The Depth of Racism in Sports

Rashford, Saka and Sancho. Lucy Diavolo | Teen Vogue

The Euro 2020/21 final on Sunday was intense. Both Italy and England had fought hard for their place in the final. The match at Wembley stadium in London was disappointing in terms of England’s loss whilst playing at home but a fantastic match lasting to penalties before Italy finally took the victory.

Italy’s victory was a good one, but the second Saka missed the last penalty, it was clear as day what the consequences that followed were going to be. Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were the three English players who missed their penalties. Rashford is of Kittitian descent, Sancho’s parents are from Trinidad and Tobago, and Saka’s parents are from Nigeria. Three Black players missed their penalties. Although many were rooting for Italy, the way this loss looks was only going to be negative for the players.

Rashford, Sancho and Saka received an incredible amount of racial abuse on social media. A report to the Greater Manchester Police was made due to racially aggravated damage at the mural dedicated to Rashford.

Football is a great sport of passion with millions of followers and lovers around the world. It is a sport that brings people and countries together, no matter their background, age, gender and religion. There is no place for hate for such a beautiful sport, and the words the English players received were unacceptable.

Gareth Southgate, the head coach of the England football team spoke out, as well as Boris Johnson.

These are three fantastic football players, that are a huge reason for why England came as far as the finals in the first place.

Svetlana Ekimenko | Sputnik news

Black football players have a completely different experience than their white teammates. The discrimination they face at every level is unacceptable. It comes in many shapes and forms, and it is important to recognise this. The obvious ones are public, physically at a stadium from fans watching the game. The messages they receive privately on social media, whether it is in their comments or direct, private messages.

It also comes at an institutional level, a shortage of coaching opportunities and a lack of management. The way Black players are shown and presented in the media is also very different to how others are presented on TV and the news.

A study done on the commentary during the World Cup in 2018 found that white players were praised for their intelligence and character, while Black players were praised for their natural athleticism.

Racial stereotypes are not a new thing. In the 1800s pseudo race sciences arose and claimed that white people were the most evolved regarding intellect and character. The least evolved were Black people who were seen as violent and not intellectual, this is why they needed more physical strength.

The “natural” Black athlete is always reinforced in the media, further continuing this detrimental image. This reduces people to only physical characters and no intellectual comments are made. It contributes to the damaging stereotype that Black people are uncontrollable and challenged. Therefore, Black people are more likely to have larger consequences regarding issues with the police and more likely to be detained for the same crimes that another white person may commit.

These racist attitudes must be changed, and things that may be unintentional contribute to racism anyway and need to be unlearned. Social media companies also have a big job to fix when it comes to racial slurs. Instagram can flag up Covid-related posts, so the technology to flag up unacceptable comments should also exist.

Being abused for the colour of your skin is absurd in any setting, football or otherwise. A major factor of this cowardly behaviour is now with social media, people can remain anonymous. This gives people a lot more courage to write distasteful comments with no one identifying them and suffering no consequences.

There is a lot more work to be done to tackle racism in sports and all aspects of our everyday lives. It has to start higher up at an institutional level for a difference to be made, but small everyday comments make all the difference. Trying to unlearn certain behaviours and stereotypes that further empower racists, and even commenting if you observe or hear something wrong. Everyone is responsible and it is essential that we do not let racist incidents pass.