Ademola Olajire
27 November 2004
opinion
Monkey chants in Spain and England last weekend returned the sporting world to a dark era in the beautiful game, which everyone thought had been fairly and firmly dealt with for good in the past two decades.
Campaigns and exhortations from all the five regional confederations and FIFA have been aplenty in the past 20 years on the need to drive away concerns with colour and creed, and most of the world's sporting arenas had complied smartly with the unwritten codes and symbols of tolerance and respect for the other skin.
But Spaniards appear to still have much to learn in this regard, and a few harsh words may be necessary from the world's football governing body, the European confederation, the other confederations, lovers of the beautiful game world-wide and even the European Union to get that country to fall into the mainstream of civilized sporting conduct.
Players and officials also must embark on an intensive campaign for their fans to remove the colour-differentiation veil from their eyes and simply enjoy the game in an atmosphere of abandon and camaraderie.
The first indication that the Spaniards have returned the issue to the front burner was the shameful roar of their national team coach, Luis Aragones (sounds like Armageddon, anyway!) to striker Jose Antonio Reyes, telling him he could be much better and in fact, better than "that black piece of shit". It was a most disgusting turn of phrase from the coach of a national team of Spain's caliber, and the fact that he has not been properly upbraided for the inglorious performance means the Spanish Football Federation and perhaps the sporting authorities as a whole don't consider him to have committed any sin.
Aragones was actually referring to Reyes' Arsenal of England team-mate Thierry Henry, who was the world's second Best Player last season, one of the best strikers in world football and also one of the most consistent. 'That black piece of shit' was the key man in Arsenal's 49-match unbeaten run from the penultimate season, was involved in France's World Cup and European Cup triumphs in 1998 and 2000 and has been a hero and role model for most of the world's young players at every corner.
That's certainly more than we can say for any footballer from Spain. To begin with, Spain have never been able to manage a World Cup triumph, despite having been taking part in the competition for SEVEN DECADES, and their only major international triumph in football dates back to 1964!
What has Spain been able to achieve in the game? They go into every World Cup finals as favourites, only to crash out in ignominy at an early stage. Those who think blacks should not be permitted in the football arena were well-beaten by an ill-prepared Nigeria at the 1998 World Cup finals in France where they were touted to be winners even before the championship started. They were bundled out at group stage, with Nigeria going on to the second round, while France won the trophy.
Since Aragones was not cautioned or reprimanded, the Spanish crooks saw it as license to mis-behave and surely did when howling monkey chants at England players Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Philips at the international friendly with Spain in Madrid on November 17.
Instead of everybody rising to the occasion and condemning the behaviour, the Spanish federation tried to make light of the affair even when FIFA and UEFA were keen on investigating. What is going on in Spain?
Snatches of the misconduct was there for us to see again at the Nou Camp arena of La Liga leaders Barcelona on Sunday, when fans were howling at Real Madrid's Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos in the game that Barcelona won convincingly 3-0.
In mid-week, fans of Real Madrid (again) were accused of racist treatment of players of visiting Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has suggested that teams can walk off a pitch if any or all of their players were treated that way. But another reasoning is that teams on the losing side in a crucial or even ordinary league game can employ this method to stalemate an otherwise clean tie, seeing a safety valve. They could go on a monkey -chanting and howling against any of the players on the other side so that the winning team can walk off the pitch and it would be recorded as 'inconclusive game'.
Notwithstanding, as Blatter has suggested, a drastic method would have to be employed to deal with this, as it cannot be allowed to go on. The other monkeys at Ewood Park (maybe it's an arena for those still in the woods, anyway), who insulted Trinidad and Tobago striker Dwight Yorke when he wanted to come in for Birmingham in the English Premiership 3-3 draw on Sunday, should also not go scot-free. They are a shame to the sport.
Dwight Yorke left Blackburn a few weeks ago to link up with Birmingham, but that is no reason for him to be so treated. All over the world, players move now and then, and anyone's who gets no satisfaction at one point will always to go to another point. Yorke has been proved right: Blackburn are rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table.
The world was first stung to the malaise of racism in sports when German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, a failed carpenter who rode to power on the strength of propaganda and media power in a period of Great Depression, staged the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the IOC unaware that he actually wanted to use the Games to prove Aryan race supremacy and gain global acclaim. But the motive blew up on his face, and that has been the telling pattern for all racists since then.
