Blog Post #4 Caleb Pruett
Thomas Caleb Pruett
4/28/2022
Prof. Jenkins
American Gov. & Politics Blog Post #4
Racism Within World Futbol (Soccer)
July 11, 2021, in Wembley England, was supposed to be a glorious day for all English soccer fans. This was supposed to be a day that would go down in history for breaking the drought of international trophies for the English national team since their last world cup win in 1966. Despite so much potential within the team in the years following that victory England just could not quite seem to grasp that elusive national tournament trophy. They had come close on many different occasions like in the 2018 world cup where they lost in the semi-finals to finalists Croatia, despite all this potential they never could deliver on the big day. It was at the 2020 European Nations tournament that England came closest. After a slow start against neighboring country Scotland in a 0-0 draw, England ramped up a level and started on a hot streak of victories. These victories carried them to the championship game against the seemingly unstoppable Italian squad. The stage had been set for the iconic Wembley stadium in England of all places, the country where the game of soccer was born. Right from the get-go, England was off to a blazing start with Luke Shaw scoring in the 2nd minute of the game. However, this lead was short-lived for England supporters everywhere with Italian captain Leonardo Bonnucci equalizing and setting the game up for extra-time after regulation and the eventual penalty shootout to follow.
It was in this penalty shootout that England would expose the so-called “rotten underbelly of English football”. English squad members, Marcus Rashford, Jaden Sancho, and Bakayo Saka, were in charge of taking the final kicks to decide the victors of the tournament. It just so happened that these three players were three young black men as well, a fact that would shortly overshadow any other major headline coming out of the game. The three teammates would all go on to miss their kicks ultimately handing the victory to the Italian squad and causing England to yet again miss out on a trophy. Almost immediately after the game ended social media erupted, bombarding the trio with despicable racist remarks about the color of their skin. This is sadly one instance of many throughout the history of the game where racism shows that it is soccer’s greatest demon.
Soccer has been facing the immense issue of racism for decades. It is not just an issue that plagues England but the entire soccer community across the globe. Most remarkably Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and France have all had notable cases of football players being abused because of the color of their skin. On August 3rd, Zenit St. Petersburg displayed a banner in the stands that was directed at a new signing of a Brazilian black man ‘Malcom’ that stated black players are not welcome at the club. The sign read “RIP Section 12”, a reference to a manifesto created by some extremist supporters that discouraged the club from having black players. Following the match, the fans made a statement claiming, “We are not racist and for us, the absence of black players is just an important tradition”.
On April 2nd, Juventus (Italian league team) striker Moise Kean, was racially abused by Cagliari fans after scoring a goal. In the post-match interview with Juventus player, Leonardo Bonnucci commented that Moise Kean was 50/50 to blame for the racist remarks made towards him. Only later did Bonnucci backtrack on Instagram stating that he was “misunderstood”. In Italy that same year, Brecia FC’s forward Mario Balotelli thumped the ball into the stands and threatened to leave the match after monkey chants were directed at him. Verona FC’s boss Ivan Juric’s only remark on the incident was that the chants were nothing more than “whistling and teasing”.
The list of racist events that have taken place within the beautiful game of soccer over the past decades goes on and on. There are many problems within the sport that much of the world has come to know and love from corruption, rules, scandals, and more, but there is no greater issue in this sport and the world than racism. Black players across the world and officials have taken a stand to end racism as a whole, proposing ideas like deducting points from the opposition in the case of racism. However, the only true way to end racism within the sport is to make statements, promises and then act on those promises to enforce strict rules and regulations against racism. Racism is a worldwide issue in every regard and can only be stopped when the world as a whole realizes that regardless of skin color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin we are the same and equally important.