If any sport is multicultural and multilingual around the world it is soccer. And as baseball in the United States finally integrated more than 50 years ago (which was many years too late), so too have soccer teams in Europeans countries that were previously predominantly white integrated. Which unfortunately has led to overt racism among fans and other players.
FIFA embarked on a campaign five years ago to eliminate racism, although its efforts have been questioned by some. Now, England seems to have taken the effort to a new level by filing criminal charges against the captain of the national team and Chelsea, alleging that he made a racial slur towards Anton Ferdinand of Queens Park Rangers during a league match in October. And while the Crown Prosecution Service was going to criminal court, the Football Association suspended Luis Suarez of Liverpool for racist remarks made to Patrice Evra of Manchester United.
The story is reported in today's New York Times by Jere Longman. While fighting racism in any form is a laudable and necessary goal, I question the wisdom of criminalizing on-field behavior, as opposed to taking steps within the sport as was the case with Suarez.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
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