Racism in Sports and the Actions Taken3 min read

Sports has become the hub for incidences of racial injustice. This is a big issue because players are very upset with how it is being dealt with and it’s bringing up the question, is playing worth the hustle if racial remarks are going to persist?

There are many reports of racial injustice across different sporting activities, some even happen in the UK. England football player Danny Rose was a victim of racial hatred during a match against Montenegro.

During the game, he was subjected to the spectators chanting the sounds of a monkey and towards the end, the chants became louder when he got penalised for a foul.

This incident is a larger issue there has involved numerous incidences of racial wrongdoing in sports.

Rose has made a comment: “I have had enough,” he said.

“At the minute, how I’ve programmed myself now, I just think that I’ve got five or six more years left in football and I just can’t wait to see the back of it, seeing how things are done in the game at the minute.” This was after the lax precaution made to rectify the situation.

In that regard, Danny isn’t wrong about the actions it takes to do something about racial injustice. In other countries, the point of action with incidences like race or disrespectful outbursts are usually dealt with a fine.

Rose has commented on the differences with what was done in regard to his match with Serbia a couple of years ago.

The actions taken for that caused the future under-21 games to be played indoors and a fine, “Obviously, it is a bit sad [to feel like this] but when countries only get fined what I’d probably spend on a night out in London, what do you expect?” Rose said.

This action speaks to what was done to Mauricio Pochettino and how it differs.

The Tottenham Hotspur manager made a complaint to the referee after the game that turned out to be hostile and led him to not only pay a fine of £10,000 but also a two-game touchline ban.

Along with Rose, Pochettino made a comment in regard to his players being victimised racially, “If I feel the abuse and I hear it, then out – stop,” Pochettino said.

“There is nothing more important than to stop that. You can win or you can lose a game, but we cannot be hypocrites with this.”

Racial injustice has been a plague in sports and not only in the UK. In America, it was widely reported with the actions of NFL player Colin Kaepernick.

With the continual injustice of crime against Black people, he and his fellow teammates knelt during the national anthem and in doing so, there was a domino effect of what happened to his career after that.

He used the protest to shed light on how wrong the system is in regards to Black people not just in sports.

This just begs the question if sportsmen and women are being attacked for the colour of their skin, when will it stop?

Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash