Faux media outrage cannot cover up the problem of racism in football

The fact that I can even write an article about racism in modern-day football is totally wrong. You’d think the days of monkey chants, discrimination and repulsive comments in the stands were left in the 70s/80s. You would be wrong.

Yesterday, Arthur Masuaku of West Ham posted screenshots of messages sent by a ‘fan’ on Instagram: “This team is only for white people, your s*** get out.” Condemned by many as ‘just one idiot’. This could not be further from the truth. Whether you wish to accept it or not, racism has been embedded in the foundations of football all over Europe: and the odd newspaper labelling people as ‘disgusting’ does not mask this. In fact, the media are one of the main culprits for this deep-rooted hatred.

Most people who follow football media will have already seen this example, but have a look at these three headlines from the Daily Mail, all covering the same issue. (FYI: Phil Foden had not started a Premier League game either when he bought his mum her house).

 

So, just to summarise: 3 footballers buy new houses. One footballer is made out as generous, two as ‘splashing out’ and ‘showing off’. All three are English, all three represent Manchester City. What’s the main difference between them? Phil Foden is white. Tosin Adarabioyo and Raheem Sterling are black.

Think I’m overreacting? Here’s a list of things that Raheem Sterling has been criticised for in the media, as in WHOLE ARTICLES have ACTUALLY BEEN PUBLISHED on NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS’ WEBSITES:

• Wanting a pay rise after having a fantastic debut season (labelled ‘greedy’)
• Flying on easyJet
• Driving a car that was dirty
• Proposing to his ‘long-suffering’ girlfriend, labelled a ‘love rat’ (actual quotes)
• Going on a holiday with a friend
• Going out for breakfast after not winning Young Player of the Year
• Getting a tattoo dedicated to his dead dad
• Shopping at Poundland
• Eating a Greggs
• Shopping at Primark
• Going on holiday for 2 weeks during his summer break
• Doing a balloon (or, as The Sun labelled it, ‘hippy crack’)
• Buying expensive cars (they worked out the cost of every car he’s ever had)
• Having a tattoo of a gun after a teenager was stabbed in London (totally unrelated incidents, but the opening paragraph read: “Two more teenagers were killed over the weekend as Sterling revealed his controversial gun tattoo”. His gun tattoo is dedicated to his dead father, who was shot.
• Wearing an England kit which was made by underpaid workers (as EVERY SINGLE ENGLAND PLAYER DOES)
• Turning up late to training despite being given an extended break and returning within that deadline
• Not scoring in an England game, despite the fact he set up the winner.
• Diving (a feature article written on him getting booked for diving and no mention of England winning a game AT ALL)
• Not scoring against Colombia (headline was about Sterling’s goal drought, not that England had won their first ever penalty shoot-out).
• Eating ice cream in Venice
• Missing chances during the warm-up for England vs Spain (a game which England won 3-2 and STERLING SCORED TWICE IN).
• Being an unused substitute in a game which Man City won.
• Wearing a hat to training
• Buying a dog
• Doing stepovers in the Manchester derby
• John Stones breaking up with the mother of his daughter (Raheem Sterling is the feature picture, despite him having nothing to do with the break-up. He’s not even mentioned in the article)

 

Anyone still sceptical? A few years ago Juan Mata was labelled a hero after pledging to donate 1% of his weekly salary to charity. A lovely gesture. Made national newspaper headlines. Wilfried Zaha has donated 10% of his weekly salary to charity for his entire career. Unfortunately, most newspapers didn’t fancy reporting that when he made this information public.

STILL SCEPTICAL? Here’s a list of The Sun’s most overrated Premier League players:

1. Paul Pogba (black)
2. Mo Salah (Muslim)
3. Mesut Ozil (Muslim)
4. Dele Alli (mixed-race)
5. Riyad Mahrez (Muslim)
6. Hugo Lloris (white)
7. Wilfried Zaha (black)
8. Yerry Mina (black)
9. Ryan Sessegnon (black)
10. Roberto Firmino (Brazillian)

 

Here’s some stats for you:

• Paul Pogba is the current top-scoring midfielder (13 goals) in the Premier League, is in the Team of the Year and won the World Cup with France last summer. He also has 9 assists this season. He’s just 26 years old.
• Mo Salah broke the record for most goals in a season in 2017/18 (32 goals in 38 games). He is the current top scorer in the Premier League, as well as being a Champions League semi-finalist and one of the most important players for one of the best teams the Premier League has ever seen.
• No player has more assists than Mesut Ozil since he joined the Premier League (at the time of writing).
• Dele Alli has nearly double the number of goals and assists than Frank Lampard did at this age (a Premier League legend). In fact, his stats are also better than Cristiano Ronaldo’s were at his age. He has also won the Young Player of the Year.
• Riyad Mahrez won Player of the Year after he spearheaded one of the greatest sporting achievements EVER in Leicester winning the league. He got 17 goals and 11 assists that season. He has seen his game time limited a lot this season after joining a star-studded Man City.
• Wilfried Zaha is the second most fouled player in the league this season after Eden Hazard. He has 9 goals and 3 assists this season (not including the 6 penalties that he’s won). This is 6 times the number of goal involvements as Kevin de Bruyne (one of the best midfielders in the league) in fewer games. Stats show he is one of the best dribblers in Europe, with his price tag being quoted at £70m.
• Yerry Mina has spent less than a season in the Premier League. He has only played 12 games and has been injured for most of the year.
• Ryan Sessegnon scored 16 goals and got 8 assists in the Championship last season. He won Championship Player of the Season. He was just 17 years old. He still averages a goal/assist every other game this season in his first ever season in the top flight. Again, he is now just 18 years old.

 

Surely though, despite it being evident at fan level and in the media, UEFA, FIFA and the FA don’t put up with it? Well, of course they condemn it. But the lack of serious action on display following the racist abuse during Montenegro vs England was shocking. The Montenegran FA were fined a mere £20,000 following monkey impressions being thrown at England’s black players. To give you some context, Christian Benteke, a striker who has scored 1 goal from open play in 16 months, earns that in LESS THAN 2 DAYS.

‘Kick It Out’ and ‘Enough’ are great campaigns to try and fight racism, but they are simply not doing enough. They seem to only be raising awareness for a problem which everyone knows is there and everyone knows is wrong. Until serious action is taken, racism will not stop.

National papers can tweet out all they want ‘condemning’ the ‘appalling’ behaviour of fans. Football’s governing bodies can ‘punish’ offenders in the way they currently do. But until everyone realises that these organisations, who make out that they’re above this conduct, accept that they are more responsible than everyone else, then nothing will be solved.