This weekend, a new video will be shown in the stadiums of the Premier League. It comes from Liga's "No Room for Racism" campaign, Football Association (FA), League Two, Three and Four (EFL), Players Union (PFA) and Kick It Out (Anti-Racism Organization). Stars include Tammy Abraham of Chelsea and Raheem Sterling of Manchester City.
The beautiful pictures of a world separated only by jersey colors football world are hardly different from the well-known, now argued routinely professed allegiance to equality, as you know from the Fifa, the Uefa or the Bundesliga. Nevertheless, there is a glaring difference in the actual message of the video.
The initiators are less interested in explaining humanist ideals than courageous acting in the grandstands: "If you see it, report it" is on the screen at the end of the film: an explicit appeal to the fans for racist incidents Report.
Too big for 22 men in shorts
The racist insults in the England European Championship qualifier in Bulgaria have been affecting English football since Monday night. Once again the newspapers are full of racism.
Due to its colonial history there is a strong sensitivity on the island. In the meantime, however, the decisive realization has prevailed that ultimately neither the "Beautiful Game" nor the most moving image campaign can win the fight against racism. This opponent is too big for 22 men in shorts. It is therefore all the more important - and more promising - to fight racist mobsters and the like where they can best be fought off. Around the pitch, within the scope of all sporting and legal possibilities.
For example, when in December 2018 during the 4-2 defeat of Tottenham Hotspurs in the Northern London derby at Arsenal a banana peel flew out of the Spurs block in the direction of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the culprit was charged within three weeks and in the view of the camera shots the Emirates Stadium for hooliganism sentenced to a four-year stadium ban. The additional fine of £ 500 was particularly high as the judge recognized a "racist component" in the misconduct.
When Raheem Sterling was racially insulted by opposing fans in a match between Manchester City and Chelsea at the end of 2018, the offensive player went public and accused English boulevard of "fueling racism". This sparked a debate in England that is still having an impact today. Chelsea later imposed stadium bans on six fans.
"We made the biggest statement"
"No Room for Racism" this weekend was planned long before the near-demolition of the international match in Bulgaria, but the action follows the same logic: deeds do more than words. In Sofia, Gareth Southgate's team had been ready to leave the square after monkey shouting and Hitler greetings. Only the repeated threat prompted the security forces to expel a block of neo-Nazis from the stands.
Bulgaria coach Krassimir Balakov initially did not want to hear of all this, but apologized later. On Friday, he resigned from office, as had formerly president Boris Mihajlow. Half a dozen alleged perpetrators have been arrested and the Uefa faces painful sanctions. "I think we made the biggest statement ever made by a national team," Southgate said proudly.
In the past, English football fans have sometimes given away on off-road driving a good picture. In the game against Bulgaria, on the other hand, the English bloc chanted in response to the insults: "Racist bastards, that's you." Here, too, you became active yourself. There was much praise for the anti-racist attitude. That English fans abroad would be the good times, you might not have thought necessarily synonymous.
"You racist bastards, you know what you are"
Nicely acknowledged by the FA worker on the running track # EnglandAway pic.twitter.com/uxkGqB2o4X
Forty-one years after Nottingham Forest's Viv Anderson became the first dark-skinned player to feature in the English national team, coaches, players and even fans no longer ask those affected to look over insults and avoid getting provoked. Racially insulted professionals also do not see why the focus should be on their reactions instead of insults. "Our generation held out the other cheek, but today's generation will not let it go," says former international Ian Wright, 55, the son of Jamaican immigrants. Looking away was yesterday.
Sterling, but also Marcus Rashford of Manchester United and other players put pressure on social networks to exclude authors from discriminatory contributions.
With all these measures, the racism problem in football is not completely solved. But they are an answer to the question of how to ensure a minimum of reasonable coexistence.