Institutional Racism in Football2 min read

Say no to racism.

That’s the phrase we see in the Champions League before, during and after matches take place yet the disgusting remarks are ever present in the game.

Time and again we have witnessed players from the BAME demographic suffer racism on the pitch in the hands of ultras – throwing bananas and collectively displaying monkey chants.

It’s happened to the likes of Brazilian right back Dani Alves and English left back Danny Rose.

When responding to these absurd acts of discrimination, clubs and associations apologise by saying they can’t control what type of fans travel to matches.

In light of recent events regarding the England Women’s team manager Mark Sampson and his slurs against Eniola Aluko and Drew Spence, we now know that racism in football occurs off the pitch as well; amongst coaches and players.

The coaching staff of a football club are supposed to be the respected, experienced, authoritative figures that players can look up to and seek help whenever there is any trouble.

Racially abusing someone and trying to justify your actions as a form of ‘banter’ shouldn’t sway the opportunity of carrying out a full investigation to resolve the problem. But this has happened.

Players like Aluko have demanded an enquiry over internal racism and the Football Association continually dismissed Sampson’s horrific remarks since 2014.

Reports suggest that the FA failed to compensate the Chelsea striker in full as they wanted her to refute the claim that the Association was institutionally racist.

Aluko felt this was a form of blackmail.

It’s not until now that the FA have fully come forward and apologised for their delays and light dismissal of Mark Sampson.

Discrimination should not be an issue in football due to the amount of diversity and fan support worldwide yet it’s a problem that keeps latching on due to a certain number of people’s stupidity.

There is no sportsmanship in racism and even though ‘locker room talk’ is some what of a tradition behind close doors, there still needs to be a line of professionalism maintained between a coach and his/her players.

Otherwise the team will fall apart.