, the director of Kick It Out, was quoted at the time as saying “this is no worse than a slap on the wrist...The Spanish FA have been given a yellow card, not the red that many would have expected”.

Given the criticism levelled at Fifa in the past, as well as the new approach from Uefa, it will be interesting to see how they respond to this latest incident.

Written by Charlotte Cook