AFRICAN FOOTBALLERS AND GLOBAL RACIST ATTITUTES CNN recently did a documentary on the scourge of racism in football. Prominent footballers of African decent were interviewed; they included such greats as Clarence Scdorf, Mario Balotelli, Jerome Boateng and many others. These players narrated their experiences with Mr. Pinto who was the CNN journalist serving as the narrator of the documentary. It is commendable the way FIFA and other authorizes of the International game have such as UEFA have stepped in to rid international football of the scourge of racism. Mr. Sepp Blatter and Mr. Micheal Platini have acted honourably in the defense of African interests in International football and they should be commended. The CNN documentary was silent on the views of CAF, the confederation that represents Africa. I do not know whether CNN was unwilling to risk Mr. Pinto’s life travelling to the dreaded Africa or if in their estimation the African confederation was not really fighting racism in football and thus had nothing useful to contribute. Either way, racism is becoming an issue in football and we Africans must be in the forefront of addressing it. Let us pause a bit and define what racism is. Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, revised edition gives two pertinent definitions of racism as (a) Belief in the inherent superiority of a particular race or races over others. (b) Discriminatory treatment of a person or group of persons based on the belief that such a person or group of persons are inferior to those of another group. From the above definitions of racism one will be led to infer that football players of African decent are booed in stadiums because the spectators perceive that the footballers of African decent are inferior to players of other races. The available evidence would seem to prove otherwise. Is it Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke of Manchester United of the late 1990’s especially in their treble winning year of 1999?. Is it Thierry Henry at Arsenal and later at Barcelona? Is it Samuel Eto who contributed to Barcelona winning the champions league in 2006 and later moved to Inter Milan and repeated the feat? Is it a Clarence Sedorf who has won the champions league with three different clubs? Is it a Finidi George who was at a time rated the best right winger in the world during his time at Ajax? There are multitude of African players in all generations from the legendary Pele of Brazil to Euesibo of Portugal to George Weah, Abedi Pele, Anthony Yeboah, Samuel Kuffor all of Ghana, Roger Miller of Cameroun, Austin Okocha, Rashidi Yekeni, Stephen Kwshi Nwankwo Kanu, Samson Siasia, Etim Esin all Nigerains who can rightly be said to fall within the talented top 10% of International football stars. When you watch Mario Balotelli in an Italian National Shirt, you cannot say he is an inferior player. The beautiful thing about the interaction of Caucausian and African players on the pitch is the comradeship shown among them. Is it Ballotelli’s Italian teammates celebrating a goal of his with him or an Arjen Robben rallying his teammates to brandish the shirts of fellow teammates Gustavo and Dante who were not present during their triple completing victory over stutgartt due to a national engagement with their native Brazil. All of the above examples prove to us that African International footballers feature in the clubs and teams they do through sheer merit and not by some equal opportunity window dressing gimmick. This is further buttressed by the fact that although Football is a sport, it is thriving because it is a big business. Therefore Coaches, agents, team owners and even fans will not stand for the fielding of mediocre players instead of the more talented ones. Further more, we have to ask ourselves why is it that only footballers of African decent are discriminated against. I do not think that Tiger Woods was discriminated against by any crowds during the years he dominated International golf. The Williams Sisters dominated Women’s Tennis between 1999 and 2006, I do not think that any of the African athletes who have dominated International track and field especially in the short distances have been racially discriminated against. Why then is racism prominent in football more than in other sports? Perhaps since the other sports I have mentioned are individual sports whereas football is a team sport, football lends itself more prone to racism or perhaps football fans are made up of more of the lower rung economic and social classes and lack much of the political correctness required to rise above racism, at least publicly. Whatever the truth is, will be for sociologists to study and come out with a verdict. In my little understanding however, racism is borne out of economic competition. Whether in the deep seated racial divides of the deep American South or in the then Apartheid enclave of South Africa, racism boiled down to the fear of one race that there were not enough economic resources or opportunities for everybody and therefore the privileged or empowered race would institutionalize racism using physical differences, religion and the legal system to oppress the disadvantaged race. Over a period of time, the disadvantaged race, being deprived of access to capital, land, fair wages, education, economic opportunities and social infrastructure, become trapped in poverty, disease, ignorance and illiteracy. They progressively procreate offspring who are stunted in growth and do not fulfill their intellectual and physical potentials. Their society does not give them social opportunities so they drift into crime; they lack good education and so cannot participate productively within the social system and are perpetually kept at the lower rungs of society. The privileged class jealously guards this system because they know deep down in them that given the same privilege and opportunities they have, members of the oppressed and disadvantaged race will equal or even surpass them. People like Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Nelson Mandela, President Barrack Obama, General Colin Powel, Condolezza Rice and many others prove this point. Racism is a learned perception. Little children of different races will play together and get along well without any of the baggage their parents of different races may