A Black American, Jesse Owens won four gold medals and became the star of the Games, and even though the gruff and unhappy Hitler would not shake hands with him, Owens struck a chord when he linked up with the white German he vanquished in the long jump event, Luz Long, and they became friends. Hitler was close to tears.
All over the world, even in the Spanish league at all levels, blacks and whites link up, are in the same team, have the same ambition of winning for their club week in, week out, share the same dressing room, speak the same language, eat together in the same dining room, use the same bath, hug themselves to celebrate a goal, drink from the same jug and even compete to be-friend the same girl!
The man regarded as the best footballer of all time, Edson Arantes dos Nascimento, aka Pele, is black. Many players in the two leading teams, Real Madrid and Barcelona, are black. Would Real Madrid have been as great as they are now without the services of Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, and in recent history, Claude Makelele? Would Barcelona be at the top of the La Liga table today and soaring away to a probable triumph without the goals of African Player of the Year, Samuel Eto'O Fils from Cameroon and the Brazilian magician, Ronaldinho, both of whom scored in the annihilation of Real Madrid last weekend?
Sport is an integration tool, a means of ultimate test of skill, intelligence and chivalry on the part of the youth, and an instrument of international relations in the civilized world. It should not be dragged into a shameful cesspool of racial hatred and oppression.
The Spanish U-20 team came to Nigeria five years to win the World Youth Championship. Nobody make long-nose signs at them. Some of the most famous sportsmen in history have been blacks: Arthur Ashe, Althea Gibson and Yannick Noah in tennis; Pele, Didi and many others in the Brazilian team of the 1960s and 70s, Jean Tigana from Mali who played for France et cetera in football; Carl Lewis, Calvin Smith, Mike Powell, Bob Beamon, Evelyn Ashford, Mary Onyali, Maurice Greene, Darren Campbell, Cyrille Regis, Kris Akabusi, Marcus Adam, Dwain Chambers, Mark-Lewis Francis, Chidi Imoh, Ola Adeniken, Donovan Bailey, Linford Christie, Colin Jackson, Edwin Moses, Roger Kingdom, Innocent Egbunike, Yussuf Ali, Sunday Bada, Deji Aliu, Falilat Ogunkoya, Graham Winthrop, Obadele Thompson, Ato Boldon et cetera in athletics, are all blacks.
The best golf player in the world right now (forget that he recently lost his number one position), Tiger Woods, is black. There are blacks everywhere.
As racist as people think the Germans to be, they have in their national team, a black by the name Gerard Asamoah (a Ghanaian who opted to represent the Meinschaft); Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, William Gallas, Sylvain Witord, Lilian Thuram have been and are still the heroes of the Frenc Les Bleus; Germany are thinking of snatching the Nigerian-born Patrick Owomoyela for their national team; Nigeria-born Emmanuel Olisadebe plays for the Poland national team and; there are blacks like Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf in the Dutch national team.
Racism is anathema in sport, and should be so treated. The English Premiership, rated to be the world's number one league today, would be nowhere without black players. Henry, Patrick Vieira, Ashley Cole, Lauren Etame Mayer, Edu and Kolo Toure do their bit at Arsenal; Celestine Babayaro, Didier Drogba, William Gallas and Claude Makelele do their own at Chelsea; Carlton Cole and Darius Vassell play their part at Aston Villa; Patrick Kluivert, Shola Ameobi and Jermain Jenas are held in high esteem at Newcastle; Joseph-Desire Job, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Ugo Ehiogu at Middlesborough; Mario Melchiot and Emile Heskey at Birmingham; Joseph Yobo and Kevin Campbell at Everton; Nwankwo Kanu and Robert Earnshaw at West Bromwich Albion; Jermain Defoe, Ledley King and Frederic Kanoute at Tottenham; Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Lomana Tresor Lua Lua and Amdy Faye at Portsmouth; Djibril Cisse and Florent Sinama-Pongolle at Liverpool and; Quinton Fortune at Manchester United.
There are also Jay-Jay Okocha, Radhi Jaidi, Bruno N'Gotty, Julio Cesar, El Hadj Diouf and Les Ferdinand at Bolton Wanderers; Shaun Bartlett and Talal El Karkouri at Charlton; Nicolas Anelka and Shaun Wright-Philips at Manchester City and; Andy Cole and Pape Bouba Diop at Fulham.
Let's leave racism out of sport: It makes no sense.
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