Action has to be taken over Silva’s tweet but the FA response to racism by fans suggests it has not grasped the big pictureLast Saturday, as the players came out before the home game against Manchester City, Everton’s fans unveiled an enormous flag bearing the face of Moise Kean and the slogan “no al razzismo” – no to racism. On Wednesday the Football Association charged the City midfielder Bernardo Silva with misconduct, relating to a tweet he published comparing a childhood picture of his teammate Benjamin Mendy to the cartoon used as a logo by the Spanish chocolate brand Conguitos. Everton’s banner impressed me as an example of purposeful action that might change behaviour and make racism less prevalent in...
If the scourge of the game is to be stamped out, then Fifa cannot be soft on transgressorsL ast Monday Fifa’s The Best football awards were held at La Scala opera house in Milan. It was, as usual, an excruciating affair, full of turgid speeches and embarrassing links by the presenters. But amid this face-reddening fanfare the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, appealed to the audience of football celebrities on a serious matter. He noted that there had been another episode of racism in Italian football at the weekend and declared: “We have to say no to racism in whatever form.”A short while later, Megan Rapinoe, winner of the women’s player of the year award, ribbed Infantino for stealing her...
If stadiums begin to be closed because of racist chanting then that could bring about the end of abuse for players in grounds at leastAt the end of last week the bookmaker Paddy Power published a tweet which contrasted the £10,000 fine given by the Football Association to Millwall in August for their fans’ racist chanting with the £50,000 fine imposed on Huddersfield Town for wearing an oversized sponsor’s logo on their kit in a pre-season friendly. I retweeted it, suggesting that Millwall’s minuscule fine would make no impact on the behaviour of fans at a club already synonymous with racism.What followed was a barrage of personal abuse from Millwall fans, some insisting I was unfair to suggest they all...
The pundit may not have meant any harm but he strayed into hurtful territory when speculating on Moise Kean’s characterMany years ago I was a told a joke that, looking back, could well have been my first experience of racial stereotyping. I can’t remember who said it, or exactly how old I was, but it has lived with me ever since.“What do you call a black man in a suit? Guilty.” Continue reading...
Reactions to the social-media boycott show the players’ union still has much to do to win over sceptics and persuade Twitter et al to actIt wasn’t easy at first to know what to make of the Professional Footballers’ Association’s #enough campaign. It was difficult to be sure if it was genuinely the work of its equalities team or an idea dreamt up by a PR agency. A suspicious mind might have wondered whether the relevant people needed some positive publicity after all that unfortunate business with Gordon Taylor and, even if you were willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, I couldn’t help but feel they were pushing their luck to think a 24-hour boycott of social media,...