have toward one another. In the film, “the Help” where Viola Davies, character plays an African American domestic help to a wealthy white Southern family, she is asked by the upcoming young female writer to describe how she feels about abandoning her own children at home and caring for white young children who will eventually become her masters and mistresses. She narrated the experience of the first white child she cared for. She said the little boy asked her why she was so black? She replied him that it was because she drank so much coffee. Imagine such innocence. There is also another scene where a little white girl after being abandoned by her mother to attend a social function hugs the help and says “You are my real mama”. Racism is not inherited it is learned. In my mind when footballers of African decent are discriminated against during a football match. It is those demons of racial bigotry that have been created by society over the centuries that are being let loose. Those fans or players are acting out an age long belief that a black human being is inferior. In their minds why should such sub-human person play on such glamorous stage and earn such fabulous amount of money? Footballers of African decent have responded to this racism by deciding to walk off the pitch if they experience such taunts. It is commendable at least it is progress from the days such players would just stomach the taunts and keep on moving. I would encourage such players to do more. My advice to them is do all in your power to achieve stellar careers, earn all the money you can, invest your money wisely so that it will grow and continue to earn you income after active football. When you now have the wealth come home to Africa use your wealth and fame to attract investment to Africa so that our people can move out of poverty and ignorance and not have to become economic refugees in the Western world. They should also aspire to take up positions of authority in the world of football so that they can keep protecting the interests of Africans in world football. They should come together and plan to develop an African Champions League consisting of clubs from Senegal to Kenya and from Mali to Angola and from South Sudan to South Africa. Build better stadia than what they have in Europe make the turfs of the latest sophisticated materials available. Market the television rights to the best broadcasters and if they refuse, establish African broadcasting firms to broadcast the matches. We can build a football infrastructure that can rival anything anywhere in the world. Establish top class football academys for players and coaches. The greatest weapon against racism is proving to your oppressor that you are better than his estimation of you and you can rise above the oppression he or she trapped you in and surpass his or her achievements. CAF must wake up and speak against racism in football and not only that, also build the infrastructure that will launch African football into the 21st Century as the major stakeholder. The time is now Engr. Anthony J. Ekong Writes from Uyo Akwa Ibom State Nigeria AFRICAN FOOTBALLERS AND GLOBAL RACIST ATTITUTES CNN recently did a documentary on the scourge of racism in football. Prominent footballers of African decent were interviewed; they included such greats as Clarence Scdorf, Mario Balotelli, Jerome Boateng and many others. These players narrated their experiences with Mr. Pinto who was the CNN journalist serving as the narrator of the documentary. It is commendable the way FIFA and other authorizes of the International game have such as UEFA have stepped in to rid international football of the scourge of racism. Mr. Sepp Blatter and Mr. Micheal Platini have acted honourably in the defense of African interests in International football and they should be commended. The CNN documentary was silent on the views of CAF, the confederation that represents Africa. I do not know whether CNN was unwilling to risk Mr. Pinto’s life travelling to the dreaded Africa or if in their estimation the African confederation was not really fighting racism in football and thus had nothing useful to contribute. Either way, racism is becoming an issue in football and we Africans must be in the forefront of addressing it. Let us pause a bit and define what racism is. Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, revised edition gives two pertinent definitions of racism as (a) Belief in the inherent superiority of a particular race or races over others. (b) Discriminatory treatment of a person or group of persons based on the belief that such a person or group of persons are inferior to those of another group. From the above definitions of racism one will be led to infer that football players of African decent are booed in stadiums because the spectators perceive that the footballers of African decent are inferior to players of other races. The available evidence would seem to prove otherwise. Is it Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke of Manchester United of the late 1990’s especially in their treble winning year of 1999?. Is it Thierry Henry at Arsenal and later at Barcelona? Is it Samuel Eto who contributed to Barcelona winning the champions league in 2006 and later moved to Inter Milan and repeated the feat? Is it a Clarence Sedorf who has won the champions league with three different clubs? Is it a Finidi George who was at a time rated the best right winger in the world during his time at Ajax? There are multitude of African players in all generations from the legendary Pele of Brazil to Euesibo of Portugal to George Weah, Abedi Pele, Anthony Yeboah, Samuel Kuffor all of Ghana, Roger Miller of Cameroun, Austin Okocha, Rashidi Yekeni, Stephen Kwshi Nwankwo Kanu, Samson Siasia, Etim Esin all Nigerains who can rightly be said to fall within the talented top 10% of International football stars. When you watch Mario Balotelli in an Italian National Shirt, you cannot say he is an inferior player. The beautiful thing about the interaction of Caucausian and African players on the pitch is the comradeship shown among them. Is it Ballotelli’s Italian teammates celebrating a goal of his with him or an Arjen Robben rallying his teammates to brandish the shirts of fellow teammates Gustavo and Dante who were not present during their triple completing victory