No Room For Racism!

The fact that racism is even a topic in 2023 tells you all you need to know about the state of the world.   Specifically for the purposes of this blog, I’ll keep it to soccer/sports related, but this topic is certainly not limited to either of these. 

There was an incident that occurred on April 8, 2023.  A matchup in Major League Soccer (MLS) saw the New York Red Bulls host the San Jose Earthquakes at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey.  The game came to a grinding halt in the 54th minute after a fight broke out on the pitch.  It wasn’t immediately clear what had occurred, but San Jose striker Jeremy Ebobisse said after the match he heard a racial slur.  He did not identify who the player was or what the remark was or even if it was directed at him.  But if you were watching the match, Ebobisse turned around to face Dante Vanzier of the New York Red Bulls in response to what was uttered.  Something was said. What was said?  It doesn’t matter.  It was obviously offensive.

As a result of this incident, the next match on April 15, 2023, all three New York Red Bulls supporters’ groups, Empire Supporters Club, Viking Army and Torcida 96, stage a protest by walking out of the stadium at kickoff.  Why?  The simple answer is the supporters were taking a stand against racism and the inaction of the team.

Ultimately, Vanzier was only handed a six-match ban by MLS.  The team…..crickets. 

Besides the inaction of the team for the player, what about the coach?  After the match, San Jose Earthquakes coach Luchi Gonzalez said he urged Red Bulls coach Gerhard Stuber to remove the player (Vanzier) who made the racist remark on the field.  Stuber did not.  Stuber defended himself by saying the decision was made based on the information that was given to him.  Apparently, he didn’t listen to Gonzalez, or even worse, didn’t care.  Any way you cut it, it’s insulting.  This led to the aforementioned walkout by the supporters groups.  Will the walk out prompt change?  That is a wait-and-see at this point.

I wish I could say that this is the only incident that has occurred in soccer this month (yup……this month), but it is not. Just a week earlier from the Vanzier incident, in Italy, Inter Milan player and Belgian International Romelu Lukaku, who is black, was racially abused by supporters of Juventus for much of the match.  After Lukaku scored a penalty in stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw in the Italian Cup semifinals, Lukaku celebrated in front of the Juventus supporters by holding his finger to his lips as if to silence the crowd after scoring.  The gesture enraged some on the Juventus team, which led to a scuffle between the two teams.  For his celebration, Lukaku received his second yellow card of the match, which led to a red card and sending off.  Juventus winger Juan Cuardado and Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic were also sent off.

After the Euro 2020 Final, three black players from the England squad were racially abused online – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – all because they missed penalty kicks vs Italy in the final. 

Unfortunately, racism in soccer and sport in general is not new.  I can list any number of players who have abused other players on the field, and I can list any number of incidents that have happened in the stands as well.  Probably one for each season since sport has existed.  The problem is, when these incidents occur, there is always whataboutisms or some excuse as to why it occurred; why awful shit comes out of players or supporter’s mouths.  A language barrier this, a misunderstanding that, something else this, or something else that.  Bottom line is racism in sport needs to stop.  Sports, especially soccer, are communal.  It is meant to bring people together, to sing your songs and to support your team.

All English Premier League teams have a patch on their jerseys that say, “No room for racism.”  The NFL stenciled “End Racism” and “It Takes All of Us” in the end zone of each football stadium.  While these gestures and slogans are great, what have they really done?  You can argue that it’s begun a conversation about racism in sports. But the EPL doesn’t even take a knee before their matches any more like they were doing during the past couple seasons to bring awareness about racism to those in the stadium and watching on TV.  And fans attending the Kansas City Chiefs vs Houston Texans game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City to start the 2020 NFL season, quite literally booed during a moment of silence and a show of unity, when the players locked arms, headed up on the field by two prominent black players, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.

I suppose this is my wish for a more euphoric world, a peaceful world where we can enjoy each other’s achievements and celebrate life and enjoy watching soccer or other sports.  You would think in the year 2023, we wouldn’t need to have this conversation anymore.  But that just simply isn’t the case.  We need to continue to have the conversations because there are people like Dante Vanzier roaming our streets, our schools, our communities, and our soccer fields who need to be outed.  I applaud the South Ward for taking a stand against the RBNY organization.  If I was still a member of the Empire Supporters Group, I would have gladly participated.  They have my full support, regardless of membership.