Quite simply, Jason Roberts was
WRONG.
The kick it out campaign is being
undermined by a number of ill informed black footballers. Their motive is
justified, rightly outraged at a long list of racially motivated incidents in
football that have been met with a lack of action against the perpetrators. Yet
the kick it out campaign, Chaired by Lord Herman Ousley, a man who I have
spoken to about racism, has been the pioneer that transformed the dark days of
the 70’s and 80’s where the terraces were home to frequent monkey chants and
banana throwing, to the sport we all know and love today.
Their initiatives for the past two
decades have educated all parties within the game and although racism hasn’t
been completely eradicated, it has been abolished, exiled with just the
remnants of isolated incidents that do not reflect the majority of players,
officials and fans opinions towards players of ethnic minority.
The influx of black players during
the 70’s were initially met with confrontation that today’s generation could
not comprehend. The period saw incidents at Leeds United with fans dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes and
headgear during a visit for a match on the south coast, the burning of crosses
on Merseyside and the wholesale cacophony of monkey chants and belligerent
slogans directed towards black footballers.
The metropolitan teams, who resided from the inner sanctums of the
concrete jungles of England’s major cities, were more approving of black
players as opposed to the smaller northern townships. Townships does not refer
to the pitchfork obsessed, flame wielding, medieval hamlets seen in Brothers
Grim, Shakespeare and Shrek. But rather cities such as Leeds, Newcastle and
Liverpool where numbers of ethnic minority populations were considerably lower.
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| John Barnes kicks a banana off the pitch during a Liverpool game in 1980's |
The submissive
attitude of the likes of Brendan Batterson, John Barnes and Viv Anderson
towards racism during its earliest emergence is to be applauded and allowed
players to flourish in later years with a change in attitudes that slowly
emerged. Though In the event of a national game, it was a different story. Fans
bore the Union Jack as their iconic imperialist symbol as they were draped over
European stadiums. Racist insignia and
slogans had long been present at England matches abroad, but during a particular
game against France in the 1980’s, French TV cameras covering disturbances
dwelt on Union Jack flags carrying the identifiable insignia of the National Front.
Today the far right National Front and extremist KKK have all but dwindled
to an insignificant scar on society and the sport, replaced by peripheral
groups in substantially smaller numbers. Internationally, England are now one
of the front running beacon holders for anti racism, a testament to the work of
the rehabilitated nation. Yet the issue clearly still remains, incidents of
racism be it John Terry’s racist rant at Anton Ferdinand or a whole Serbian
capacity crowd, it has to be tackled on a duel front, domestically and overseas.
This weekend, catalysed by Jason Roberts midweek comments and subsequent
decision NOT to sport a “Kick It Out” T-shirt, the likes of Joleon Lescott and
both Rio and Anton Ferdinand followed in the footsteps of the Reading striker
in boycotting the initiative. In total, more than 30 players
from eight Premier League clubs chose not to support the campaign.
The freedom of any player
to support an initiative remains their own but there is an underlying problem
in this instance. Many will acknowledge the hypocrisy in handing an 8 match ban
to Luis Suarez and only a 4 game forbiddance to John Terry, both guilty of
racist comments during premier league games. But even this injustice is
outweighed furthermore by the £80,000 fine handed to Denmark’s Nicolas Bendtner
for displaying sponsored underwear during Euro 2012, twice as much as Luis
Suarez’s fine for racially abusing Patrice Evra. The disparity in punishments
is simply staggering.
Players seem to have a case. Yet the “Kick It Out” campaign is neither
responsible for the actions of players or fans, nor the independent findings of
any investigations, including into racist incidents. Their work as an
organisation and sole premise is to eradicate racism within the game, a cause
that needs supporting, not denouncing.
Perhaps players thought there was
no other way of demonstrating their frustrations, their outrage. Ironically by
not wearing the T-shirts, the issue has been catapulted into the news agenda, a
PR’s dream. Media coverage of the campaigns annually fortnight of action has
received more attention than the past 10 campaigns combined. The players who
participated in the boycott were ill informed and misdirected. The issue should
be with footballs governing body, FIFA and UEFA, two institutions that have
repeatedly turned a blind eye to Serbia’s disgusting deep rooted racism and the
wider issue as a whole.
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| Serbian Monkey Chants Aimed At England U21's Danny Rose |
Only until incidents such as those that led to the abuse against
Tottenham and England U21’s Danny Rose, is met with the toughest sanctions,
bans, fines and public denunciation, will all races, creeds, colours and
nationalities unify in the belief that nearly enough is being done. After
all achievement, has no colour.
Dale Moon. Kick It Out.
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