Give racist fans the boot
Cue the ugly English soccer hooligan.
Within moments of England’s sudden-death loss July 11 to Italy in a shootout to decide the European soccer championship, angry English fans had unleashed a torrent of racist abuse on social media aimed at three Black players on the team who had missed crucial penalty kicks.
Some of these so-called “fans” are no doubt the same people who’d been booing the English team during Euro 2020 competition for taking a momentary knee before matches to protest racism and discrimination.
Thankfully, the players targeted — Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and 19-year-old Bukayo Saka — received immediate, widespread support, coupled with strong condemnations of the hate, from many corners, including Prince William, who said he was “sickened” by the online racism and called for perpetrators to “be held accountable.”
We hope that happens, and that those responsible receive stiff penalties for their ugly behaviour.
On July 12, London Metropolitan police opened an investigation into what they called the “unacceptable” online abuse directed at Sancho, Rashford and Saka.
English soccer fans, of course, hold no patent on despicable behaviour.
On July 9, UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) ordered Hungary’s next three competitive matches played without fans, and fined the national association, for its supporters’ “discriminatory behaviour” at previous games, including racial slurs and homophobic chants. Bulgaria faced similar, though less punitive, UEFA punishment in 2019. Racist taunts from soccer stands targeting Black players have sparked a flood of complaints in countries across Europe for years.
But it’s hardly just a soccer or European problem.
In North America, both Black and Indigenous athletes, amateur and professional, and of all ages, have long been subjected to racist abuse at games and sporting events — from the stands, from competitors and, in the internet age, on social media.
The ugly incident in England after the soccer final at London’s Wembley Stadium is yet the latest reminder that racism is a worldwide disease — a scourge that knows no borders or sports exempt from its reach.
And it doesn’t have to be as overt as what happened at the Euros. Last month, a number of Canadian athletes headed to Tokyo for the Summer Olympics publicly shared the kinds of racism they’ve faced as members of minorities in this country, including during interactions with police and in being snubbed for marketing opportunities in favour of lower-ranked, but white, teammates.
Having appropriate, effective anti-racism legislation, and aggressively investigating and charging perpetrators, is critical.
There should be zero tolerance for racist or similar discriminatory taunts, verbal or written, from those in attendance at athletic events, amateur or professional. Spectators who cross that line should be ejected and, when appropriate, banned from all future contests.
Social media companies need to do a better job of eliminating racist posts and cancelling offenders’ accounts.
Racism in sports is a deep, pervasive problem. We must be relentless in fighting back.