Racism in football: 'Problems still exist at grassroots level'
WARNING: The article
below contains language of a racial nature.
An MP who led a taskforce on racism in football for the
Football Association says "very little progress" has been made in tackling the
problem at grassroots level.
Labour MP John Mann, speaking to 5 Live Investigates, says complaints he
regularly receives from black, Asian and Jewish players make him doubt the Prime
Minister's claim that Britain has led the world in kicking racism out of
football. The English FA says much has been achieved in making football "safe for all and free from abuse and discrimination", but it recognises there are many challenges still to be faced.
It has revealed there were 144 incidents of misconduct in which racism was an aggravating factor during the 2011-2012 season.
That total is for all levels of the English game, and includes both of the high-profile Premier League incidents for which John Terry and Luis Suarez were given suspensions. But most of the cases were at grassroots level and investigated by the county FAs.
Players, coaches and anti-racism campaigners who spoke to 5 Live Investigates feel the figure does not reflect the true scale of the problem.
Colin King from the Black and Asian Coaches Association says his organisation's 600 members report at least three cases of racism a week, "…from being called things like 'Paki', to the 'N-word'. We've still got the monkey-shouting that takes place from parents and other managers as well. I do park football every week and I see racial abuse consistently."
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“"The abuse is sometimes seen as part and parcel of the game. It can be a bit like the Wild West, playing grassroots football in certain areas." ”Danny Lynch, Kick It Out
Butch Fazal, who chairs the British Asian Football
Forum, says he is aware of three incidents of racism in the past three weeks.
One involved the under-15s team which he coaches in Luton, as he and the
opposition coach were checking the photos on players' registration cards before
a match.
Mr Fazal says he was told: "I don't know why I bothered checking those, they
all look the same." The matter was reported to the Bedfordshire County FA which
ordered the opposition coach to do a race awareness workshop at his own expense.
But in many cases, it seems, incidents are not being reported to the authorities. Danny Lynch from the anti-racism campaign group Kick It Out says players and coaches do not speak out because of a lack of confidence in the complaints procedure.
"Our job is made a little bit harder by the culture of grassroots football that seems to be 'get your head down, get on with it'," said Lynch. "The abuse is sometimes seen as part and parcel of the game. It can be a bit like the Wild West, playing grassroots football in certain areas."
Parts of South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, Lancashire and Hertfordshire were identified as problem areas for racism in grassroots football by Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire.
He spent 18 months chairing a task force for the FA on Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in football. He found evidence of "sustained abuse" of players from ethnic minority groups and he, too, noticed a reluctance to report incidents of racism.
"I was astonished how players getting abused every single week were not complaining and felt there was no purpose in complaining," said Mann. "In any other part of British society that kind of abuse would not be accepted."
In his report to the FA in January 2010, Mann recommended the setting up of an independent tribunal for racism and discrimination cases in football, red cards for abusive parents at junior matches and a simpler system of reporting racist incidents for referees.
He says none of these proposals has been acted upon. While he praises the efforts of the FA's leadership to tackle racism, he feels they are powerless to bring about change at grassroots level because of the attitude of some local administrators.
In a statement, the English FA said: "We recognise there is under-reporting of incidents of racism and discrimination in the game. We encourage those who feel they have been discriminated against to report their concerns. We are determined to provide an inclusive football experience for anyone who wishes to play or support English football."
The FA of Wales has held disciplinary hearings into four cases of alleged racist abuse since 2007. The Scottish FA and FA of Ireland do not collate figures for incidents of racism.
David Cameron and the Sports Minister, Hugh Robertson, have held meetings with stakeholders in football to discuss the issue of racism.
A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: "We are in dialogue with the football authorities about further steps to tackle racism in the game and expect to hear a way forward from them in the coming weeks."
KICK IT OUT RACISM FROM FOOTBALL
Neil Ashton: Player protests cause damaging divisions in the game
By Neil Ashton|
On Friday night the mobile phones of players across the country were buzzing as they swapped text messages: Who is in and who is out?
Rio Ferdinand’s decision to abandon the Kick It Out campaign, in direct contravention of Sir Alex Ferguson’s instructions, is only one part of a growing discontent among some of the game’s leading black players.
It is a movement fuelled by a sense of grievance. On Saturday, Jason Roberts and players from Swansea and Wigan pointedly refused to wear T-shirts in support of the Kick It Out and Show Racism the Red Card campaigns.
Boycott: Anton Ferdinand refused to wear the Kick It Out
shirt
So how did it come to this? Why are black players refusing to put on a T-shirt with a simple message, ‘One game, One community’, aimed at uniting football against racism?
Chairman: Lord Ouseley
It read: ‘Dear Team, Swansea and Wigan players have refused to wear our T-shirts today! This is a really backward step. We need to get the word out on what we do. Please forward this text message. This is a very serious threat to our work and the anti-racism movement.’
At the heart of the issue is Kick It Out, the body set up in England in 1993 with the brief to challenge discrimination and to provide an awareness programme across every level of the game.
Disillusionment with the organisation appears to have been bubbling away through a year scarred by the John Terry affair.
The Chelsea skipper’s triple punishment — a four-game ban, FA fine and club fine — for the unacceptable language he used towards Anton Ferdinand last October, has raised issues for black footballers.
Terry will be suspended for the visit of Manchester United on Sunday, but Kick It Out are being criticised for continuing their dialogue with Chelsea.
The organisation’s critics believe Kick It Out should have shunned the club when they announced that they backed the defender’s version of events and confirmed he would keep the captaincy.
To wear or not to wear: Everton's Steven Pienaar does not
wear the Kick It Out shirt
Some of the discontent is also directed at the FA, one of Kick It Out’s backers. This goes back to the reasoning given by England manager Roy Hodgson for leaving Ferdinand out of the Euro 2012 squad for ‘footballing reasons’.
The lingering suspicion among prominent England players is that it was more about avoiding the uncomfortable prospect of Terry and Ferdinand being in the same squad.
Other strands came into consideration as players pondered whether to support the Kick It Out and Show Racism the Red Card campaigns over the weekend.
Leading the boycott: Rio Ferdinand refused to support the
campaign by wearing a T-shirt
Suarez, who served an eight-game ban and was fined £40,000 following the shocking incident at Old Trafford on October 15 2011, wore a Kick It Out T-shirt during the warm-up for Liverpool’s game against Reading.
He has shown little remorse for the incident and even refused to shake hands with Evra during a pre-match ceremony in February.
Some professionals are also angry after Lord Ouseley, chairman of the KIO campaign, claimed multi-millionaire footballers did not need any assistance to deal with issues of racism.
He added that it was ‘ridiculous’ if the players refused to wear T-shirts at the weekend as a direct protest against the organisation. His comments were met with outrage by some.
There will be an interesting exchange on Tuesday, when Reading striker Roberts is scheduled to attend an educational seminar at the Madejski Stadium in support of Show Racism the Red Card. Roberts was a key figure in leading the weekend protests, and it is hoped a dialogue may develop that may bring campaigners and footballers together again.
Lord Ouseley, who was part of the initial Kick It Out project in 1993, faces a difficult task to win over Ferdinand.
If he fails, perhaps the recently mooted breakaway organisation representing black footballers may be a step closer.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2221117/Kick-protest-damaging-campaign--Neil-Ashton.html#ixzz2Ifb2DaFu
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