It was a night that shamed world football. Serbia was the place and England’s Danny Rose the victim. Under pressure, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has belatedly opened disciplinary proceedings against the Serbian and English football associations. Initially they seemed to have ignored the incident as there was no mention of it on their website.
Even now, they seem to be pinning the blame on Rose rather than on the fans who abused him. Yes, he too transgressed. He kicked the ball into the stands after the final whistle and was duly shown the red card. And while leaving, he imitated the Serbian crowd, returning the monkey gesture that was directed at him. Maybe discretion would have been the better part of valour. But Rose, 19, is a young man who was provoked to the extreme by a bunch of racists.
Ugly scenes broke out after England’s 1-0 win over Serbia in their Under-21 Euros in Krusevac. The players and officials of the two teams fought against each other, bringing the game to disrepute. To be precise, it was the concluding act of a deplorable saga that was started by a group of Serbian spectators. Throughout the match they turned the heat on Rose and other black England players, allegedly pelting stones at them and showering them with monkey chants. Yes, Rose reacted, but he did it because his dignity was destroyed.
This is 2012, and it’s surprising that racism still exists in sports. In fact, it has become the new name of hooliganism. All their vows to stop the menace notwithstanding, UEFA so far has been lenient on the subject. Time to crack the whip.
Denmark’s Nicklas Bendtner was fined 80,000 pounds for dropping his shorts at Euro 2012 to display the name of a bookmaker on his underpants. Fines for racism, a far bigger offence, have been paltry in comparison. Just four months before the Bendtner incident, FC Porto were fined ?16,700 for their fans’ racist behaviour against Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli during a Europa League game.
Very recently, Lazio were asked to pay 32,500 pounds because Tottenham Hotspur’s players were subjected to racial abuse by their supporters. The disparity suggests that tackling racism is not on top of UEFA’s agenda. It makes their ?Respect? campaign weak. ?The only way to start stopping racism plus violence in stadiums is by giving big bans to countries/players. Fines mean nothing. The bans to date have been tepid, token gestures. A marker has not been put down, so there is no real deterrent,? said Rio Ferdinand, reacting on Twitter.
This wasn?t the first time Serbian fans had behaved in this deplorable manner. It was they who forced the abandonment of an international friendly against Italy in Genoa a year ago. Then their football federation appointed Sinisa Mihajlovic, someone who was once banned for calling Patrick Vieira a ?black monkey.? Five years ago Serbia had to pay 16,000 pounds as a fine when their fans targeted England U-21 defender Nedum Onuoha and it’s evident that they haven?t learned from their mistakes. Even after the Krusevac incident the Serbian football authorities are not repentant, and have blamed Rose for the fiasco. Still it would be unfair to decry an entire nation for a bunch of miscreants. Serbia is not the only country where racism is a big issue. It plagues the game almost everywhere.
?Get our own house in order first on this issue before taking the moral high ground,? Ferdinand said. His brother Anton was allegedly abused by John Terry during an English Premier League match ? a charge that Terry has finally accepted. The Luis Suarez-Patrice Evra controversy was another ugly episode. Throughout the episode then Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish tried to defend Suarez, rather than condemn the Uruguayan. His defiance made things worse and the great club lost some of his ardent fans.
To their credit, the FA reacted strongly, handing out four and eight-game bans to Terry and Suarez, respectively, apart from fining them. They also stripped Terry of England’s captaincy, without caring a bit about Fabio Capello’s disapproval. Capello thought his position was made untenable and left but the FA refused to budge. They are one among a handful of associations making an honest effort to eradicate the menace.
Still things happen, in England and other parts in Europe. During Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, the Dutch national team was the worst affected despite the organisers’ effort to ensure that the fans behaved. ?Racism is not a football problem. It’s a social problem,? Ruud Gullit had said during his visit to India a few months ago. The former Holland captain was right in assessing that the Eurozone crisis and uncertainty over their future have made the European youth far less tolerant these days and hence there’s a need for stricter laws to keep things under control.
Sport can never be free of corruption and controversy because it can?t police itself. But rounding up the perpetrators of crime will send out a strong message. Unfortunately UEFA has always been slow to react and is never proactive. After the Genoa incident, UEFA president Michael Platini said that a repeat of such behaviour will see the Serbian clubs and their national team being banned from all European competitions. The Serbs have done it again, so it’s time for Monsieur Platini to act on his promise and tell the world that discrimination will not be tolerated. So far UEFA has failed to act tough.
Eventually, however, it is down to education. Young men and women need to be taught that denigrating people is as bad as committing a criminal offence. The governments should lend their hands to sports authorities to help educate young players and supporters. The Krusevac incident has put UEFA on the line. Its integrity is under the scanner?is it serious enough to crack down on racism? Platini and his men must answer.