Hanging from a highway bridge in Madrid, an effigy of one of the world바카라s most famous Black football players stands as a graphic reminder of the racism that sweeps through European football.
In truth, the signs are everywhere.
In Italy, where monkey chants swirled around the stadium in April as a Black player celebrated a goal. In England, where a banana peel thrown from a hostile crowd during a game in north London landed at the feet of a Black player after he scored a penalty. In France, where Black players from the men바카라s national team were targeted with horrific racial abuse online after they lost in last year바카라s World Cup final.
Go outside Europe and you바카라ll find them, too.
In Australia, where there were monkey noises and fascist chanting during last year바카라s Australia Cup final. In South America, where matches in the continent바카라s biggest competition, the Copa Libertadores, have been blighted by monkey chants. In North Africa, where Black players from visiting teams from sub-Saharan Africa have complained of being targets of racist chants by Arab fans.
The manifestation of a deeper societal problem, racism is a decades-old issue in football바카라 predominantly in Europe but seen all around the world 바카라 that has been amplified by the reach of social media and a growing willingness for people to call it out. And to think that it was only 11 years ago that Sepp Blatter, then president of football governing body FIFA, denied there was any racism in the game, saying any abuse should be resolved with a handshake.
The Black player currently subjected to the most vicious, relentless and high-profile racist insults is Vinícius Júnior, a 22-year-old Brazilian who plays for Real Madrid, arguably the most successful football team in Europe.
It was around the neck of an effigy of Vinícius that a rope was tied and the figure hung from an overpass near Madrid바카라s training ground in the Spanish capital in January. It was Vinícius who, two weeks ago in perhaps a defining incident for the Spanish game, was reduced to tears during a match after confronting a fan who called him a monkey and made monkey gestures toward him.
It바카라s Vinícius who is emerging as the leading Black voice in the fight against racism, which continues to stain the world바카라s most popular sport.
바카라I have a purpose in life,바카라 he said on Twitter, 바카라and if I have to keep suffering so that future generations won바카라t have to go through these types of situations, I바카라m ready and prepared.바카라
Vinícius바카라 biggest concern is that Spanish football authorities are doing little to stop the abuse, leading to racism being an accepted part of the game in a country where he has played since he was 18.
Indeed, federations around the world have been too slow 바카라 in some cases, apparently unwilling 바카라 to equip themselves with the powers to sanction teams for the racist behavior of their fans, despite being given the authority by FIFA to do so since 2013.
Fines? Sure. Partial stadium closures? OK. But more stringent punishments, like point deductions or expulsion from competitions? They are typically reserved for matters such as financial mismanagement, not racial abuse of players.
The result is frustration and a sense of helplessness among Black players and those wanting to protect them. Asked what he expects to happen after the Vinícius incident, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said: 바카라Nothing. Because it has happened lots of times and nothing happens.바카라
Anti-racism campaigns and slogans are welcomed but increasingly viewed as tokenism, especially when fines handed to clubs or federations for racial abuse committed by fans often are so pitiful.
Take the juxtaposition, in 2012, of European governing body UEFA handing the Spanish football federation a $25,000 fine for fans directing racial abuse at a Black player for Italy during the European Championship with, around the same time, a Denmark player getting fined five times that amount for revealing underpants with the name of a bookmaker on it.
Experts believe the global outrage, widespread reaction and outpouring of support for Vinícius following his latest abuse could mark a turning point in the fight against racism in Spain. It certainly struck a chord in Brazil, where there were protests outside the Spanish Consulate in Sao Paulo, while the Spanish league is now seeking to increase its authority to issue sanctions. Its protocol up to now has been to detect and denounce incidents and pass evidence to courts, where cases are typically shelved.
Jacco van Sterkenburg, a professor of race, inclusion and communication in football and the media at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, said explicit racism in stadiums is more accepted and normalized in some parts of Spanish and southern European football culture compared to places like England and the Netherlands, where the media, former players and football federations have openly addressed the issue.
바카라When, as a football association, you don바카라t take a firm stance against it and you don바카라t repeat that message time and time again, it will reappear,바카라 Van Sterkenburg said in a video call. 바카라You have to repeat the message that this isn바카라t allowed, this isn바카라t accepted.바카라
바카라When nothing happens, you should still repeat this message. Some clubs have programs in place where they repeat the message, even when nothing happens. It sets the norm, continuously.바카라
Jermaine Scott, an assistant professor of history at Florida Atlantic University, told the AP that while overt racism is no longer a recurring problem in mainstream American sports, institutional racism is very much evident, reflected in the lack of coaches and executives through the sports landscape who are Black, Indigenous or people of color. He sees this same institutional racism in European football, too.
For Scott, a player like Vinícius might be at odds with European football's values.
바카라As football spread throughout the world, different cultures made the game their own, and instilled different values, like creativity and innovation, and importantly, joy, and some would even say freedom,바카라 Scott said.
바카라So when a player like Viní Jr. plays with the classic Afro-Brazilian style, accompanied by the samba celebrations, it upsets the value system of European football, which has historically disciplined those who challenge such value systems.바카라
Football needs outside help with racism and gets it through anti-discrimination campaigners such as Kick It Out in Britain and LICRA in France. The Fare network, a pan-European group set up to counter discrimination in football, places undercover observers in crowds at Europe바카라s biggest games to detect racist chants and extremist symbols on banners.
Fans also are increasingly likely to raise awareness of racist incidents by reporting them to federations and campaign groups or posting videos and photos on social media, with the material often used by authorities as evidence to punish perpetrators.
Then again, the growth of social media has its downsides when it comes to the amplification of racist abuse in football compared to previous generations, where it was mostly restricted to inside stadiums.
Now, people can fire off racist insults over their phone anonymously, directly to the accounts of the world바카라s best players on Instagram and Twitter. That leads to the paradox of football players, eager to boost their brands, using the same platforms on which they are being abused.
As for the Black players themselves, some 바카라 such as Vinícius and others like Samuel Eto바카라o, Mario Balotelli and Romelu Lukaku 바카라 call out the abuse when they see it, intent on leading the fight against racism. That바카라s something Paul Canoville, the target of racist insults as the first Black player of English club Chelsea in the 1980s, wishes he had done.
바카라They should say something right there and then,바카라 Canoville said of Black players. 바카라I didn바카라t at that time and I바카라ve had to learn from that. That바카라s something I teach to up-and-coming players now.바카라
Van Sterkenburg and Scott said more education and stronger punishments were vital in the ongoing fight to stamp out racism. That바카라s also the opinion of a former World Cup winner who played in Spain and experienced similar abuse to Vinícius.
바카라Racism is ingrained, it바카라s something people are used to, it바카라s something that is passed from one generation to another,바카라 said the player, who declined to be named because he바카라s not allowed by his current employer to give interviews.
바카라People think it바카라s normal, something that is not wrong, so it바카라s hard to fight against that. And we can바카라t even say that it바카라s something that will get better with time, because it was the same thing many decades ago and nothing has changed.바카라
