Racism In Europe

God created man in his own image

Footballers are not bothered with having integrated football clubs (or maybe they are just not showing it), they continue to play with black players (with the exception of Luis Suarez). It’s the supporters who are the cause of such discrimination.

People making monkey sounds and acting like monkeys is similar to the loser sign. When somebody calls you a loser, and puts the loser sign up against their forehead, think about it ... They have the loser sign on their forehead, so the same thing applies with the monkey chants and body language ... The person who is doing the action and making the sound, is the loser or the monkey.

We are a long way away from ridding football of racism. Recently, Sky Sports News uncovered horrific racism in professional football and heard from players and staff who have suffered.

Although racism in football started a long time ago, the most recent racism acts have captured the attention of the world.

EURO2012

Black Holland players were racially abused by spectators during their open practice session at Stadion Miejski when Nigel de Jong and Gregory van der Wiel were subjected to monkey chants. In response, they moved their training drills to the other side of the ground.

"It is a real disgrace especially after getting back from Auschwitz that you are confronted with this," Van Bommel said. "We will take it up with UEFA and if it happens at a match we will talk to the referee and ask him to take us off the field."

UEFA tried to deny that it was racially motivated, saying they had checked with the Dutch squad and had been told it was not thought to be of that nature. Apparently, the crowd was protesting that Krakow had not been made one of the host cities. In addition, Wisla's supporters did not want their stadium being used by anyone but their own club and were simply booing the Dutch players.

Instead of addressing the issue ... Excuses ... Excuses ... Excuses!!!

There was more racist chanting during the Euro 2012 matches between Spain and Italy and Russia and Czech Republic.

DANNY WELBECK

An astonishing discovery was made about this photograph, looking at the background; a lot of people can easily miss the second man on the bottom left hand side. The football fan raises his hands up under his armpits to imitate a monkey while appearing to chant animal sounds.

Police launched an investigation and arrested the 28 year old Chelsea fan who made monkey gestures during a Capital One Cup match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. The monkey gesture was directed towards United footballer Danny Welbeck.

In the meantime, Chelsea players said referee Mark Clattenburg told John Mikel Obi to 'shut it, monkey'. It seems Chelsea can dish it out but they cannot take it.

KEVIN-PRINCE BOATENG

Kevin-Prince Boateng walks off pitch - video

Kevin-Prince Boateng alongside Captain Massimo Ambrosini and the rest of his team mates left the pitch, leading to the suspension of their friendly with Pro Patria in Busto Arsizio in the 26th minute after he was racially abused by fans. When Boateng had heard enough, he grabbed the ball and kicked it against a barrier that separated him and the racist abusers.

Boateng and other black players, Urby Emanuelson, Sulley Muntari and M'Baye Niang, had been subjected to racist abuse from a section of the Carlo Speroni stadium. Milan tried to get the referee to intervene, but the referee dismissed their complaints. In walking off, Milan was taking a step against racism.

The incident happened a few hours after AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi stated that his players will always walk off the pitch in future in protest at racist abuse. Little did he know that ‘in future’ was just a few hours away.

Ruud Gullit was also fed up with the racist abuse he had received. Milan backed him then as they did Boateng now.

"Shame that these things still happen. Stop racism for ever" - was what Boateng wrote on Twitter.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter

Sepp Blatter did not think that walking off was the solution. “The only solution is to be very harsh with the sanctions — and the sanctions must be a deduction of points or something similar,” said Blatter.

Blatter seems to forget that we all deal with race differently. There is no right or wrong way. It's the right decision for the abused person and not anyone else, all you can do, is support them.

JOZY ALTIDORE

Referee Reinold Wiedemeijer stopped the KNVB Cup tie twice, between AZ Alkmaar and FC Den Bosch. Although AZ Alkmaar won the tie 5-0 it was difficult due to fans with racist chanting towards Jozy Altidore, the only black player on the team, and throwing snowballs at an assistant referee. Although the match was stopped a couple of times, Altidore insisted that the match went on. Director Den Bosch asked the crowd to stop the abuse, but to no avail.

After the match, Altidore said, 'I feel like I have an obligation as a football player, to my club, to my family, to not react to things like this and to show that the club stands better than that, that I was raised better than to respond to such ridiculous behaviour.' Altidore also said it was the first time he had experienced racism like this, on or off the field.

