Restricting racism debate to football grounds insulates us from harsher truth

Successive Premier League weekends have catapulted the ongoing issues of racism in football back into the headlines. For those misguided enough to believe racism is no longer a problem in football — and this includes FIFA, the governors of the game — such incidents are a wake-up call, but it is not just the footballing authorities that need to take notice.

In the previous Sunday’s north London derby, a Tottenham fan threw a banana peel onto the pitch as Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the game’s opening goal. Coming hot on the heels of this incident was the widely-shared video of a Chelsea fan’s alleged racist abuse of Raheem Sterling in Saturday’s marquee Premier League fixture against Manchester City.

The timing of these incidents should hopefully ensure that neither are viewed as isolated incidents, “one-off” aberrations or misunderstandings. Racism in football may have been pushed to the fringes, but racist football fans are one minority in England that are still somehow allowed to flourish.

Sterling felt compelled to comment after Saturday’s incident. The 24-year-old knows more than anyone should about race-fuelled abuse; he is after all the man dubbed a “footie idiot” by one English tabloid for having the gall to purchase a house for his mother.

Indicating how such newspapers may need to bear some responsibility for the re-emergence of racist incidents in the UK, Sterling wrote on Instagram that “for all the newspapers that don’t understand why people are racist in this day and age, all I have to say is give a second thought about fair publicity and give all players an equal chance”.

Illustrating his point, he posted images of two articles written by the same outlet, one of which was critical of Man City youngster Tosin Adarabioyo for following Sterling’s lead in buying a house for his mother, the other praising fellow Man City player Phil Foden for doing the same thing.

Sterling has a point here which academic studies can back up.

Dr Cynthia M Frisby of the Missouri School of Journalism conducted a content analysis of media coverage of ethnic minority athletes in the US for her 2015 book How You See Me, How You Don’t which examines media representation and stereotyping of minorities. The results of the study are as depressing as they are unsurprising.

Frisby found that “black male athletes tend to be the focus of news stories about crime and domestic and sexual violence”, that online stories of black male athletes tend to be more negative, and that “the tone of the articles about white male athletes were much more positive”.

All of this can easily be applied to some sections of the media, both here and in the UK.

The negative stereotyping of black athletes in the media even spreads to how these players’ sporting abilities are judged. Several studies will show that ethnic minority players will receive praise for physical ability, as well as inherent natural talent, whereas white athletes are lauded more for hard work, game intelligence and application.

Given such media coverage — and the extensive coverage of Sterling in particular has been well-documented — is it any surprise to see black players being racially abused by members of the public? Journalists are often accused of exaggerating the importance of the vocation (guilty as charged), but such systemic trends will no doubt sway public sentiment.

This isn’t just a problem for sports desks, however. The wider context of Brexit, tabloid fear-mongering of immigration, as well as the rise of far-right extremists like Tommy Robinson all feed the masses with toxic messages on race and ethnicity. Football is the game of the common man, it reflects society.

Last week, a study by the Guardian found that racial bias is widespread in Britain. The survey of 1,000 people found that people from ethnic minorities were more than twice as likely to have encountered abuse or rudeness from strangers, and almost three times more likely to be wrongly suspected of shoplifting.

This isn’t a football problem. This issue runs across society like a sewage leak and anybody who thinks this doesnt’ apply in Ireland is wearing blinkers.

Racism has no place on the pitch, in the stadium or on the sideline.

Worse than this though is the fact that racism isn’t put away after a match or left under the seat on leaving a football ground. It is all too easy to say football has a problem with racism — it protects us from a much harsher truth.