over stutgartt due to a national engagement with their native Brazil. All of the above examples prove to us that African International footballers feature in the clubs and teams they do through sheer merit and not by some equal opportunity window dressing gimmick. This is further buttressed by the fact that although Football is a sport, it is thriving because it is a big business. Therefore Coaches, agents, team owners and even fans will not stand for the fielding of mediocre players instead of the more talented ones. Further more, we have to ask ourselves why is it that only footballers of African decent are discriminated against. I do not think that Tiger Woods was discriminated against by any crowds during the years he dominated International golf. The Williams Sisters dominated Women’s Tennis between 1999 and 2006, I do not think that any of the African athletes who have dominated International track and field especially in the short distances have been racially discriminated against. Why then is racism prominent in football more than in other sports? Perhaps since the other sports I have mentioned are individual sports whereas football is a team sport, football lends itself more prone to racism or perhaps football fans are made up of more of the lower rung economic and social classes and lack much of the political correctness required to rise above racism, at least publicly. Whatever the truth is, will be for sociologists to study and come out with a verdict. In my little understanding however, racism is borne out of economic competition. Whether in the deep seated racial divides of the deep American South or in the then Apartheid enclave of South Africa, racism boiled down to the fear of one race that there were not enough economic resources or opportunities for everybody and therefore the privileged or empowered race would institutionalize racism using physical differences, religion and the legal system to oppress the disadvantaged race. Over a period of time, the disadvantaged race, being deprived of access to capital, land, fair wages, education, economic opportunities and social infrastructure, become trapped in poverty, disease, ignorance and illiteracy. They progressively procreate offspring who are stunted in growth and do not fulfill their intellectual and physical potentials. Their society does not give them social opportunities so they drift into crime; they lack good education and so cannot participate productively within the social system and are perpetually kept at the lower rungs of society. The privileged class jealously guards this system because they know deep down in them that given the same privilege and opportunities they have, members of the oppressed and disadvantaged race will equal or even surpass them. People like Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Nelson Mandela, President Barrack Obama, General Colin Powel, Condolezza Rice and many others prove this point. Racism is a learned perception. Little children of different races will play together and get along well without any of the baggage their parents of different races may have toward one another. In the film, “the Help” where Viola Davies, character plays an African American domestic help to a wealthy white Southern family, she is asked by the upcoming young female writer to describe how she feels about abandoning her own children at home and caring for white young children who will eventually become her masters and mistresses. She narrated the experience of the first white child she cared for. She said the little boy asked her why she was so black? She replied him that it was because she drank so much coffee. Imagine such innocence. There is also another scene where a little white girl after being abandoned by her mother to attend a social function hugs the help and says “You are my real mama”. Racism is not inherited it is learned. In my mind when footballers of African decent are discriminated against during a football match. It is those demons of racial bigotry that have been created by society over the centuries that are being let loose. Those fans or players are acting out an age long belief that a black human being is inferior. In their minds why should such sub-human person play on such glamorous stage and earn such fabulous amount of money? Footballers of African decent have responded to this racism by deciding to walk off the pitch if they experience such taunts. It is commendable at least it is progress from the days such players would just stomach the taunts and keep on moving. I would encourage such players to do more. My advice to them is do all in your power to achieve stellar careers, earn all the money you can, invest your money wisely so that it will grow and continue to earn you income after active football. When you now have the wealth come home to Africa use your wealth and fame to attract investment to Africa so that our people can move out of poverty and ignorance and not have to become economic refugees in the Western world. They should also aspire to take up positions of authority in the world of football so that they can keep protecting the interests of Africans in world football. They should come together and plan to develop an African Champions League consisting of clubs from Senegal to Kenya and from Mali to Angola and from South Sudan to South Africa. Build better stadia than what they have in Europe make the turfs of the latest sophisticated materials available. Market the television rights to the best broadcasters and if they refuse, establish African broadcasting firms to broadcast the matches. We can build a football infrastructure that can rival anything anywhere in the world. Establish top class football academys for players and coaches. The greatest weapon against racism is proving to your oppressor that you are better than his estimation of you and you can rise above the oppression he or she trapped you in and surpass his or her achievements. CAF must wake up and speak against racism in football and not only that, also build the infrastructure that will launch African football into the 21st Century as the major stakeholder. The time is now Engr. Anthony J. Ekong Writes from Uyo Akwa Ibom State Nigeria
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 11:43:39 +0000
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