Racism in Football: An Ugly Side to English Football That Never Truly Went Away?

"I feel stupid for thinking that football was taking a leading role against racism—it seems it was just on mute for a while."

These are the sentiments of Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand, after hearing Sepp Blatter's views on racism in football, and his proposal that a handshake should solve any such problems between players.

According to Blatter, the head of football's global governing body, FIFA, any on-the-pitch racism can be easily explained away as an outburst of frustration and anger or the boiling over of competitive intensity. In his own words: "There is no racism".

Rio, responding to the direct Twitter feed of FIFA's figurehead, tweeted: "Your comments on racism are so condescending it's almost laughable. If fans shout racist chants but shake our hands is that OK?"

Compared to the blatant, and at times violent and targeted racial abuse in the Russian leagues, the English Premiership is clearly doing 'OK' at least relatively speaking. Peter Odemwingie need not fear the unveiling of sick monkey banners whilst playing for West Bromwich Albion as was unfurled by supporters of his former club, Lokomotiv Moscow upon his departure.

In the supposedly more civilised and sophisticated leagues of Spain and Italy too though, racially tinged intimidation tactics and wind ups are far from stamped out. Samuel Eto'o experienced the full extent of La Liga's ape chanting boo-boys and their attacks.

The situation was so bad for Eto'o that, after an infamous match against Zaragoza during his time at Barcelona, the prolific Cameroonian stated: "We can't wait until some crazy fan jumps from his seat and kills a black player before measures are taken."

During an international friendly against Spain at the Bernabau in 2004, the non-white members of the England team came up against similar behaviour. Clearly, there still exist serious problems in Spainish football.

In Italy, and before his move to Manchester City, Mario Balotelli suffered consistent abuse from both fans and players alike in Serie A. Whilst the former Inter man is undoubtedly something of a divisive character, turning his natural skin colour against him as some sort of negative adjective is a dangerous and unjustifiable precedent, regardless of whether the intention was to heckle or abuse. Those who still enjoy the use of such tactics try to excuse them as "not real racism" or entirely non-racist, but skin colour, along with sexuality and gender, can never be valid for use as an insult or agitation.

Back to England, and clearly winning any accolades for probably being a bit less racist when compared to the openly racist is far from good enough for a country that sees itself as tolerant and progressive. The battle against barbarism is, of course, a fight that can never be truly won of course, requiring the constant upholding of standards and expectations, as well as the stringent defending of past victories. 

The far-right English Defense League movement organises itself like some sort of semi-political hooligan gang; a fascistic firm complete with chants and England football shirts. They are of course an extreme example, but viewing their rise in the context of the recent on-the-pitch racial accusations and the reactions to them, it may be that a seedy undercurrent still exists, and always has, within English football.

Times of recession and socio-economic problems put pressures on the divides within our societies, especially ones that require as little cognitive thought or reasoning as "they look different to me." In the comfortable safety of a mob mentality, guards are dropped, standards lowered and tolerance decayed.

From Chelsea fans' chorus of "Anton Ferdinand we know what you are" to the instant vilification of Patrice Evra by Liverpool fans, dismissing any possibility that Luis Suarez could be guilty, priorities seem to be misplaced. This complacency by blindly defensive fans helps to set a wider tone, the likes of which they themselves may not even agree with as individuals, allowing the slow sanitisation of backwards attitudes into the dialogue of polite society.

Blackburn striker Jason Roberts believes that, whilst England has dealt with racism and integration very well compared to the situations in other countries, that we still have some way to go: "We still have issues, we still have things we need to tackle."

In contrast to these two current players who experience the league, the game and its character first-hand each and every week, Trevor Sinclair, a pioneering black player of the past, offers a contrasting opinion on John Terry's case:

“He’s not racist. If he’s said something that’s not accepted, it wouldn’t be racist, it would be maybe just to try and upset the opposition. I’m not condoning any kind of racist comments but what I am saying is that I don’t think John Terry is a racist. He uses everything he can to try and win a game for his club.”

Have racially charged comments become nothing more than mid-match mind games?

What makes a football match, especially one viewed by millions around the world, so special? If a person were to enter a bar and racially abuse another patron of different ethnic origin for spilling their drink, a handshake would do little to excuse such an outburst. Even a sincere post-hoc apology seems insufficient considering the mindset required to blurt out such insults however impulsive. Racism needs to be thought before it can be said.

Clearly English football still has some way to go. The current cosmetic tolerance that has been so easily discarded and subverted of late is but an appeasement by a disgruntled and bitter minority with unfortunately sized vocal chords. It is the responsibility of every football fan, player and manager to ensure that ignorance is overcome for the benefit of the sport and the greater society. As the most popular sport in the world, football has a duty to not only bring people together but to destroy the archaic backwardness that separates them.