No Room For Racism Football Campaign
Not only is racism continuous in America, but it is all over the globe, especially in Europe.
In the past few months, many soccer fans have been chanting racist slurs towards soccer players during the match. On March 25, a Euro 2020 qualifier match was held between England and Montenegro at the Podgorica City Stadium, home to Montenegro. During the match, home fans began to shout monkey chants against some of the English soccer players such as Raheem Sterling and Danny Rose. Sterling, who scored at the 80th minute, pulled his ears out for his celebration to reference to the racial abuse from the Montenegro fans. Despite defeating Montenegro 5 to 1, “a couple of idiots ruined a great night” through unnecessary discrimination against the professional players (Sterling).
*Sterling’s post-match interview*
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47705811
Due to the continuous racism and discrimination towards these players and others from the stands, Premier League teamed up with Kick It Out, an organization formed in 1993 to challenge racism in soccer, to promote “No Room For Racism” (Premier League).
During warm-ups before the game, players wear Kick It Out shirts to promote the organization, and before the match begins, players hold signs that say “No Room For Racism” in order to stop the discrimination because soccer is a sport for all people, a sport everyone can enjoy; “This is everyone’s game” (Premier League).
However, despite the promotion, fans continue to throw racial slurs at the players before, during, and after the game to provoke them*. For example, on April 14, Liverpool and Chelsea, two top teams in England, had a match with Liverpool winning 2 to 0, in which Liverpool star Mohamed Salah scored a goal. Despite the achievement, Chelsea fans began to chant “Salah is a bomber”, referencing Salah to terrorists because of his Egyptian and Middle Eastern backgrounds.
* Fans tend to provoke athletes in order to annoy the players and make them conduct bad behavior, which may lead to a yellow or red card depending on the severeness of the action. If a player receives a yellow card, then they may not be able to play the next game. If a player receives a red card, the player may not be able to play up to 3 or more games, which will affect the team performance.
Danny Rose, who was also a victim of the racial slurs at the England vs Montenegro, commented that he “can’t wait to see the back of football”, alluding that he desires to retire from soccer due to the unending racism not only is he receiving, but also many others throughout the different leagues in Europe such as the use of the n-word in LaLiga and monkey chants toward Balotelli in Serie A.
THIS IS EVERYONE’S GAME.
Enough Football Campaign
Not only did the Premier League stand against racism, but the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) also began a trend of #Enough to defy the increasing racist abuse soccer players are receiving. On April 19, professional soccer players and fans uploaded the following image on Instagram to stand against racism. Through social media, the PFA is able to bring worldwide attention to the unacceptable discrimination to the soccer community with soccer players sharing this campaign to their millions of fans.
