The world we live in is diverse in nature and the inhabitants of the planet Earth are even more diversified. However, the beauty of this diversity is somehow overshadowed by the ugly face of racism.
Racism is not confined only to an individual’s skin colour, it has various other facets like religion, region, gender, etc. A little kid would never know the meaning of racism, unless he observes his elders either being victimised or victimising others. As he grows up, he either enters the list of victims or ends up becoming a racist.
This article aims to focus on some racially motivated incidents, which have so far occurred in the world of football.
1. Raheem Sterling
The Manchester City forward faced a racist comment on Dec 8, 2018 during a match against Chelsea. Sterling reported that while he was retrieving ball from the byline, a Chelsea fan called him a “f****ng black.”
He took to Instagram to report the incident and stated that although he laughed at the racial comment, as he could expect nothing better, he believes that British media plays a big role in the racial coverage of black and white athletes.
Later, former England coach Gary Neville stated that this wasn’t the first time that Sterling was a victim of racism. Incidents like these had been happening for a long time. He recalled that Sterling approached him during the Euro Cup in 2016, telling Neville how unbearable it was getting for him to cope up with racial comments.
2. Kalidou Koulibaly
The Napoli defender became a victim of racism during the club’s match against Inter Milan, on Boxing Day. Koulibaly was subjected to ‘monkey chants’ by the crowd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwSKQWeXrdk
The manager for Napoli, Carlo Ancelloti later said that they requested the match to be suspended as Koulibaly was repeatedly subjected to racism by the crowd. The announcement was made thrice in order to stop the abrupt behaviour of the crowd, but it was of no use.
3. Dani Alves
The Brazilian player suffered a racially motivated outburst in 2014 at a Barcelona vs. Villarreal match. During the game, a fan of the rival team threw a banana at him. What came out as a shock was, instead of getting offended, Alves picked up the banana, peeled it and ate it! He later described that racism should be treated with a bit of humour.
The world has been abruptly divided into white, black and brown. People judge each other on the grounds of skin colour. Today, a huge amount of the global population has become a victim of racism.
While Orientalism has somehow occupied a competent place in the world, it has also widened the gap between the East and the West. The connotations of differences based on race need to be eradicated from the minds of the people. We need to understand that capability is what matters, and skin colour cannot be the basis of one’s success and calibre.