Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HIT THEM VERY HARD
Boss wants UEFA racism crackdown
GARETH SOUTHGATE has called on football’s authorities to take proper action in the wake of the shameful racism in Bulgaria.
It comes after a tumultuous day which saw Bulgaria charged by UEFA, condemned by FIFA, the president of their FA being forced to resign and the police called in to investigate.
The FA will see it as a victory and vindication of England players’ unanimous decision not to leave the pitch, with UEFA and FIFA now promising strong action.
Yet, despite the
DEAR Mr Ceferin,
You can’t possibly believe you are making inroads in the war on racism.
When you look across the continent and see the abuse suffered by players in places such as Spain, Italy, France, England and Eastern Europe, you can’t possibly believe the culprits are concerned about the stigma of their countries being cited and fined.
You call on the football family to wage war on racists – but isn’t that your job? You were elected president of UEFA in 2016. Since then social media should have made it easy for you.
The cases were being served up on a plate for you with the rise of camera phones.
The evidence was widespread with more and more players – especially in the last year or so – willing to stand up and be counted on the issue.
Still, you continue to fail them. Still, you continue to stick your head in the sand and, on your watch, allow yet another generation of black footballers across Europe to go into football matches without protection from abuse on the basis of the colour of their skin. Your head is in the sand if you seriously believe fines of £9,000 – the amount meted out to Italian club Atalanta for their fans’ racist abuse of Fiorentina star Dalbert – are working.
You remain detached from reality if you believe the £22,000 punishment handed out to Russia last year, for their fans’ racist chanting aimed at the black players of France, was sufficient.
If you were the CEO of a company, you’d be out of a job today, with the avalanche of players citing your failure to protect them a damning indictment of your
ability to fulfil your duty of care. Where are the black decisionmakers around you to at least give you an understanding of how to approach this issue?
Where in your statement is the mention of events at the Vasil Levski National Stadium on Monday night? Where is your acknowledgement of what the England squad went through in Bulgaria?
You describe UEFA’S sanctions as being
“among the toughest in sport for clubs and associations whose supporters are racist at our matches”.
Really?
Why, then, does your three-step protocol effectively allow thugs three chances to hurl their racist invective at black players as they did on Monday? Why were the officials unable to even execute the protocol properly, failing as they did to show leadership and take the players off the field after the second instance of abuse shortly before half time?
Do you really think the fans of Montenegro would have cried themselves to sleep over one match played behind closed doors and a fine of just £17,253 from your organisation after their racist abuse of England’s players in March?
Admit it, UEFA are weak on the issue. Weak on standing up to clubs (especially the big ones) and weak on standing up to countries.
The players should not be determining the quality of their working conditions. The onus is on you to ensure they are safe. We know that racism remains a societal problem.
Other institutions, however, still have stringent punishments that act as a deterrent and serve to ensure employees can go to work without the fear of racist abuse.
On your watch, European football continues to blame everybody but itself.
When you call on the football family to wage war on racism, you are effectively calling on the sport to do your job for you. That is unacceptable.
If you cannot send out a stronger message from the top of the European game, then you should step aside – just as the president of the Bulgaria Football Union, Borislav Mihaylov, has done – and allow someone else to do so.