Racism will continue for many years to come in world football and continue to tarnish the image of the beautiful game as long as Fifa fails to take serious action.
I was left very dejected on Sunday while watching the blockbuster Premier League encounter between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Blues’ victory was overshadowed by what happened during the match. Chelsea emerged 2-0 victors during a match that saw Spurs fans chant racist remarks at Antiono Rudiger.
The German international immediately reported the incident to referee Anthony Taylor. The match officials called the two captains and two coaches over to discuss the matter. After those consultations, a few warnings were fired and the game continued.
For me that was not enough. The game should have been abandoned. Both sets of players should have walked off and Spurs should have been docked points.
My view is that releasing statements to condemn racism won’t solve the problem. This is not what we want. But as long as the governing body of world football doesn’t send a strong message in an attempt to curb racism, this is set to continue for many more years.
It was clear that the Spurs supporters were the ones who abused Rudiger and the club should suffer the consequences for the behaviour of their fans.
It should be in the Fifa rulebook that if a club’s supporters abuse the players of the opposition team, the game must be abandoned and the offenders should be docked three points.
Those sections of fans must be identified using CCTV cameras. After that they should be banned for life from attending football matches in future.
I can tell you, with this kind of punitive measures in place, the racism will be done away with. The fact that there are no rules on racism gives a clear indication that Fifa doesn’t take it seriously.
We are tired of these statements that do not do anything to end this disease called racism. Statements or words won’t solve this problem. We need to take major actions. At the moment, it is not happening and the racist fans are getting away with it. That’s the saddest part.
But what do you expect? Maybe they do not even care. This has been going on for decades.
Rules change every season and every year. There are new rules every year, but there’s not even a single one on racism. How come? Because clearly that is one of the main problems that is facing world football. But maybe this is not a major problem in the eyes of Fifa. It is sad and tarnishing the image of football.
@minenhlecr
The Star
Like us on Facebook
Follow
us on Twitter