Football's oldest ill prepares to rear its ugly head again

This week saw the draws made for Europe's two Premier club competitions, the Champions League and the Europa League. The highlights included the prospect of Tottenham Hotspur taking on champions Inter Milan in their first outing in the tournament for almost 50 years, and yet another 'Battle of Britain', between Manchester United and Rangers. Britain''s only two representatives in the Europa League have what look like difficult groups, with Liverpool facing Napoli and Steaua Bucharest, but one of the most intriguing ties see mega-rich Manchester City take on Juventus, in a bid to prove they can mix it with the European big boys. But Man City's visit to the Stadio Olimpico in December may well raise another interesting question, and one which shows the darker side of football which still effects much of continental and Eastern Europe in an era when fans really ought to be more civilised - that of racism towards players. One of Man City's big money signings this summer, £24 million Mario Balotelili, has experienced the intolerant nature of the fans in Turin first hand.
The 20-year-old striker is Italian - he made his debut for the senior team in the first post-World Cup friendly at the start of this month, in a 1-0 defeat against the Ivory Coast. But the problem he has faced in away grounds in Italy, and in Turin in particular, is that he is black. He is certainly more Italian than one of his strike partners on his international debut, Juventus striker Amauri, who qualifies to play for Italy through residency rules. The towering striker first moved to Italy in 2000, and is on to his seventh Italian club following spells at Parma, Napoli, Piacenza, Empoli, Messina, Chievo, and most famously Palermo. He also made his international debut against the Ivory Coast, and Italy seem to be much more willing than England to use FIFA's guidelines on residency, with the likes of Argentine naturalised Italian Mauro Camoranesi being the standard-bearer, while England are reluctant to use the same rules to use the likes of Spanish players Manuel Almunia and Mikel Arteta. But that is an article for another blog.
Balotelli was born in Italy (in Palermo) and has lived all his live in the country prior to his transfer to Manchester, although both of his parents are Ghanaian (the immigrants moved to Italy before Mario was born) but he moved into foster care at the age of three. Bureaucratic problems meant he couldn't play for any Italian youth level teams until after his 18th birthday, as his adoption was never finalised so he couldn't request Italian citizenship until he reached that milestone, but he never even contemplated playing for his biological parents country. Yet many Italians seem to struggle to accept that he is Italian, and this has been most prevalent in the stands at Juventus. The problems started in the 2008/09 season, in what can be considered Balotelli's breakthrough season. Predictably, as his profile rose so do the racist abuse, and in the away fixture against Juventus, he was subjected to a torrent of racist chants, most notably the home fans taunting that 'a black Italian doesn't exist.' These chants were condemned by Juve chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, and Inter Milan supremo Massimo Moratti said he would have taken his players of if he had been present, in typically understated fashion. The repercussions were not as extreme as they could have been, with just a one game fan ban forthcoming for the Juventus supporters, and a couple of insignificant fines after the racist chanting towards Balotelli continued at Juventus, even in games where they weren't playing Inter.
In the year 2010, there should not be racism in football grounds, towards neither the players nor the fans. What makes seemingly civilised people turn into neanderthals when they walk through the turnstiles on to the terraces? Is it sheer will to win, and the desire to unsettle opponents in any way shape or form. In Eastern and Southern Europe, it is also a case of being sceptical about what you're not used. Despite the racist and bigoted nature of the comments from Juventus fans, he is the first black player to play for Italy and it will have been rare for most Italians to have come across people of colour. The same is true in Spain, who were vilified for the racist abuse subjected towards black English players Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole during an international friendly in Madrid in 2004. As a Spanish newspaper said about the incidents in the friendly with England, 'it's just a colour, and if Spain can't see that, then their football will lose all respect.' This perhaps shouldn't come as a great surprise though, as Spanish coach Luis Aragones tried to 'motivate' his player Jose Antonio Reyes to make his mark at Arsenal, by showing he was better than that 'black shit', club-mate Thierry Henry. Racism in Spanish football stretches back decades, and British export Dalian Atkinson cites racism as one of the reasons his stint at Real Sociedad lasted just the one season, in 1990/91. The most ridiculous example of racism in Spain was towards Ivorian midfielder Felix Ettien, who was treated with scepticism by his coach after signing for Levante, and every time he fell ill or was injured, he was accused of having malaria or AIDS!
One of the aspects which British football can be truly proud of is the lack of institutionalised racism in the game. It makes you ashamed to be a Liverpool fan to think a player of the ability of John Barnes suffered racist abuse at the hands of his own fans, while Ron Atkinson has found work fairly hard to come by since offering the opinion that former Chelsea defender Marcel Desailly is a 'lazy nigger.'
As well as Spain and Italy, the likes of Macedonia, Germany, Poland and Russia have also become synonymous with racism from the stands, and this is something which needs to be stamped out. Football hands out such flimsy penalties, it hardly acts as a deterrent to stop repeat offending. For example, Spain were fined a paltry £55,680 for the indiscretions of their fans against England, and more stringent fines and penalties need to be imposed. Rugby must be praised for the way the authorities dealt with 'bloodgate' and football needs to take a similarly stringent stance.
Let's hope that Balotelli's return to Juventus passes without incident - but the press (and the clubs for that matter) are hardly helping matters by drawing attention to the problems he has suffered there in the past. Juventus Chief Executive Jean-Claude Blanc was quoted as saying, 'there is a chance for supporters to demonstrate the standard has been raised. Supporting your team is to support your team, and not to make remarks of a racist nature towards players of another team.' That might be easier said than done given the history and reputation of Juventus' ultras, but Man City are also wading in with positive comments, with their football administrator Brian Marwood stating, 'I'm sure Mario, like all of the players, will be relishing the opportunity. We will leave it to UEFA if anything happens but we are not anticipating any issues.' Noble statements from both parties, but surely an article of such a subject on the BBC website is just drawing unwanted attention to the issue? Let's just hope the meeting between Juve and Man City on December 16 is notable for the ability of the likes of Balotelli, Carlos Tevez, James Milner, Vincenzo Iaaquinta and Fabio Quaglirella rather than what happens (or rather doesn't happen) in the stands.