Shameful. That is what I think of the Russian Football Union.
The governing body for football in Russia, based in Moscow, continues to ignore racism or tries its damnedest to sweep it under the carpet and keep it out of glaring eye of the world game.
With all of the corruption allegations aimed at FIFA, and the accusation that the bids for both the 2018 and 2022 World Cup competitions in Russia and Qatar respectively were gained in a less than honest fashion, the world is looking closely at these two countries.
It does not help matters when attention is further attracted to the former Soviet state in the form of various racism incidents. These incidents are not alike the ones that occur in our own country or across much of Europe. Yes, racism is a worldwide issue and a constant battle, but it appears that it is a massively different animal in Russia.
You may have isolated incidents in a British stadium where one or two unashamed bigots make their opinions known, but I am sure within minutes they are getting used to the comforts of a police van. In Russia however, whole groups of extremist fans consider monkey chanting towards a black player is fair game. Horrible.
Remember though, we only get to see the incidents which are highlighted, it is likely that the issue is much more widespread than people could imagine in such a diverse country like our own. Brazilian international striker Hulk, who plays for Zenit St Petersburg in the Russian Premier League, was recently quoted in The Guardian as saying:
“It (racism) happens at almost every match in Russia but the world does not hear about it because they (RFU) try to keep it quiet. I see it happening all the time. I used to get really angry about it but now I just send a kiss to the fans and try not to get angry.”
The comments came out in support of former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong, who in his first game for new club FC Ufa was subject to clearly audible monkey chants during a match against Spartak Moscow. His reaction to retaliate towards these fans with a middle finger gesture was met with a straight red card from the referee.
The card was not rescinded and Frimpong did not receive backing or words of support from anyone at his own club or the RFU. Of course, nobody saw anything and Frimpong was hearing things.
Alexander Meytin, security director in the Russian Premier League, suggested their was no proof of racism towards the Ghanaian when speaking to the media:
“The video cameras did not pick up any evidence of gestures. There were no gestures aimed at the footballer.” (Daily Mail)
Sports minister for Russia Vitaly Mutko added his own comments:
“I do not think that what surrounds this episode should become inflated into a big scandal. We ourselves are talking too much about it.” (Daily Mail)
It is astonishing how ignorant these people are. I can only imagine how these incidents are spoken about behind closed doors if these are the words they deem appropriate for the public to read.
Being a West Bromwich Albion fan I know only too well about racism in Russia. A large banner was displayed from the stands at a Lokamotiv Moscow game following the sale of Nigerian international striker Peter Odemwingie to the Baggies back in 2010. The banner displayed the words ‘Thanks West Brom‘ along with the image of a banana. It does not take a detective to work out the meaning of this.
Smartly, the Albion fans replied with their own banner (above) showing support for Odemwingie. The current Stoke City forward told BBC Sport at the time:
“Coloured players feel the open racism there and I recall a game against CSKA Moscow when their fans started the sick noises. I would not have any of it and gave it back to them. This was widely publicised because photographers had shots of my protest but still nothing was done to curb it.”
There are numerous occasions similar to this and it would appear that the problem is much more deep rooted in Russia than they would like us to believe. Of course, this is not a sweeping statement declaring the whole of Russia as racist but when a problem cannot be recognised, even by those staring it in the face, there will be no change. Mark my words.
The world governing body FIFA must do their job and investigate whether they feel the country they selected to host a World Cup in just three years time is capable of doing so. If not, something has to be done about it.
Will that realistically happen? Probably not.
Could there be trouble when certain foreign nations set up base in Russia for a month or so in the summer of 2018, most definitely.
Racism is not welcome. On the park. In a stadium. At home. Anywhere. Not least at the world famous international football tournament.
FIFA need to wake up and smell the co££€€.
Comments are closed.