Racism in Sports—Can We Term it “Out-of-Control” Yet?

The number of incidents of racist verbal abuse targeting Brazilian La Liga superstar Vinicius has now reached double digits, and the football association now–at least from the view on the sidelines–seems willing to take a look at the situation. So, what has been the catalyst for the sudden change of heart?
As wild as it may sound, there are some analysts who believe that continued complacency by the league’s authorities could go as far as jeopardizing Spain’s bid to host the World Cup seven years out from now.
Certainly, in sports–and one might say in the world in general–an entity of any sort is not going to police itself based on ethical virtues alone when money is at stake. Or, in the case of the World Cup bid, unless money–i.e., in the form of sponsorship–is at stake.
According to Lyon (France) Central School football sociologist Nicolas Hourcade (yes, there exists such a discipline), the situation in Eastern European countries and in Italy is even worse. “Italy is a case apart for two reasons. The historical strength of the extreme right, and the presence of openly fascist fan organizations.”
The language heard in the stadium of Cagliari might be enough to make a sailor blush. Maignan, Matuidi, Muntari, Lukaku, and Tomori are but a hand full of players of African descent who have endured not only verbal abuse, but having bottles thrown at them in the Sardinian capital. When victims of this outrageously heathen conduct protest, often they are issued red cards.
A laughable-yet-nauseatingly disturbing retort by a Milanese fan club in defense of the Sards’ deplorable behavior from the year 2019 alone follows:
“You have to understand that Italy is not like many other north European countries where racism is a REAL problem…In Italy, we use some ‘ways’ only to help our teams and try to make our opponents nervous not for racism but to mess them up.”
The defense continues, “We have always used that ‘way’ with other teams’ players in the past and we probably will in the future. Please consider this attitude as a form of respect for the fact that they are afraid of you for the goals you might score against their teams.” (One might wonder what DIS-respect would then look like).
Finally, last week, the CEO of Italy’s Serie A said the league will take a “zero tolerance” approach to racist fans. We shall see…
Regarding the Vinicius incident, the Brazilian minister of racial equality said last week that she had already called the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate, while the country’s justice minister tweeted about the possibility of “extraterritoriality”–applying Brazil’s laws in Spain–if Spanish authorities fail to protect Vinicius.
(Brazil is not joking around when it comes to advocating internationally for its citizens. Six months ago, it ordered Qatar Airways to pay a large sum of money for the psychotherapy services of an obese Brazilian social media influencer for allegedly giving her a difficult time flying her back from Lebanon due to her girth).
Speaking of Northern Europe, “rivalry” in the stands has recently taken on an almost sociopathic nature. Take, for example, Manchester United (UK) fans who sang offensive chants mocking Liverpool fans (whose base suffered almost 100 deaths in a stadium stampede in that city in 1989). This of course, was followed up with the latter mocking fans of the former team, which had suffered 23 deaths in the infamous Munich Air Disaster of 1958.
In 2019 (obviously a banner year for fan hatred and psychopathy in Europe), the plane crash of Cardiff City midfielder of Argentinian descent was followed up with similar mocking by Southampton fans.
One might go as far as saying that this kind of conduct can be classified as bullying. The bully must rationalize his hostility as being externally caused by the supposed flaws of his victim so he doesn’t have to admit to himself that its actually his low quality of life and sense of self that are the root cause of these deep-seated insecurities.
There is hope, however, that perceptions of what is considered to be humane, respectful, and ethical perspectives can shape behavior by applying appropriate consequences.
In North America, for example, the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL)–a very white-centric league with respect to both players and its fan base–reversed course after two days and rescinded the playing contract of Mitchell Miller, who it was revealed had been convicted of heinous, racially-based crimes at the age of 14, subsequent to 7 years of relentless bullying, against a Black youth with developmental disabilities.
As for the Valencia team at the heart of the racist “monkey taunts:” A section of its stadium was to be closed for three matches (down from five on appeal), and the team was fined 27,000 Euros (also downgraded after appeal).