Football is a cash cow and the main reason nothing will get done. Its run primarily by television companys and although a walk off would give them a big news story for a week, the bigger issue for them and sponsors would be their scheduling.
Also like everything else wrong in the game football fans are uncomfortable with looking at ethical matters with the sport.
They want their fix and dont want anything getting in the way of it. Try this for an idea if the authorities are not going to impose bans. How about the fans boycott games in solidarity with the black players then. Lets see how outraged fans really are or not.
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There are a lot of dumbasses in society and it will be hard to get rid of it entirely. But, a lot of progress can be made through education and standing up for those around us who are experiencing racism, sexism or any negative -ism.
Itās 2019 and we donāt seem to be moving forward in the slightest. At the moment racism is āpunishedā with a small fine and if the culprits can be identified theyāll get a ban.
Meanwhile the sportsmen continue to be abused and are just expected to accept it ā FIFA and UEFA protocol is as follows: āSpeak to the referee who in turn speaks to the fourth official and a PA announcement is made warning abusive fans to stopā. This protocol is mild at best and clearly doesnāt work. In recent times for example Muntari and Balotelli have both been booked for bothering the referee by complaining about the racist chanting in the stands.
I read an article where they used the line āIf you do what you always do, youāll get what you always get.ā So perhaps something different needs to be done. Maybe the players need to take matters into their own hands seeing as the governing bodies donāt seem to give it the attention it deserves.
Itās all well and good letting their football do the talking, but why should they have to just ignore the goings on in the stand? Why should they keep smiling? Itās not on. They should have the right to leave the field of play without facing retrospective punishment ā maybe this would be better if there was team solidarity (take note Bonucci).
Either way, itās quite frankly ridiculous that this is still a problem and that the governing bodies arenāt doing more to protect its people. Danny Roseās comments are especially damning ā itās shameful that the situation has got so bad he canāt wait to be away from the game he loves. Incredibly sad.
Lost any sympathy when I read āBut when countries only get fined what Iād probably spend on a night out in London what do you expect?ā While the racism is wrong I think heās coming across as precious. He has the best job in the world, 1 of the best paid jobs in the world and heās whinning that life as a footballer is so hard because he gets a bit of verbal abuse from rival fans.
I think a club having its live home matches being withdrawn would be worth a look. Lose a lot of revenue and potential sponsorship which should force a club to treat this problem with a bit more urgency.
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Makes total sense. Heās rich, has one of the best jobs in the world so he should take racial abuse on the chin and just crack on with it.
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John Barnes is right.
How can we expect racism in football to decrease when racism in general is increasing?
Football does not exist in a vacuum.
I think everyone is trying to make the biggest thing they can out of every fucking racist call nowadays as if everyday whistleblowing has become your duty as a good Orwellian citizen, to the point where almost all I see nowadays are people around me doing exactly everything they fucking can to create more division and produce as much conflict as possible, disguised as taking responsibility for pointing out hidden racism.
Bonucci is not a racist for making this comment lol Iām sure if everyone put their hayforks down theyāll realise he is a bit of an idiot for making a dumb comment, but the comment doesnāt make him a racist for fucks sake. Youāve lost the plot. There is a difference between using dumb arguments that sound racist and being a racist. The people going around to games chanting racist shit at players everytime they touch the ball and are publicly proud of it, are racist. It seems everyone is forgetting that.
Bonucci stating that well itās 50/50 your own fault when you put in the effort to taunt them back when you score is a dumb statement. Clearly. Since it can be understood as if Kean is to blame for the racism. Iām also pretty sure that if you asked Bonucci āis that what you meanā heād say of course not. If anyone was interested in that whatsoever. Everyone who isnāt intellectually challenged understand that he probably meant that one of the 50% of the situation arises from the dumb arse racism, the other 50% is how it is taunted. Regardless of morals, it is just cause and effect. No blame game, and Bonucci as a public figure made a dumb public statement.
