Racism In Football

RACISM IN FOOTBALL

The ongoing issue, still ignored

"Kick It Out recorded 184 incidents of abuse reported to it at the midway point of this campaign, a 35% increase on the same period last season."

This statistic was gathered back in the season of 2015. 3 years later and racism is still rife in the sport. Football has always had it's struggle to smother out discrimination, yet figures don't seem to be dropping as expected. Whenever the issue is bought up, everyone seems to point back to the 80's. Back then abuse was hurled from the stands towards any black players who featured on the pitch. Not all agreed or joined in with the unfair torment but one thing is for sure, it wasn't erased from the game. Coming into 2017 we appear to be almost no further forward than what we were nearly 40 years ago from erasing this matter.

The concern I have is that there appear to be no serious consequences when a hate crime is committed whether it comes from a player, individual or collective not on the pitch. FIFA have the tendency to impose a minor fine or an even more laughable 'ban'. From all the cases of which have hit the mainstream media, it usually concludes with a sum of money being handed over by a particular club as a deterrent. If anyone can remember the terrible scenes from England u21's visit to Serbia where several young players were constantly abused by Serbian fans. You may recall the so called 'fine' which wasn't by any means a hefty sum. It was £16,000. To me, the most concerning of choices came from the Serbian players. Instead of taking a stand to their fans' constant ring of 'Monkey Noises', the young Serbian's decided to confront the England players. I know a lot can be put down to a simple confrontation between the two teams, but it concerns me that nobody other than the England players had the courage to take a stand. Is it really getting to the point where an individual has to stand up for themselves? Brazil and Real Madrid legend Roberto Carlos, Ex-Arsenal youngster Emmanuel Frimpong and Cameroon International Samuel Eto'o have all had short spells in Russia. What will they most likely want to forget whilst featuring in the notoriously hostile country? The bitter cold? The hours spent travelling from game to game? No, unfortunately the more than frequent racial torment from the stands. I am acknowledging that it is certainly not all fans, but at the same time we're not talking about a couple of hundred, unfortunately it appears to be in the thousands. Again, most of the cases were followed up my another coughing up of pocket change by the clubs who certainly aren't shy of finances. Money can't be used as a deterrent, but I'm sure it will continue to be until a firmer stance is taken by FIFA.

One thing I personally find very frustrating is the half-hearted attempt by organisations to appear that they are directly dealing with this black cloud hanging over the worlds' most loved sport. The banners, the odd leaflet hand-out and the occasional promotional video to 'Kick racism out of football', they're all designed to inform that racism isn't to be tolerated. However, when the fake differences are taught to those who commit hate crimes, a simple banner or leaflet is not effective enough. An in depth education programme needs to be installed by both governing bodies and clubs themselves, to prove that a difference in skin colour and culture is not a reason to hate. If a club completely abolishes those who associate with racism, they can only gain. Families will feel more welcomed to games, players from all over the globe will be drawn in and the football will be the main focus of the club rather than the stigma associated. People on all levels need to be taught the benefits of a hate free club. The sooner that racism is eradicated from football the better. Unfortunately due to a small percentage of fans, a lot perceive the 'standard football fan' as aggresive hooligans who live by what we all witnessed in the 80's. In a lot of ways football in general has progressed leaps and bounds over the last 10 or 20 years, we've witnessed a complete transformation in technoligies, quality of play and football is now a globally sociable community where we can mix with fans from the other side of the planet. Let's not allow a small minority to stereotype and hinder the move forward we need as a sport.

FC St Pauli 5 - 0 Karlsruher SC

"Karlsruined" -

A brief match synopsis - FC St Pauli - Karlsruher SC

Going into this game I have to say I wasn't feeling completely optimistic with how the previous game against Bielefeld finished. A late equalizer is painful enough to take at the best of times but when you're riding on such a run of form, you never want to be denied in such fashion. I started believing recently that we had regained the defensive strength which was a constant last year. No sloppy, halfhearted defending which lead to applying unwanted pressure on the forwards to score more than we were conceding. It's hard to stop goals pouring in when your squad is revolving week by week. It's almost impossible to outscore your opponent also when you have the same problem in your forwards. At the start of the season we didn't have a dominant figure in the squad who we could rely on to bag a goal or two. I didn't see it Bouhaddouz, Sobota, Choi or even Sahin at the time. Now though, we had momentum until the Bielefeld game, which soured a lot of the players as the whistle blew to conclude a frustrating end to the match. I was concerned that spirits would have depleted, and we could be heading back to where we were a few weeks back.

