Sports

"Get ready to rumble."

Our football correspondent writes:

When Arsenal footballer Patrick Vieira was called a "black bastard" during a Champion's match in Rome last October the race abuser was suspended for two matches by UEFA, the governing body of European football. Sports observers and "Let's Kick Racism out of Football" campaigners thought official interest would fizzle out.

Now, FIFA, the world governing body of football, has unveiled plans to combat racism. Delegates from 200 national associations will brainstorm the issues at Buenos Aires, July 6, "to try and find practical solutions to stamp out this deplorable practice," a FIFA spokesman said.

As a result, cynics may have to change their minds about the commitment of European and world football governing bodies to stamp out racial abuse.

At risk
Black British players remain most at risk of limb and livelihood. Twenty-five per cent of professional footballers in England are of African Caribbean origins. Many of them are among the highest paid stars in the nation's football clubs.

Recent studies show that racism persists despite football club initiatives in the 1990s to deal with troublemakers. Researchers at Leeds Metropolitan University found that 50 per cent of black players in UK amateur football leagues experienced physical violence on the pitch that they attributed to premeditated racist intent.

Fearsome attacks against black footballers take place at home and abroad. One keen observer, Darcus Howe, writer for the New Statesman, says racial abuse and "talk of niggers, spades and darkies...is fundamental to the culture of football". The abuse continues, he says, "Inspite of the valiant efforts of anti-racist campaigners".

Spread of abuse
When abroad the fans' behaviour is equally abusive. A minority of supporters hurled racist epithets at black players Sol Campbell and Andy Cole at England's last friendly match with France in Paris.

UEFA and FIFA are also concerned the disease once thought of as typically English has spread across the continent. Italians are the new bad boys of European football. Black striker Emile Hesky was subjected to "monkey grunts and boos" during England's friendly match with Italy in Turin last November. This prompted the Corriere della Sera newspaper to describe the behaviour as "the lowest levels of pure racism".

It is just one of a series of recent racist incidents in European football. In one game, fans of Lazio, one of Rome's top football clubs, booed black, mostly Brazilian, players for arch-rivals AS Roma.

New goals
Curbing racist fans is central to the new FIFA initiative. But further steps are needed. Critics will press the governing bodies, UEFA and FIFA to highlight racism within the whole football sporting industry. Discriminatory practices by football club owners, managers, referees and fellow players are all part of the problem.

Darcus Howe says black players should walk off the playing field at any sign of abuse during a match. Football clubs should lose league points if they can't control their race hooligans, and even face suspension from the league. "We need Draconian penalties," he says, "The entire football fraternity must fight for the elimination of this cancer."

The message from FIFA president Sepp Blatter offers some hope: "Football has the ability to convey not only that racism is intolerable in football, but also that it is unacceptable in society at large."

If no changes are forthcoming, says Howe, black footballers should not be silent: "My advice to them: [is] Get ready to rumble".