Association Football: Racism!
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
Racism in football has reared its ugly head once again and prompted a strong response for harsher punishments from the President of FIFA, the World Governing Body of the sport.
Gianni Infantino has called for an automatic forfeit of games for teams whose fans commit racist abuse.
This follows incidents, described as “totally abhorrent and completely unacceptable” by Infantino, at games on 20 January 2024 at Udinese and Sheffield Wednesday.
The black players involved were Mike Maignan, of AC Milan, and Kasey Palmer, of Coventry.
Infantino stated in a Post on ‘X’ as follows:
“FIFA and football shows full solidarity to victims of racism and any form of discrimination.”
And added as follows:
“Once and for all: No to racism! No to any form of discrimination!”
The Anti-discrimination charity, ‘Kick It Out’, has remarked as follows:
“We welcome stronger and more meaningful punishments, as called for by FIFA.”
That is all well and good, but we need more actions than words!
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