As the game started at a seemingly slow pace I was very interested to see where Bouhaddouz would become significant. I have had a mixed opinion on the Moroccan since joining in July 2016. But nonetheless I thought I'd give him a chance to see what he had to offer. My issue was, he only seemed to do well as a dangerous presence anywhere in or around the 6 yard box. He's a poacher, target-man and general aerial threat. He scored a hat trick in this game, and all 3 goals were inside the box, one of them, a fantastically timed run at the back post which was volleyed in from a few yards out. The second was a squared ball from Sahin which Bouhaddouz took with ease. The final goal was a second counter attack which lead to St Pauli's final goal and completed the number 11's hat trick. Chipping it deliciously over the keeper after dribbling it 30 yards to top off an all-round great performance. He could have had more, he hit the bar with a header and was gifted a handful of half-chances. I did feel almost apologetic for having my doubts on the big man, he really worked hard this game, tormenting and bullying the Karlsruher defence. I just hope this is what he needed, a little confidence boost and a few goals under his name. Prior to this game Bouhaddouz only had a handful of opportunities to score so far this season, the majority running into the opponent's box, with defenders chasing him down and two or three touches to compose himself. He's almost the complete opposite to Choi, who enjoys turning defenders inside-out, changing direction and dazzling with his tight footwork. Put Bouhaddouz in between the two centre-halves and he will challenge them all day long, take him wide or draw him closer to midfield and he will struggle. However, I applaud the centre-forward, it was a highly commendable performance. Great spirit and tenacity.

My second well deserved mention of this thrashing has to go to the young talent who I seem to be handing praise to weekly, Sahin. The guy was at his finest once again. Either wing, he terrified the Karlsruher full backs all game. The Turk is the player who you can tell excites the fans the most. He's dynamic, with an unbelievable agility to his play. I love his desire to burst towards the near post, time and time again he puts his head down and blisters down the wing. The first goal was awarded to Daehli but consisted of a classic Sahin attack down the right side. His shot deflected off the inside of the post and fumbled in off the thigh of the loanee from Freiburg. The second goal of the game, a similar story but this time Sahin crossing to find the keeper who couldn't hold the ball. Sobota followed in the attempt and managed to scramble the ball over the line for St Pauli's second. Again, great athleticism by the 22 year old as he twisted past the Karlsruher back line. As mentioned previously, Sahin also assisted Bouhaddouz on the counter attack. Proof once again that the attacking drive is something that Sahin uses frequently to tear teams apart. Splitting the remaining Karlsruher defender, the same for the keeper, leaving only the empty goal for Bouhaddouz to roll the ball into. One of his best shows on the pitch this year, another to add to his collection of great performances.

My final mention goes to an unlikely source, but one who worked a lot to keep the scoreline as it remained. Heerwagen had a great day, making some potentially match winning saves. A lot of credit went to the attackers in this fixture, but equal recognition should also be given to those at the other end particularly Gonther who was solid all game but more importantly to Heerwagen. If he didn't prevent a handful of chances Karlsruher had to equalise or grab one back, the experienced 33 year old certainly did his part for the team. They weren't all world class saves but he prevented what could have been potential match winning goals. Something I'm sure all players and fans were thankful for post-game. A well earned clean sheet for both the team and Heerwagen personally.

I cannot applaud the team any less as they made it look so easy, especially in the second half. In a game that could have gone so wrong, it actually turned out to be one of the best 90 minutes of football I have seen played at the Milerntor. Wave of attack after attack, it was just a true hunger and team collaboration that got the 3 points at the end of the day. I don't want to single out players as every player on that pitch was excellent. Sobota was worthy of a pat on the back as was Daehli, but all 11 were worthy of such praise. 3 much needed points, but more importantly were 5 much needed goals. We've proved we can score, now hopefully this carries on into the next few games so we can start to separate ourselves from the battle at the bottom of the table. I was convinced that the previous draw against Bielefeld was going to hinder our positivity going into this game, but all credit due to the players and Lienen as they certainly caught me off-guard. I was a proud fan watching this game, there was a relaxed feel which I had never experienced when watching St Pauli before.