Due Tuesday 13th : Read the text and write your opinion about it. You may state experiences you have had, or that you have heard of. Use clear handwriting, and proofread it before you hand it in.
Write a paragraph of approximately 100 words. Look up the words you don´t know in the dictionary and include them in your homework.
IS RACISM A
FOOTBALL ISSUE?
Chelsea captain
John Terry has been cleared of racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand in a case
that has once again thrown the spotlight on the issue of racism at football's
highest levels. But how serious is the issue at its lowest levels - the
grassroots game - played by millions week in, week out?
"You'll be
playing and someone will just come up to you and call you a 'Paki'," says
Abdul Amin, 23, who plays for West Midlands team AFC Kriss.
"You just try
and get on with it. There's no way you're going to get rid of racism from
football - but that doesn't make it OK either."
What Mr Amin, who
is British Bengali, has to say appears far from uncommon.
The Black and Asian
Coaches Association receives up to five reports a week of racial abuse on the
pitch, particularly from inner-city areas.
And Mr Amin is not
alone in expressing frustration at how it is dealt with.
"What are you
going to do? Walk off the pitch and call the game off? I don't see how that
sorts anything out. The same if you give the player a ban - he will come back
but has he actually changed?" he says.
Sometimes he feels
like walking away from the game.
"All you want
to do is play football. You don't go there to get abused... racism is at the
top of the game and it's at the grassroots. It's everywhere."
'Ordinary people'
Last season claims
of racism were seldom far from the headlines.
Liverpool striker
Luis Suarez's ban for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra, and
the conviction of a student for sending racist tweets to ex-footballer Stan
Collymore, were among the highest profile cases.
If people simply
learn the way to talk to each other then that's OK, but we're not going to the
real roots of what causes racism in football”
But Alan White, 25,
who runs United Glasgow FC, which has players from 14 nationalities, says the
focus is too often on the professional game.
"All the real
problems with racism come at grassroots level," he says.
"It comes in
places where there is no spotlight on it, where ordinary people are
mixing."
One of his players,
24-year-old Maxime Duval Neossi, was called a "monkey" during a match
last season. The incident was never dealt with.
"Football to
me is the only moment where people get together and forget all the issues we face
in life, but unfortunately it's not the case," says Mr Neossi, from
Cameroon.
Lee Stokes, 26, the
founder of AFC Kriss, which counts English, Welsh, Pakistani, Indian,
Afro-Caribbean and Portuguese players among its number, says he has seen
"many little comments swept under the carpet".
"The worst
incident was when we knocked a team out of the cup. After the game some
derogatory comments were posted on their website saying 'I can't believe we
were beaten by a team full of niggers and wiggers' - a white guy who thinks he
is black," he says.
"We showed it
to the FA and the man who wrote it was banned from football for five years and
the team fined £500.
"But that is
the only incident that has ever been dealt with."
Anecdotal evidence
In contrast, AFC Kriss
player Uzi Varachhia, 28, a British Muslim of Indian descent, says he has never
experienced racist abuse but has seen it directed at others.
"It does hurt
when you hear it," he says, but stresses: "You don't see much of it
at all any more."
Incidents
- March 2012: Referee sworn at in racial terms
after sending player off in five-a-side game in east England. Player given
70-day ban and £50 fine
- February 2012: Referee banned for eight
matches by Manchester FA after allegedly making anti-Semitic remark before
Jewish league match. He has not returned to refereeing
- February 2011: Altrincham FC player banned for
four matches and fined £500 for improper conduct, including reference to
race or colour
Source: Kick it
Out, English FA
There is currently
no national pool of statistics on race-related incidents in grassroots
football.
Colin King, head of
the Black and Asian Coaches Association, says: "There is a lot of
anecdotal evidence of incidents but without recording them all centrally we
can't say what the extent of the problem is."
The most common
reports are of players being called "nigger", others refusing to
exchange shirts with black participants and, increasingly, use of social media
to send racist messages.
But Mr King says it
is not only racist abuse that needs to be confronted - homophobia, sexism and
other forms of abuse and violence need to be tackled.
'Only banter'
He believes there
are a number of reasons why many incidents of racism go unreported.
Racist language can
be used "unwittingly", without thought about hurt or cultural
implications, says Mr King. Often the attitude is "it's only on the pitch,
it's only banter and it's not meant to be racist".
And sometimes there
is little confidence the incident will be dealt with, he adds.
Data from the
Football Association shows the organisation is "still 98% white and
male", says Mr King.
"Many people
think it is probably a waste of time to report it."
Jim Lusted, senior
lecturer in sociology of sport at the University of Northampton, who began researching racism at
grassroots level as part of his PhD, says: "County FAs have historically been run
by volunteers, almost all white men, with little appreciation of, or
sensitivity to, racism.
"The majority
from my research felt racism wasn't a problem at the grassroots.
"When any
claims of racism came up, many were waved away as being unfounded, or worse, as
ethnic minorities playing the race card to get advantages."
He believes
referees should take the lead but admits they often face a "hostile"
environment.
"Many may feel
it's just easier not to get involved in reporting incidents," he says.
The English FA says
its 28,000 match officials face sanctions if they fail to complete paperwork on
incidents of racist abuse, and allegations are taken "very
seriously".
How to report it
- Call Kick it Out free on 0800 169 9414 or fill
in an incident form on the website
Troy Townsend, of
Kick it Out, football's equality and inclusion campaign, says it is vital
victims "feel confident perpetrators will be held accountable".
Action must be
pre-emptive, says Manchester FA social inclusion co-ordinator, John Hurst.
He has worked with
the city's Jewish league to open it up to non-Jewish players and organised a
football festival for the Gypsy and travelling community.
"Talking about
the issue and having it out there rather ignoring it" is key, he says.
Mr King says clubs
need to see it as a duty of care.
"If I was
being pessimistic, we are just touching the surface - we're just beginning to understand
people's attitudes and values," he says.
"If people
simply learn the way to talk to each other then that's OK, but we're not going
to the real roots of what causes racism in football and in wider society."
Due Friday 16th- Do the exercises on pages 11 and 12 in the science fiction section.