It is so sad that in this century, we still have to fight bigots who have vowed to relentlessly taint the beautiful game of football with racial abuse and lack of regard for players due to their skin colors.
Were it in the stone ages, perhaps, one could have given the excuse of lack of awareness, information and ignorance. This, however, is not the case with a lot of effort going out daily by various medium to ensure that racism has no place in the game.
Football players have since forever been subjects of racial abuse from, sometimes opposition fans and at other times, their own fans. In fact, match officials have also been culpable of this. This begs the question of, is the fight against racism real, if those who are meant to uphold the standards belittle it.
Fresh in our memory is the UEFA Champions game between Paris Saint German and Istanbul Basaksehir where it took the outspokenness of former Chelsea striker, Demba Ba, whose Assistant Coach, Pierre Webo was said to have have been attacked with a racist word by fourth official, Sebastian Coletscu. This led to players of both teams walking off the pitch in protest with the game rescheduled.
The English Premier League used to be the toast of other leagues. Recently, however, the fire of racism seems to be razing down the quality and respect of the league and the custodians need to act swiftly, else, it ruins the image of the league and even the country.
Just last week, Manchester United midfielder, Fred was also a victim of racist attack on Instagram. The Brazilian was at fault for Leicester City's first goal against the Reds in their quarterfinal FA Cup tie which was punished by Kelechi Iheanacho with United eventually losing out 3-1 on the night.
This is coming just as the beautiful game was still trying to forget the racial attack on another Manchester United player, Anthony Martial who was attacked on social Media following their draw against West Bromwich Albion on February 14.
A third United player, Alex Tuanzebe was, alongside Martial (again) racially abused after United shockingly lost to Sheffield United in the Premier League in January.
Looking at the foregoing examples, one thing is common - the team lost/drew those games hence, the attacks. This only points to the fact that the abusers are supporters of the club. When the team wins, everybody is fantastic but when the team loses, the colored ones are the culprits.
For argument's sake, let's even assume that the abusers were rival fans like we've seen in different cases with previous victims like Mario Balotelli, Samue Eto'o and a host of others, that's understandable because opposition fans will try all gimmicks to ensure their team wins, but, what do you call it when your own fans abuse you?
In July 2018, When Mesut Ozil announced his retirement from the German national team, he cited the same problem. He was singularly blamed for their lacklustre outing at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and he also claimed to have been subjected to racial attacks. This is someone who in 2017 has won the Germany Player of the Year five times in six years (2011-2013, 2015-2016). In the same vein, when they win, he's fantastic but when things are badtbey remember he is of Turkish descent.
The authorities need to go stiffer with punishments for these acts as it seems they are not doing enough. Lifetime bans, imprisonment may be employed if that will stem the tide.
Earlier this season, Crystal Palace forward, Wilfred Zaha also opted to refuse taking a knee as has become the custom before league games, as a show of solidarity to the #BlackLivesMatter movement because he felt this act was just been done as lip service and it didn't stop the attacks from occurring.
To the authorities, they need to do more in ensuring that racism is stopped before it ruins the game for us. And, for social media platforms, they also need to act swiftly, like they always do when copyrights are infringed on. Just yesterday, Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry announced that he was closing all his social media pending when the authorities find a lasting solution to this menace. We don't have to wait until this things results into chaos and possibly, loss of lives.
To all fans, the beautiful game of football has only three possible outcomes; win, draw or lose. The hallmark of a true supporter is to stand by their team and players, regardless of which of the outcomes. Let's not make ourselves nuisances to the beautiful sport.
NO ROOM FOR RACISM!!!