"I didn't want to give them the satisfaction and I thought the best way to respond was to keep playing and to try and win the game," he added. "I'm proud of the club, you know, for the way they responded, and my team mates. We kept playing the game."

UEFA ANTI-RACISM

UEFA has reinforced its stand against racism and, together with the players' body FIFPro, supports the cause to eradicate racism from football and society.

Annually in October, UEFA uses premier club competitions to make a stand against racism by giving its support to the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) Action Weeks. At all 40 UEFA club competition matches, teams are accompanied onto the pitch by children wearing Unite Against Racism T-shirts and team captains are asked to wear Unite Against Racism armbands. This was also seen during the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

The fight against racism in football began a long time ago, but its effects are yet to be seen. Hopefully FIFA can eradicate it, even though at times it seems like a never ending struggle. With the help of footballers and supporters who should put their differences aside for the sake of the future of football.

Transfer Window (January 2013)

Every football club needs something or someone: if it's not a goalkeeper like Edwin van der Sar, it's a defender like Dani Alves, a midfielder like Xavi Hernandez, a winger like Cristiano Ronaldo, or an attacker like Lionel Messi.

So for one, which club needed who and why?

It's exemplary for a manager to hear the voices of the critics, pundits and analysts and use these voices to improve their club.

 

Some managers have the legs to fill up in the areas where they are needed most, however, these legs are sent off on loan and new players are brought in, or no player is brought in at all. Other managers try to hold onto their players because they are a huge part of their survival to escape relegation: West Brom rejected a second bid from QPR for Peter Odemwingie. Although West Bromwich Albion rejected the signing of Odemwingie, the manager didn’t sign anyone during the transfer window.

 

Just a few transfer which caught the eye of the media:

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Clubs like Arsenal are harder to understand because right now they are sixth on the Barclays Premier League table. Arsenal need a consistent striker, and the club itself needs to be more consistent. Lately Giroud and Walcott have been making it on the score sheets. Yet, if one or both of them had to suffer an injury, who would be put upfront since Chamakh has been sent out on loan to West Ham? Wenger hardly uses the January transfer window, but if he wants Arsenal in the top four at the end of the season, he would've used the window to his full advantage. Instead, he only signed one footballer, Nacho Monreal. Unfortunately, bids for David Villa, Demba Ba, were not successful. Football pundits doubt Arsenal will finish in the top four this season. Which means what? Could that be the end of Arsene Wenger?

 

 

Chelsea on the other hand was in dire need of a striker besides the presence of Torres, who is not as dominant upfront as he ought to be. On a positive note, besides Sturridge leaving for Liverpool, Chelsea bought Demba Ba from Newcastle United, and in less than a month at Stamford Bridge, Demba Ba has scored three goals in his first few starts for Chelsea. Ba has also been chosen to start on numerous occassions, with Torres left on the bench. Chelsea actually paid less for a striker who does his job, unlike the amount they paid for Torres. The fans may not want Rafael Benitez, but it seems he has made a good signing, unless it was Abramovich’s idea to sign Ba, if that is the case, then no credit should be given to Benitez.

 

 

Liverpool has become a shadow in the Premier League, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said he doesn't even know where they are on the table. These Reds need a striker, attacking midfielder, and a stronger defence. The arrival of Daniel Sturridge has solved the Reds striker troubles, Sturridge and Suarez seem to work well together. The Reds also bought midfielder Philippe Coutinho to sort out their midfield issue.

 

Manchester United's noisy neighbours, Manchester City didn't need much during the transfer window, just a ball playing centre back and central midfield playmaker. However, they made one purchase during the transfer window and that was for attacker Godsway Donyon to seal the opening Mario Balotelli left when he went to AC Milan.

 

Manchester United on the other hand suffers in midfield, the Red Devils need a holding midfielder, someone like Xavi or Lampard and instead, they bought Zaha from Crystal Palace. A few seasons ago, Manchester United had Zoran Tosic and Darren Gibson, they showed a lot of potential, Gibson even fired shots like Scholes. Would the Red Devils have midfield trouble if these two were still in the mix? Some questions are better left unanswered.

 

 

Newcastle United are weak upfront and even weaker defensively. A striker and two defenders are what they need. Newcastle has 5 new footballers in their mix; Mapou Yang-Mbiwa, Massadio Haidara, Mathieu Debuchy, Yoan Gouffran, Moussa Sissoko and Kevin Mbabu. Hopefully these signings will get Newcastle out of the bottom half of the table.

