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Racism is a big problem in countries all over the world. The kind of racism in football goes out to black and Jewish players as well as to black fans.
The first professional black player in Britain has been Arthur Wharton in1889. Today, black players are not unusual-25% of professional players in Europe are black, but only 1% of the spectators are not white.
The forms of racial attacks lead from racist chants from the terraces, as it was worst in the 1970s and 1980s when football players from around the world began to join English clubs.
The supporters chanted very patriotic or very mean racist songs like:
"Stand by the Union Jack
Send those niggers back
If you are white, you are all right
If you are black, send them back"
or
"We all agree-Niggers burn better than petrol"
The football fans were making monkey sounds as soon as a black player appeared and they sometimes even threw bananas and one time a living monkey! on the field.
In 1991, the Football Offences Act forbid racist chanting, but the problem was that chanting is defined to be done by a group of people in repeating words, so this means that the authority could not punish people saying racial sentences as long as they were not repeated. This loophole had made several right-winged hooligans not guilty which means that they did not have to pay any fees.
In the 1970s, groups such as the national front (NF) were very active and they also edited a magazine called Bulldog, which can be also watched on the Internet nowadays.
Supporters from FC Chelsea London, Leeds United, Millwall, Newcastle United and FC Arsenal London had all very racist attitudes, and after the Heysel incident where 39 people were killed by a collapsing wall, British National Party leaflets were found on the terraces.
Today, it is not common anymore that right-winged magazines are sold in the stadium, but you can also order them per Internet. But just because the flyers and newspapers are not seen at the games anymore, this does not mean that the problem of racism has gone away.
In 1995, at a game between Ireland vs. England fights between rival fans had led to a stop of the game for more than 35 minutes. Supporters of the British National Party (BNP) have been involved in these riots.
The reasons for the attraction of right winged people to football matches are clear: Football grounds provide a useful platform for the groups to make their voices heard. From them their views can be directed into millions of homes.
Some debates also exist to the question if right-wing groups attend the matches to search for new violent members or soccer fans join these violent groups because they offer the opportunities for violence acts. But all in all, both theories are right.
5.1 Ways against racism:
There have formed various groups to fight against racism on the football place. These organisations are called Professional Footballers Education (PFA) , Football Supporters Association (FSA) and there was also formed a Campaign for Racial Equality (CRE). In 1993 the CRE and PFA made the "Lets Kick Racism Out of Football"- campaign.
This campaign wanted to encourage clubs and fans to make their own campaign against racism. This plan consisted of several steps:
. The club should work out a statement in which it says that they are against racism
. They (the club and the supporters) should say in public that racist chants will not be tolerated
. Season ticket holders should lose their tickets if they are caught by chanting racist songs
. To prevent sale of racist literature in and around football plays
. Take disciplinary action against players who make racially remarks at players during or after matches
. Contact other clubs to make sure that they understand the clubs policy on racism
. Remove all racist graffiti
. Work together with the police
As a result of this campaign, a magazine called United Colours of Football was created which was for free for everyone. The project should also encourage the local Asian community to attend more games as well as sponsoring Asian football talents. The first fan-based group was the Leeds Fans United Against Racism And Fascism (LFUARAF). Their goal was it to fight against the selling of right-winged papers, and they even have success until today.
In Scotland, fans formed Supporters Campaign Against Racism in Football (SCARF) in 1991 because the right winged attitude was increasing. But they also had problems: their supporters had been threatened and abused; and another problem was to get the officials recognized that there is existing a problem in racism at all.
But not only in Britain, also in other European countries racism amongst black players exists. The most notorious fans concerning racism can be found in Italy (AC Milan and Lazio Roma), in France (Paris Saint Germain) and in Spain (Real Madrid).
In Italy, a Jewish player, was unable to play even one game because of massive pressure from neo-fascist circle.
Germany has very bad reputations in Europe for right-winged influence because of Adolph Hitler, and in fact, 20% of the fans call themselves right-winged. Sometimes, neo-nazi groups use football matches as occasions to plan and organize attacks against ethic communities and East European refugees.
Some countries in Europe have also introduced ways against racism in sports. The Netherlands has made a motto called "When Racism Wins, the Sport Loses" which they print at posters. In Italy, the players of the team threatened to leave the match, if they hear racist chants. This are some tries to fight racism in sports, but if this is all they have to do against this problem, is left open.
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