Arguments Against Racism In Soccer

Soccer has been known for many decades as “the beautiful game.” It has carried respect and happiness to millions around the world. However, the respect for the game falls apart when the fans and players use racism. Soccer went from being the beautiful game to being the judgmental game because of the fans. In some cultures, soccer is their way of life, and some are more passionate about soccer than others. The fans during the soccer games racially abuse the soccer players because of their ethnicity and skin color. Racism in soccer has been going on around the world for a while now, but hasn’t been addressed until the players or organizations stand up for themselves. The two editorials that talk about racism in soccer are “Racism on the Soccer Field Must End Before it Kills The Sport” by Andre Akpan, and “Beautiful Game of Soccer made Ugly by Racism at World Cup” by Aram Ghoogasian. Presently, racism from fans has increased over the past years, which have impacted the player’s

performance. This should be stopped immediately. Three ways in which soccer fans show racism in our society are, by social media, racial slurs, and disowning anti racist organizations like FIFA.
Both Ghoogasian and Akpan, believe that racism in soccer is problematic in todays society. The main points made throughout these editorials are that the racist fans show their hate towards minorities and bring a downfall to the love of soccer. They talk about different situations from soccer players and organizations about how fans brought abruption towards soccer. They want to put an end to this conflict by showing the reader their own reasoning of this argument.
The World Cup brings a diverse group of fans together in an environment to cheer for their club or country. Believe it or not, during the World Cup, social media was an ideal cause of soccer racism. Fans would post their comments on Facebook, Instagram, and twitter to an unbearable degree. Fans are supposed to show their love and support for their country, not show disrespect to other nations. According to Ghooogasian’s editorial, he states, “harmful form of expression has made social media a hotbed for racially charged language”. During a match between United States (U.S.) and Germany, U.S. fans produced racial slurs towards the Germans. On twitter, fans would tweet the word Nazi “25 times per second after Germany’s goal” (Ghoogasian). The social media doesn’t stop there. During the Germany against Ghana game, there were pictures “of German fans wearing blackfaces” (Ghoogasian). This was a mockery of the Ghanaians and how German fans show their prejudice towards them. Fans are supposed to show their love for the game, but instead they show their prejudice to the fans of other soccer teams. According to Akpan, he states, “racist culture is inherently an issue of larger social magnitude than football alone and because it represent cultural values that are attached to society”. From the looks of it, fans are trying to put an end to “the beautiful game” of soccer. Showing their expression on social media hurts the players’ emotions and self-confidence to do well in the games, which hinder performance. High rated soccer player like “Balotelli, Italy’s star striker, is on the receiving end of racism both at the games and online”. Balotelli is a Ghanaian soccer player that grew up in Italy, who is the only black soccer player on the international team. For many soccer fans, the racist comments towards this high-class soccer player “is sadly not very shocking” (Ghoogasian). Social media has been a problem for fans over the years, and it won’t stop until our society as a whole puts an end to it.
The soccer fans during the game are difficult, and can effect the player’s concentration, emotions, and pride. Racial slurs and chants during the soccer game are “notably in Italy and much of Eastern Europe” (Akpan). They are mostly directed to the black soccer players on the field. Racial abuse in the European Football towards the black soccer players shows a continuing prejudice of black individuals even in sports. One soccer player actually confronted the abuse and racism by walking off the field during the soccer game. Kevin Prince Boateng an “AC Milan player and Ghanaian international, was the subject of racially discriminatory chants during a friendly match with a lower division Italian club” (Akpan). Incidence of racism in football has occurred across Europe. There have been several arrests among fans from the racial slurs and chants during the games. During the games, fans would target the black soccer player and do unnoticeable fouls and attacks. The fans would also “scream monkey chants and throw banana peels on the field”(Akpan). Another incident with an AC Milan player, Mario Baleotelli, he also “was receiving racist chants during matches at Inter Milan in February and at AS Roma” (Akpan). Soccer players aren’t only playing to win, but they play for the fans. The fans that show support to them will also help them win games, as well grow a closer relationship with the players. “These are conversations that need to be forced into the spotlight, not crammed away behind the façade that shroud them” (Ghoogasian).
Many organizations want to stop the racism going on in soccer, but the problems are that the fans don’t want to listen. Soccer is “a Beautiful game”, and without the support and respect, the game turns ugly. Organizations need to take a bigger step in order to stop this nonsense that’s going on. Without any effort, there’s no way for racism in soccer to stop. “The Say No to Racism campaign is a weak public relations stunt from a body that doesn’t take the necessary steps to punish blatant racism” (Ghoogasian). It’s hard for organizations to help fans from saying “no to racism” because it can cause fans to not go to the games anymore. The FIFA organization “took a major step forward, in its quest to eradicate racism from the sport” (Akpan). During this process, FIFA stated that many rules would take place if the racist fans would disown the policies of FIFA. “Rules and punishments for racist incidents occurring in UEFA-sponsored matches, including the power of referees to temporarily suspend or cancel matches” (Akpan). Those rules are strict, but still won’t stop the fans from showing their racism towards the players. It has taken the FIFA organization to eliminate racism in soccer “until the year 2013 for such harsh punishments to be put into place” (Akpan). A terrible comment from a big Russian club, Zenit St. Petersburg, and its fans of the club “issued a statement on its website demanding that the club not sign black or gay players” (Akpan). This brought a major issue to the organizations, and the club dealt with a fine for the racial and homophobic comment.
Racism is soccer has been a major issue for years now, and hasn’t been focused on until now.

Many fans show their pride for their club or country, but tend to do it at the extreme. Organizations want to stop the racial slurs or comments coming from the fans, but it’s hard to make the issue stop. In our society, racism has always been around, but having it in soccer, the sport that people love and play, is becoming a disgrace. Our world population needs to come together as a community and bring back the “Say No to Racism” campaign. Our society needs to be viral and tell fans to stop when they hear another fan being racist. All our society needs to do it help bring nations together to become one whole society with different ethnicities and cultures. The saying, soccer is “the beautiful game” needs to be kept alive, or else soccer will turn into being “the judgmental game”. Only the fans can stop themselves for discriminating other teams and cut down racial language and slurs on the

field.