Photo Courtesy of Newscast
The ugly specter of racism has revealed itself once again to be alive and well in Serie A, as was demonstrated on Sunday when Kevin-Prince Boateng was racially abused by sections of the Juventus fans in Turin.
This absolutely abhorrent spectacle has no place whatsoever in modern day civilized society, let alone during a soccer match. The practice of throwing bananas at black players is as unwelcome in soccer as the ideology the racists cling to to justify their actions.
The clubs must be exasperated with certain supporters as it’s the clubs who get fined for the racist chanting, not the fans actually perpetrating it. The fines can hardly be called severe though, as they usually amount to approximately $100,000 which is a drop in the ocean for the guilty clubs.
So with FIFA insisting that their “Say NO to Racism” campaign is working and with Sepp Blatter retracting his latest statement about racism sanctions, is there enough being done to clean up the game?
It seems strange that the sanctions and punishments handed out to clubs are usually fine-based and not exclusions from competitions, which I believe would be more effective. UEFA are trying to implement a stadium closure scheme for persistent racist offenders which would certainly hurt and would mean partial closure of the stadium, but whether it’ll happen is another story.
How hard would it be to implement a sliding scale to punish clubs depending on the severity and regularity of the offence?
Should a clubs fans not behave appropriately towards players, then the sliding scale should come into force. First offences could be treated with a large fine that is actually of significance or maybe a transfer window ban. Repeat offenders could then look to have points docked or longer bans from competitions and cups implemented.
Eventually, persistent racist clubs should have stadiums closed to the public and be subjected to lengthy European bans.
The trouble is UEFA and FIFA don’t have the stomach to act quickly and harshly on racists and would rather issue paltry fines that are laughed at by the vile abusers. When England’s under-21 team was racially abused by Serbian fans, UEFA issued Serbia a measly £65,000 fine. In contrast, during Euro 2012, Nicklas Bendtner revealed a betting company’s logo on his underwear and was fined £80,000.
The governing bodies who have the ability to act also have the responsibility to act on racism. It cannot continue to be prevalent in our modern game.
We will not tolerate racism in any form. Let’s just play soccer.
James Hilton is a soccer writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter , Facebook or add him to your network on Google
