Firstly...this is NOT about Suarez or Terry so please find another thread if you want to have that discussion.
We have seen Serbia previously find for their fans being racist. They are not alone with other FA's and clubs also being fined. Currently Lazio are being investigated for their fans awful racism at the Lane a few weeks ago.
Tuesday's under 21 match has thrown this back into the spotlight. Their seems to be 2 main suggestions.
The first being ... ban them and the second is to fine them but try to advise them how to tackle racism.
Which is the way forward?
For what it's worth here is my view:
If English clubs had not been banned from European Football because of the hooligan problem in the 70's and 80's I think that the problem would not have begun to be addressed. I think that other things also helped but the ban really shocked clubs and encouraged them to deal with the issue inside the grounds. I think that paltry fines that UEFA and FIFA have previously handed out (all of which are way less than what Nicholas Bentner was fined for adverting paddy power at a match) say that racism ain't really a big deal. This undermines their own Respect campaign.
I think that Serbia should now be banned. Their FA would then have to take their heads out of their arses and accept that there is a problem that needs dealing with.
If they (the Serbian FA) had come out and condemned the racist abuse then I think that they could be supported in their fight to rid Serbian football of these racist scum who follow their national team. We could advise about anti racist campaigns, banning orders, educational programmes in schools and community involvement but as they deny there is any racism then they clearly are intent on doing sod all to bring about change.
I do not think everything is perfect in England but clubs and the FA are serious in trying to rid the game of racism. They may not get it right every time, they may not have fully succeeded but fans are ejected for racist chanting, racist banners are not displayed, black players are not subjected to monkey chants or have bananas thrown at them.
All clubs and nationalities have some racist fans...the difference between the Serbian FA and the English FA is that the Serbian FA refuse to accept the reality that the rest of the world can clearly see.
We have seen Serbia previously find for their fans being racist. They are not alone with other FA's and clubs also being fined. Currently Lazio are being investigated for their fans awful racism at the Lane a few weeks ago.
Tuesday's under 21 match has thrown this back into the spotlight. Their seems to be 2 main suggestions.
The first being ... ban them and the second is to fine them but try to advise them how to tackle racism.
Which is the way forward?
For what it's worth here is my view:
If English clubs had not been banned from European Football because of the hooligan problem in the 70's and 80's I think that the problem would not have begun to be addressed. I think that other things also helped but the ban really shocked clubs and encouraged them to deal with the issue inside the grounds. I think that paltry fines that UEFA and FIFA have previously handed out (all of which are way less than what Nicholas Bentner was fined for adverting paddy power at a match) say that racism ain't really a big deal. This undermines their own Respect campaign.
I think that Serbia should now be banned. Their FA would then have to take their heads out of their arses and accept that there is a problem that needs dealing with.
If they (the Serbian FA) had come out and condemned the racist abuse then I think that they could be supported in their fight to rid Serbian football of these racist scum who follow their national team. We could advise about anti racist campaigns, banning orders, educational programmes in schools and community involvement but as they deny there is any racism then they clearly are intent on doing sod all to bring about change.
I do not think everything is perfect in England but clubs and the FA are serious in trying to rid the game of racism. They may not get it right every time, they may not have fully succeeded but fans are ejected for racist chanting, racist banners are not displayed, black players are not subjected to monkey chants or have bananas thrown at them.
All clubs and nationalities have some racist fans...the difference between the Serbian FA and the English FA is that the Serbian FA refuse to accept the reality that the rest of the world can clearly see.

