Eddie Mungai

The month of December, known in global soccer as the festive holiday period where inticing match-ups are jampacked into a span of several weeks, has revealed itself to be a month of rampant racism. In this month alone, there have already been three high-profile incidents of discrimination against black soccer players in the Premier League and the Italian Serie A respectively. I am sure there have been more racist incidents directed toward African/African descent players outside of the top European soccer leagues that have gone unnoticed in the month of December, which is an unfortunate thought. The frequency of these incidents is alarming, and it shows FIFA’s “Say No To Racism” campaign is useless.

In case you have been living under a rock, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Gabonese striker for Arsenal FC, had a banana peel thrown at him by a Tottenham Hotspur fan while celebrating his first goal in the 4-2 victory over rivals Spurs. Raheem Sterling of Manchester City was grabbing a ball from the touchline for a throw-in where he was berated by several Chelsea fans, where one called him a “f*****g black c**t”. And just yesterday, in a Serie A game, Senegalese Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly was subject to racist chants from the Inter fans. His frustration led him to receive a second yellow and was ejected from the game.

Quick action ensued in each of the three incidents. The Spurs fan that threw the banana peel at Aubameyang was fined and was handed a four-year football ban. The Chelsea supporters that hurled obscenities at Sterling are suspended and could face bans as the police investigation is underway. As a result of the racist abuse directed at Koulibaly, Inter will now play two league games in an empty stadium.

Those quick actions are worthy of applause, yet they are a mere slap on the wrist. It only reprimands the individuals, but it does nothing to eliminate the culture of racial abuse for black soccer players. “Say No To Racism” facilitates these “slap on the wrist” actions due to their meek measures. For example, Kevin Prince-Boateng in 2013 walked off the pitch and was lauded by FIFA after being granted a FIFA anti-discriminatory role but that’s it, nothing more. Catchy slogans, including “Kick it Out” (an anti-discrimination charity) have proven ineffective. There needs to be something tangible to occur that will make the club feel a significant dent, whether it may be financially or in their trophy aspirations. Point deduction has been introduced as an idea to quell this problem of racism in soccer. I would argue not only implementing a major fine, but instilling transfer bans for clubs in either the January or summer transfer windows. Those measures could contribute to decreasing the incidents of racism in football.

Overall, there needs to be action. We’ve had this FIFA racism campaign for over a decade and still, no resolution.  Goal line technology and VAR were introduced to make soccer games fairer. “The fairer the skin, the fairer the game” shouldn’t be the parameters used for a black soccer player to enjoy their experience playing the game. Immediate action is imperative.