As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, a small group of Chelsea “fans” have been caught on camera appearing to racially insult a Parisian in his home city. This minority have worsened the already tarnished reputation of Chelsea supporters, but it is worth noting there has been absolute condemnation of the wrongdoers by the fans and the club. Chelsea released this statement on Wednesday morning:
“Such behaviour is abhorrent and has no place in football or society. We will support any criminal action against those involved in such behaviour, and should evidence point to the involvement of Chelsea season ticket holders or members the club will take the strongest possible action against them including banning orders.”
This is the kind of response we were all hoping for after watching the video, I can only pray that the offenders will receive lifetime bans from Stamford Bridge, and criminal sentencing seems absolutely logical if the thugs can be identified.
However, this is just one example of racism in football and it highlights an issue that needs addressing. We tend to bury our head in the sand over the existence of the r-word in English football, the FA have not been at all proactive when it comes to tackling racism and they thus feel pressured into taking action at the slightest suggestion of it in our game.
Our captain John Terry is a perfect example of this. Terry is not a racist, let’s get that absolutely clear (as if it wasn’t already). Did he racially abuse Anton Ferdinand? There’s no way to know for sure. The words that can be lip-read are “black c**t”; but the rest of the sentence was blocked out by a players head. In a criminal court, he was found not guilty due to insufficient evidence. There was the suggestion that he in fact told Ferdinand “I didn’t call you a black c**nt, I called you a c**t” – of course it is hard to tell as the view is obstructed.
“The Football Association charged Mr Terry on Friday 27 July 2012 with using abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Queens Park Rangers’ Anton Ferdinand and which included a reference to colour and/or race contrary to FA Rule E3 [2] in relation to the Queens Park Rangers FC versus Chelsea FC fixture at Loftus Road on 23 October 2011.”
The FA of require less evidence to act than you need for a criminal conviction, but for me their ruling against John Terry was seriously flawed. I try to look at this completely impartially and am open to the possibility that he did say something racially abusive to Ferdinand, but the FA’s lack of pro activity effectively ended his England career. Because they were losing the fight against racism in English football, they needed to be seen to take action and John Terry was made an example of. He’s had to live with that brand since he received a £220,000 fine and four match ban back in 2012.
A similar incident occurred with Luis Suarez in 2011, where he was accused of racially abusing Patrice Evra, and so banned for 8 games and hit with a £40,000 fine. Worth noting that’s a 4 game and £180,000 difference in punishment for virtually the same offence. Once more, the harsh ban could be due to the FA wanting to show they are actively doing something to punish Suarez, who had recently charged for improper conduct by the FA after a hand gesture he showed to the Fulham fans.
In response to the FA’s ruling against Suarez the chairman of anti-racism group Kick It Out, Lord Ouseley, said: “The FA has shown leadership and intent through what has clearly been a difficult and complex complaint to deal with, and invested time and expertise to ensure this outcome.”
“leadership and inent” how absolutely bizarre. It appears the FA were making it up as they go along, with no clear quota as to how they were going to deal with these kind of incidents. They needed to make an example out of somebody, Luis Suarez and John Terry were fed to the wolves. Once more, both of these players could be guilty of acting in a racially abusive manner but the manner in which the FA dealt with them highlighted a frightening flaw.
The actions of a few Chelsea fans disgraced the entire fanbase. The FA and the PFA have released statements condemning them, and I’m sure that’ll help them sleep at night – but we need to face up to the issue of racism, not ignore it. “there is no racism in football” said José Mourinho in October 2014, I wonder how he’d react if you asked him about it today. Ignorance is bliss, but we can’t allow the greatest league on Earth be spoiled by a disease from another era.
