Football besides being the world’s most popular game was highly popularised also as the ‘most beautiful game’ by the Brazilian football legend Pele. Irrespective of all the differences that one could possibly think of the game unites all in a circle (the stadium) to celebrate the game. For anyone in the world with competent skills and ability, the game has always kept the doors wide open. The love and affinity for football have always witnessed a huge rise and never otherwise. Unfortunately, this beauty called football also has its own beast, Racism. Racism is no new in the world of sports and athletics. But its increase despite the multiple norms and regulations is a matter of worry.
Anti-racism campaigners have always been busy over the months and years. There are hundreds of examples that one can go on listing. One might wonder this if happens whether for the reason of discouraging players from performing or do people even now are with nasty discriminative mindsets. But the fact is that the problems associated with racism and the exclusion of ethnic minorities have increased tremendously. Campaigning against racism in football has taken root in many European countries. Many professional football clubs, national associations, and international federations, such as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), have spoken out against racism and taken firm disciplinary action against offenders. Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) which was established in 1999 has over 300 grass-root organizations in more than 50 countries linked to the FARE network. The Vienna Institute for Development and Cooperation (VIDC) acts as a central coordination office for the network. Nevertheless, the issue has seen only a rise and not a decrease.
In the rising anti-elements of the game, Brazil has taken a step forward to be even more tough against racism in the game. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) president Ednaldo Rodrigues being the first ever black man to chair the post in 100 years, has now a very special mission to achieve and make the game more human-friendly than now.
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has the right to sanction teams whose employees or fans commit acts of racism with the loss of points, according to the league’s statute approved by the 20 first-division clubs. In the CBF’s fight against racism and discrimination in the country’s stadiums, the ground-breaking measure will come into force for the Copa do Brasil, which kicks off in February 2023.
Ednaldo Rodrigues strongly believes that the fight against racism is in a hurry. In fact, sharing his agony on the matter in an interview said that the measures have been already discussed for centuries and have never been put into practice. There has never been any decrease in the cases but a rise only. This has caused the CBF to go further to take a step to consider punishments and even to the extent of taking away points from a club in competitions. Considering it as an extremely serious matter the discriminatory offense practiced by managers, representatives and professionals of clubs, athletes, coaches, members of the Technical Committee, fans and arbitration teams in competitions will be seriously dealt with and are all directly under the control of CBF for a better sporting experience. For Rodrigues the fight against discrimination in football to be one of his top priorities.
No doubt that in the entire football world, the CBF is the first ruling body to adopt such a measure. This strong move of CBF should be a triggering moth for the rest of the football federations to come up with stronger measures to put a stop to racism. This is well exemplified by Brazil itself as President Lula da Silva has sanctioned a law which equates the crime of racial insult to racism and provides for increased penalties for offences committed at sporting and cultural events in the country.
One might wonder when there is so much love and loyalty to the game why not for the players? However, the reason for such situations might vary from person to person like poor upbringing, stress on their patriotism, or hundreds of reasons. But eradication is an immediate need of the game for sure. Interestingly, FIFA even has a three-step procedure for discriminatory incidents during FIFA tournaments like stopping the match, suspending the match, abandon the match. Probably this needs to be considered more seriously because, in this age when technology dominates and information is readily available, incidents involving racism cannot be swept under the rug. The continued demand for a beautiful game could take a hit if racism is not tackled. With a continued effort like CBF and others football can be called the beautiful game it has always desired to be.