 

It didn't look like Tottenham Hotspur would make a signing at this transfer window, but they are in need of a striker who is more flexible, in other words, one who can go wide. Instead, Andre Villas-Boas only bought a defender and a midfielder. Fans were left dumbfounded as they expected last minute signings, but the transfer window closed with AVB only making two signings. Moreover, some fans even mentioned that Harry Redknapp was very active during the transfer window while he was still manager at Spurs. That should leave a bad reflection on AVB.

 

RELEGATION BATTLE

 

At Wigan Athletic, all positions, especially up front, need to be improved. Martinez looked to make an analysis of who he needs at Wigan. Martinez signed Roger Espinoza and 3 loan deals of Joel Robles, Paul Scharner and Angelo Henriquez (midfielder, goalkeeper, defender, and attacker).

 

When it comes to Aston Villa, whether the problem lies in management or in the team, only time will tell. Yet, it was not this bad during Alex McLeish's reign. Villa are in the relegation zone but Lambert has made one signing and an attacker who’s on loan. Similar to QPR, Villa need a centre-half, midfielder and another striker. With such little efforts made by the manager to get his club out of the relegation zone, it seems Villa may remain there for a while.

 

"I know we need to improve, but it's not easy," said Harry Redknapp, which is what he has tried to do this transfer window. Queens Park Rangers needs to strenghthen the whole team; strong defence, a playmaker like Xavi in midfield and an energetic attacker upfront. QPR needs a strong defence, yet how is that possible with the loans of defender Anton Ferdinand and attacker Rob Hulse? Nevertheless, the signing of Tal Ben Haim, Loic Remy, Yun Suk-Young, Christopher Samba, Jermaine Jenas and Andros Townsend on loan, this could be the beginning of QPR's battle to get out of the relegation zone.

 

OTHER LEAGUES

 

Mario Balotelli

Balotelli made a £22 million move from Manchester City to AC Milan. The Italian signed a contract that runs until 2017. According to Balotelli, he has wanted to go to AC Milan for a long time. For someone who has had a ton of bad publicity, with his infamous ‘WHY ALWAYS ME?’ undershirt, fans have accepted him, sold jersey's with his name and number before he even signed. They also celebrated Balotelli's arrival until they clashed with police. Maybe the English Premier League will miss him, he did bring a few laughs to the league, but his misconduct will not be missed.

David Beckham

Beckham has signed a 5 month deal with French league leaders Paris Saint-Germain. His salary will go to a children’s charity in Paris. Beckham said many clubs wanted to sign him at this stage in his career, and if he had to go to the English Premier League, he would never play for another Premier League club other than Manchester United. Most footballers say that, but this is David Beckham, not Cristiano Ronaldo, we’ll see what his next step is when his 5 month contract ends.

Didier Drogba

Drogba agreed to an 18 month deal to move from Shanghai Shenhua to Turkish side Galatasaray. However, Shanghai plan on contesting the move to Galatasaray because Drogba is still under contract at the Chinease club. When it comes to this mix-up, only time will tell. Will Drogba move to Galatasaray, or will he remain at Shanghai Shenhua?

Wesley Sneijder

Sneijder completed a move to Galatasaray on a 3½ contract from Inter Milan. He was open to a move to the English Premier League, but Galatasaray made the first move for the Dutch international. His move to the Turkish club came after a few years of speculation that he wanted to leave Inter Milan but at the time, he only came close to signing for Manchester United.

 

BIGGEST UPSET



The QPR bid for Peter Odemwingie was rejected more than once. The footballer was determined to join QPR, but West Brom wanted to hold onto the player. At his age, Odemwingie was either captivated by another club wanting him, or the better wages he would be earning. Besides all that, the footballer even went to QPR last night hoping that the deal between QPR and West Brom had been finalised, but to his dismay, an agreement could not be met by the two clubs.

 

Rumours Will Always Be Rumours

Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United

Luka Modric – Premier League

Neymar – Barcelona, Chelsea & Manchester City

David Villa - Arsenal

 

 

Who was the best buy of the January transfer window?

Damba Ba?

Daniel Sturridge?

Loic Remy?

Mario Balotelli?

Only at the end of the season will we be able to tell the tale.

 

All European football transfers can be viewed at soccer news