Prejudice And Racism In Soccer

Racism in football, or more commonly referred to as soccer, is the most detrimental element in the sport. It is widely regarded as the world’s most popular sport, or “o jogo bonito

(the beautiful game)” as branded by Brazilian football legend Pele. According to a majority of the new modern­thinking world, racism is a roadblock that should have been surpassed long ago in a game as popular and worldwide as this one.

The issue of racist abuse in European soccer and the abuse of soccer players who play there obviously happens to get its origins in Europe, mainly because of the predominantly white demographic in these places. Despite the dense areas in which it has originated, this racist behavior has become a worldwide problem due to the overall

These countries, such as England, Germany, Italy, France, and certain parts of Spain, have always had white privilege due to being predominantly white countries. This is not to say that said countries

Ventura 2 lack culture or color, but the fact of the matter is that there is one common hierarchy that puts certain races or colors above others. This problem is deeply rooted in the European ideals of white dominance and the tier of races, with fair skinned being put at the top of the pedestal and darker or black skinned being placed at the bottom.

This specifically affects players, who are the victims, but it leads to an increase of worldwide racism. Being a worldwide and internationally recognized sport, it is a sport for those of all ages from all corners of the globe. The older fans have seen racism in their own houses and have seen it be deemed acceptable by society, therefore practice racist tendencies outside of the home. The younger fans, however, keep the world from improving and taking a step further.

Being so impressionable, it’s easy for a child to see racism and practice it, not knowing

A problem like this tends to lead others to the belief that the white race is in fact the dominant race. If racism continues to go unpunished as it always has, it will be just as big of an issue as it always has been. If the amount of racism increases, the amount of attacks based on skin color or based off of one’s country of origin will increase as well. With a rise in racism, it is obvious that the amount of hate crimes and racially motivated attacks ending in fatalities amongst people of color would have a dramatic increase as well. The problem is an issue for mainly people of color, not only fans of the sport. For instance, en route to a Champions League match at Paris Saint­Germain’s Parc des Princes,

Ventura 3

Chelsea fans forcefully pushed a black man out of the metro. Whether he was a fan of the opposing team or not is unclear. What is clear is the fact that the British fans were attempting to segregate the train and refusing to let him ride the train solely based on his skin color. This is clear because as they stood in the way of the closing door, they were chanting “We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it!” (Robinson 1). As a result of massive media