Everybody in the world of football knows the story of Dani Alves eating a banana in a defiant act against racism. Alves’s stance on the serious matter, was seen somewhat humorous by some sectors, has been applauded by many as an unorthodox way of countering racism. One could say let’s eat racism or eating is beating, if one finds that to be in good humour unlike the main subject in hand.
Yet there still has to be quite a few questions asked about whether this is the best way of tackling the subject of racism?
Undoubtedly Alves deserves credit for at least tackling the subject of racism and raising the profile of a serious issue. His post-match conference was also met with a combination of good humour whilst delivering a serious message on the matter of racism.
According to the Daily Mail he said: ‘I don’t know who threw the banana but I want to thank him. It gave me the energy to put two more crosses in for our goals.’
And according to the Washington Post he also said, ‘We have suffered this in Spain for some time […] you have to take it with a dose of humour. We aren’t going to change things easily. If you don’t give it importance, they don’t achieve their objective.’
Alves has previously called the battle against racism in Spain a “lost war” and instead of relying of the football forces to punish the people responsible, he decided to take his own stance on it.
And who can blame him for taking a vigilante-like approach to racism. It’s not like that FIFA, UEFA or the RSFF do anything drastic to counteract the vile discriminatory behaviour attached to the Spanish national game. Therefore Alves was quite right to do something about it, even if it may have not been the best approach to acting against it.
Alves eating a banana sparked a Twitter campaign against racism which was led by his fellow teammate and countryman Neymar with the slogan “We are all monkeys.” The campaign was backed by the likes of Luis Suarez (somewhat ironic considering his history), Sergio Aguero and Brazilian female football superstar Marta.
Yet the campaign led by Neymar came into criticism from some quarters because it was pre-determined by Neymar’s marketing agents. Although, like Alves, whether if it was the right way to approach the subject of racism or not, Neymar was right to employ any sort of tactic to fight discrimination.
The thing is that Neymar, like Alves (and pretty much any other minority that plays in Spain), have been subject to abuse for a long time in La Liga. Therefore anything that fights against what appears to be the norm will always court some level of controversy even when it should not be the case.
The fear is that this sort of campaign against racism could further encourage and incite racist behaviour. Last year saw Kevin Prince Boateng walk off after suffering racial abuse in a friendly match for AC Milan. His former teammate and now AC Milan manager Clarence Seedorf talked about the matter once to BBC Sport saying that:
‘Walking away? Yes, you send a signal. But this has happened more than once and I don’t think it really changes all that much. We are just empowering that little group with their behaviour to make this mess.’
One can understand the cynical view that Seedorf had on that incident since discrimination never really can be eliminated not just from sport but life in general. Yet Seedorf’s remarks are quite suggestive as he could essentially be saying that nothing can be done to raise the profile of how serious this is in the modern game. It’s a view that should not be acquiesced with
The bottom line in this matter is that players like Alves and Neymar are well within their right to fight the anti-racism cause. What should actually be happening is a stricter stance on the matter from football’s governing bodies.
The NBA can manage to impose strict disciplinary procedures on tackling racism. LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling told his girlfriend not to bring any black people to their games. In response to the leaked conversation, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver gave him a lifelong ban from the league as well as a $2.5 million fine. That is how to deal with racism.
Evidently the case is very different to the one that footballers suffer in the sense that racial abuse comes from the fans. But nobody is willing to remove the fans unless certain sectors are vocal about an individual case.
The only real way to tackle racism is by imposing huge economic sanctions on the football club to clean up their fans act. The clubs that have huge issues with racism should face full stadium closures in important fixtures and face massive fines too — ones that can potentially cripple a club.
To reiterate the point, it is absolutely fine that Alves and Neymar should be fighting racism in their own ways. But if true change is ever going to happen then it is not going to be through humour and hashtags but through true financial sanctions, and not the pathetic slap on the wrists that football’s institutions love to hand out. UEFA always advertise a “no to racism” campaign during European games. Maybe they should act on their own words.
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