Racism in European Soccer-AKK

One of the primary reasons I decided to write about this issue is because just yesterday I came across an article that said during AC Milan’s match with Napoli, Mario Balotelli, who is one of the best soccer players at just the age of 23, started to tear up after being subbed off the field. The first reports were that he was crying because he was the target of racial abuse by Napoli’s fans. However, Napoli later released a statement saying that there was no racial abuse and now the speculation is that he was crying because it has been an emotional week for him because he just found out he is the father of a little girl.

The other reason I decided to write about this issue is because there are not many people on this side of the world, especially in the United States, who are aware of the issues of racism in European soccer. I think the reason is because we never hear or see any incidents, where players are racially abused on the field, with the professional sports in the U.S. So I’m writing this to inform you of some of the incidents where players are subjects to racial abuse and how much racism there really is in European soccer.

Even though there may not have been any racial abuse directed towards Balotelli, he has been the target of racial abuse on numerous occasions. Last May in a home match against Roma, Roma’s travelling fans directed monkey to chants to him and the other black players on AC Milan. Things got so out of hand that the referee had to temporarily stop the match in the 2^nd half and issue a warning to those fans over the stadium’s PA system. Serie A, which is the league that these teams are in, and the most premier league in Italy, is arguably the place in Europe where the most racial abuse occurs. Inter Milan, another club in Serie A, in February were fined $65,000 after their fans racially abused Balotelli, who was a former player of the club, even though just a few weeks before fans of Inter Milan were fined $26,000 for once again racially abusing Balotelli. These are just a few recent examples, but there are plenty of other incidents where clubs are fined or fans are arrested due to racial abuse not only in Italy, but in other countries as well.

The incidents mentioned in the paragraph above all take place after an event that could end up being a defining moment in the fight against racism, which took place in January 2013. This event is what ultimately led me to have in interest in this subject matter and it’s something that I will most likely remember for the rest of my life.

What happened is that Kevin-Prince Boateng, who at the time was also, like Balotelli, a member of AC Milan, was participating in a friendly match (similar to a preseason game, doesn't count) when he decided to walk off the pitch just after 25 minutes because of the racial abuse by opposing fans. First, players from each side tried to convince him to stay on the pitch, but the captain of Milan instructed the rest of the team to walk off the pitch also in order to show support for Boateng. The reason this was such a big deal because it was the first time in soccer history where an entire team left the pitch and caused a game to be halted. Boateng actually wore this shirt before his next game. After seeing that incident, Boateng became my favorite player because not only is he one of the top players in the world, but this was an act of bravery and I think that he helped stand up for colored people all over the world.

After reading about these incidents, I wondered if FIFA was doing its job and trying to put a stop to racism in its sport. I knew that there was a Say No to Racism campaign, but other than that I had no other knowledge I found out that Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, and his organization are taking steps in a positive direction to try to put a stop to racism in soccer and they have set up harsh penalties, which can be seen here, for fans or clubs who offend the penalties. I also found out that the fans who were racially abusing Boateng were issued jail sentences ranging from 40 days to two months.    

As I said before, these are just some of the incidents of soccer players being racially abused, but if you want to look into this issue more, I would definitely recommend watching this video. Hopefully, sometime in the future players will stop being racially abused and we can just enjoy watching the game be played.