Overt racism at matches - one of the things about world soccer that really took me aback when I realized how alive and well it still is.
On Thursday July 2, it was announced that UEFA’s Executive Committee approved guidelines for match officials to deal with racist acts during matches. The guidelines are to come into effect immediately for all UEFA competitions.
1. First, if the referee notices “serious racist behavior” (or informed of such behavior by the fourth official), then the referee as a first step will stop the match and request an announcement be made over the stadium’s public address system to request the behavior to stop.
2. Second, after the game has been resumed, and the racist behavior does not stop, the referee will suspend the match “for a reasonable period of time” (e.g., 5 to 10 minutes) and send the teams to their respective dressing rooms, with an additional public address system announcement.
3. Third, after the game has once again been resumed, and the racist behavior does not stop, the referee will “abandon the match as a last resort.”
Any decision to abandon a match will be invoked only “after all other possible measures have been implemented and the impact of abandoning the match on the security of the players and public has been assessed.”
Subsequently, the case would be referred to the UEFA disciplinary authorities to determine disciplinary consequences (forfeit, stadium suspension, fines, etc.).
UEFA President Michel Platini said, "Our policy on racism is one of zero tolerance” and "It was necessary to give the pitch people the means to do something, and we have determined the parameters and lines of conduct, whereby in important cases of racist behaviour in a stadium, a referee must stop the match."
UEFA indicated that the full and detailed guidelines will be made available “shortly.”
The announcement of the UEFA guidelines for dealing with racist acts during matches comes on the heels of the Executive Committee’s meeting two years ago in Heerenveen where Mr. Platini was quoted as saying, “We will be very tough and there will a policy of zero tolerance. You can count on us."
The announcement also follows a seemingly endless litany of incidents, most recently: (1) Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli was racially abused by Juventus fans, after which Italian authorities ordered Juventus to play their next home league game behind closed doors; (2) the American DaMarcus Beasley and his Glasgow Rangers teammate Jean-Claude Darcheville, who is also black, were reportedly the victims of racist abuse during a Champions League qualifier against FK Zeta in Montenegro.
Whatever the root causes, it will be crucial for them to be understood for the behavior to be eradicated. For example, if it is organized mayhem of right-wing extremist groups, then punishing the clubs may have the desired effect, especially if such organized groups have affiliations with the club. Ultimately, the club will be responsible for cleaning up their own house, for which a forfeit or two may force the issue.
But if the incidents are spontaneous, rooted in cultural and historical baggage, then you have a bigger, more systemic disease to treat. This seemingly would be much more difficult to keep away from football matches. Look at the history of Major League Baseball in the U.S. When the major leagues became racially integrated in the 1940s, it took quite a few years, and a grass-roots civil rights movement, before racist behavior with deep cultural roots was eradicated at the ballpark. It wasn’t about the Ku Klux Klan showing up for games and sitting in the right-field bleachers vocalizing monkey chants to a visiting black outfielder. That would have been too easy to exterminate.
The implementation of UEFA’s guidelines may have unintended consequences. Could the new UEFA guidelines be hijacked by fans to gain an advantage for their club? Let’s say the strategy is to get an away match suspended, only to be resumed in an empty stadium, taking away the home-ground advantage of the opponent. Sound preposterous? Some idiots (including some supporters) might go to great lengths to not only cause mayhem but to affect the outcome of a sporting event.
More overtly, it will be interesting to see if UEFA will have the fortitude to render a severe and costly consequence to a big, high-profile club. Will only the smaller clubs be made the example of racist behavior? Let’s hope racist incidents don’t occur to test their stomach.
It will also be interesting to see how “incidents of sufficient magnitude and intensity” and “serious racist behavior” are interpreted.
The problem is likely too complex to be solved with a simple set of guidelines. This announcement of UEFA should not be seen as the solution or even a solution. Rather, this should be viewed as a step in what is likely a very, very long process to rid the game of an embarrassing trait. Should UEFA be applauded for the effort? Absolutely, but only if the hand-clapping and back-slapping is followed with swift, no-nonsense action that is consistently applied across league and table position.
Actually, it is amazing that this is being discussed at all. But perhaps in some stadia across Europe, it really is as if today was 28 August 1963…
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