Iām sure everyone who took to the torches and hayforks understood that as well but were overwhelmed with the need to publicly take as much of a stand as possible against this and make as big of a thing out of it as possible, which is something I feel has gone completely overboard nowadays. Itās getting counter-productive. Itās fine ofc. to point out to Bonucci that it sounds stupid and Iām sure heāll agree. Thatās what youād do if you were actually trying to sort things out and would prefer to de-escalate things rather than to escalate them. Since the actual racists are standing somewhere else now while you focus on the wrong thing entirely. Theyāre probably laughing their arses off right now at everyone going after Bonucci instead lol
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The whole point of that comment was to demonstrate that the punishment being handed out for racism is ineffective and not anywhere close to enough. I donāt know how you missed that. He aware of the vast wealth that is in the game and that fines are really ineffective (Hence why he finished it with āwhat do you expect?ā)
In regards to the āwhiningā hereās the thing, racism is pretty damn hurtful. Itās a lot more than just āverbal abuseā.
I donāt want to be dismissive of an idea like this or of others floating around such as deducting points, but I feel as if this wouldnāt necessarily be the right approach.
If there is a stadium of 50,000 people and 10 of them engage in this behaviour during a match, then this kind of punishment ensures that the actions of a very small group of idiots could have major consequences for everyone else, simply because they support the same club. You could also have the potential of opposition fans disguising themselves as home fans of the other club and hurling abuse at the players in an attempt to sink the club they donāt like.
I agree that the clubs need to do something, but in your opinion what is it? Iām not sure exactly and I think closing stadiums down in response to the chanting is a totally extreme measure given that invariably, 95% or more of the people in these grounds donāt abuse the players.
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This exact point seems to be lost on so many people. The amount of ex pros or commentators Iāve watched recently who make statements such as āfootball has problem with racism, itās increasing in our gameā, but fail to recognize that the behaviour of these people in the stands is a symptom of wider society. It has absolutely nothing to do with the game.
Football is such a powerful thing that connects all kinds of people from all over the world so itās disheartening to see this at so many grounds, but football unfortunately isnāt big enough to address this problem on its own. Not even close.
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Exactlyā¦ why penalize the majority when there are only a few doing wrong??
Yeah thatās the issue. Obviously if there arenāt any fans at all then thereās no racism, but surely theres a better ways of identifying individuals who may threaten to abuse players and getting them out of the stadium than banning everyone altogether.
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Which is exactly why people feel like it should be leading the way on this type of thing rather than pay lip service to it which is all these small fines are. Itās a tough call to say exactly where the line of responsibility begins and ends but what I think is beyond dispute is that football as a whole does little to counteract it.
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Oh I definitely agree that more should be done than currently is in football, but my main point was that these issues originate outside of the game and simply tackling them within the confines of a football stadium isnāt going to actually help solve the wider problem.
No argument on that front but Roses interview is in the context of within those confines as is the power of the associations in question.
Allowing racism to thrive is essentially a failing of a club or FA for international games. I think stadium bans would be very effective for clubs where thereās been numerous incidents.
People in the stands will do a better job and pointing out racists and clubs will take more effective action from the ground up
Can you tell me how you stop those selfish people just saying whatever they want, and the club/stadium can prevent?
If there is an effective way to prevent this, and the club/stadium refuse to do so, then I agree that certain punishment is reasonable.
If there is no way to prevent it, why the club/stadium and the innocents have to be punished?
Ideally with a stadium ban youād hope to foster an environment in the stands where honest fans who just want to watch cooperate with stewards to identify racists and have them ejected in a speedy fashion. I think the threat of stadium bans will compel honest staff and supporters to be more vigilant for racism
There are certain levels to this though. Iād say in the worse offending clubs Iād have outright bans until club can show positive changes are being made. That means better training and awareness of their Stewards, better facilities in the ground to identify offenders during and after the match and maybe educational courses for offenders. Then Iād allow club to gradually increase their capacity depending on their progress.
Clubs will comply because Matchday revenue equates to a high % of income throughout a season.
Racism at football is a reflection of a larger societal issue that will take years to cure, however if you want to stop racism in football grounds immediately this is the most effective method.
āThe only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.ā - Edmund Burke