Just like the National Front used to target football grounds in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, neo-Nazi and neo-fascist groups are now targeting football grounds around Europe for recruitment. The worst affected clubs are Lazio and Verona in Italy, PSG in France and Real Zaragoza, and Real Madrid in Spain. A series of incidents in Southern Europe has highlighted this over the past few years.
In November 2004, Spain entertained England in a friendly match at the Bernabeu in Madrid. The fact that England were outclassed by Spain and lost the match 1-0 seems to have been forgotten for different reasons. Thousands of Spanish fans in the stadium appeared to be Neanderthal in their racist chanting as they were making monkey noises every time second half substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips touched the ball. The chanting was heard by millions of English fans who watched the match on the BBC and the commentators condemned the chanting.
In response, the British Sports Minister (Richard Carbon) wrote to his Spanish counterpart, insisting that action be taken. The English FA were already preparing to write to FIFA and UEFA in the aftermath of the under-21 encounter between the two nations when Glenn Johnson, Darren Bent and Carlton Cole were the targets of racist chanting.
The British media blamed Spanish coach Luis Aragones for the incident as prior to the match a Spanish TV crew filmed him trying to motivate Jose Antonio Reyes by making racist references to his teammate Thierry Henry. He used the phrase “Demeustra que eres major que ese negro de mierda”, which translates in English “Show that you’re better than that shitty black guy”.
The Spanish FA declined to take any action, but after an investigation UEFA fined the federation $87,000 and warned that any future incidents would be punished more severely (like suspension from major international tournaments or playing behind closed doors).
A few years later football in Spain was in the media again for the wrong reasons. In February 2006, Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o suffered from racially-driven verbal abuse by fans of Real Zaragoza. During the match fans began making monkey-like chants whenever he had possession of the ball and peanuts were hurled onto the pitch. Eto’o threatened to leave the pitch in protest but his teammates calmed him down. Barcelona won the match 4-1 and Eto’o danced like a monkey when he scored, stating he did it as rival fans were treating him like a monkey. Surprisingly, referee Fernando Carmona Mendez did not mention the incidents in his match report.
Article comments
1 - alessandro nicolo
I saw the game regarding the Zoro incident. Awful. Of Italy and Spain, I think Spain and Aragones have been downright oblivious. It's a black mark on football. Good piece. Well documented.
2 - RJ Elliott
Fine piece.
But tell me, is there any racial abuse when White soccer/football players play in Africa or Asia?
3 - alessandro nicolo
Yeah. And do they know it's Christmas?
4 - Mell x
Well I am only 15 but I am studying racsim in football for a piece of GCSE coursework I am doing. I find it upsetting that people are picked on because of their colour or accent. We are all made of the same organs it is just some people look different. What would the world be like if we were all the same? I just find it a bit upsetting! I am enjoying studying this, and maybe in the future we can do more to prevent anymore racist acts against anyone.