Lets kick them out – RIGHT out

Racism in football has been in the headlines recently with Suarez’s eight match ban and Terry facing criminal charges. For a lot of fans in the UK the revelations have been a shock as the remarks were so crude and have put the games reputation back years.

All of this is happening under the watch of FIFA’s bumbling, corrupt, racist president Sepp Blatter who claims there is no racism in football. It is impossible to quantify the extent of racism in football but it’s definitely there just below the surface. We know this as it often rears its ugly head around Europe and in international competitions. However, how can the game rid itself of racism if the man at the top has – to put it lightly – very questionable morals. He is footballs own Prince Phillip and I think a lot of football supporters are fed up of his bad leadership. It seems the only way he will be ousted is if the big international FIFA sponsors withdraw their support. If they haven’t done so far what on earth will it take for them to lose confidence in him?

The fact that it was mainly UK football fans that were so outraged by Sepp Blatters’ comments goes to show how far this country has come in the fight against racism in football. It can only be a good thing that the stories about Terry and Suarez have been given so much attention. It’s great to see the players that are aggrieved stand up to the remarks and publicly denounce racism. The days where racist remarks were a part of banter in football have gone and no player in the premiership should have to suffer the crude, xenophobic and offensive remarks and gestures made by footballers, supporters or the footballing establishment.

I think this country needs a fundamental shift in the way we support our football teams. I believe that everything about supporting a non-national team is negative. If a friend’s team loses a big match more often than not they will be ridiculed by friends rather than commiserated. We’ve all had that text after a loss that we could have done without! Young boys (and girls) who are brought up in a culture of being a football supporter are taught from an early age that one team is superior to the other. Manchester United is better than City! Red is better than blue! I am better than you because I support the better team. Football by nature makes rival supporters polarised and distanced from one another; as a general rule of thumb rival supporters will rarely agree with one another about their respective teams. These, for the most are not the kinds of attitudes we wish to instil in our young. Does the fact that we are passionate about football contribute to racist views in the game? Perhaps the rivalry and antipathy for other teams is a breeding ground for racism. We already have the hatred of a group of people who are dissimilar to us (a rival team).

Of course football can be a unifying game as in the case of the world cup, however this may also unify one country in hatred for another.

Football and racism should be wholly removed from one another.

(Just for your interest I support Liverpool who happen to be the best team … in the world)