Blog of the Orkut Man United Charity.

By Rethna Kumar

Whenever I talk or discuss racism with any of my friends, the first thing that comes to my mind is a photograph of John Barnes – one of the most famous players ever to have donned the England shirt. It is a picture of John Barnes, in the good ol’ skintight kit, seems to be controlling the ball, which isn’t even in the picture. A closer looks reveals that he is actually back-heeling a banana, which was thrown onto the pitch by the opposition fans. It was not an attempt to put him off his game. It was much deeper than that – Hate. The problem was the color of his skin.

As the eighties drew to a close, incidents related to racism were increasingly rare as compared to the early days due to number of black players in the game. A few big money transfers helped the cause to a large extent. The player is again John Barnes. He moved to Liverpool from Watford. And Paul Ince moved from WestHam United to Manchester United. Things were expected to improve.

Within two years of Barnes’ arrival at Anfield, something happened which would change the face of English football forever – Hillsborough. The death of ninety-six Liverpool fans and the Lord Justice Taylor report led to the inception of the Premiership. Although there were also commercial reasons which helped in bringing about the change.

The first ball was kicked in the English Premier League on 15th August 1992. Manchester United, with their new signing Eric Cantona and the likes of Paul Ince, Dennis Irwin and Ryan Giggs, won the inaugural edition of the Premiership. Then followed the double! Together with the Premiership, “Kick Racism” was born in 1993. In 1994-95, most of the clubs had signed the anti-racism message and it reached the fans. The key was to combat racism inside and outside the ground.

Everything was going on well until Manchester United star Eric Cantona was sent-off at Selhurst Park for an off-the-ball incident against Crystal Palace. An enraged Cantona reacted angrily to abuse from a fan in what was described as the “Kung Fu” kick on Mathew Simmons.

The incident sent shock waves throughout the footballing world and there were claims to ban Cantona from playing Professional football again. Cantona’s legal team claimed that the player was subjected to racist abuse which most certainly saved Cantona from a lifetime ban. Enter John Barnes again. He famously said, “It took a white Frenchman to be assaulted in our league before racism was taken seriously”.

As days went by, black players had become an integral part of the league. While there were isolated incidents, the fight against racism was considered a success. Buoyed by the success of “Kick Racism”, an independent body funded by the FA, PFA et al. called “Kick it out” was born.

While racism looked under control in England, the scene was not very promising in the other European countries. There were many incidents of players being subjected to racist abuse. England striker Emile Heskey has been at the end of numerous racist abuses whenever he traveled as part of the England National Squad. Other players including Ashley Cole, Jermaine Jenas has also suffered the same fate. Liverpool boos Gerard Houllier even went to the extent of letting everyone know that his team would walk out if the players were subjected to racist abuse.

Things went from bad to worse when Ron Atkinson called Chelsea player Marcel Desailly as a “fucking lazy, thick nigger”. Players from other countries who plied their trade in the Premier League were also at the receiving end of racist abuses, most notably Dwight Yorke, Sylvian Wiltord and Thierry Henry. Worse was yet to come. Spanish National Team coach Luis Arogones referred to Henry as “that black sh*t”. The scene in the rest of Europe was not pretty.

In England, Thierry Henry led the fight against racism by launching “Stand Up, Speak Up” initiative. Everything looked fine with the support it received. The involvement of Rio Ferdinand meant that Arsenal and Manchester United were all set to wear special training shirts during their clash in February. While it looked brilliantly positive from outside, all was not well, when a few Manchester United players refused to wear the training shirt. Patrick Viera took a pop at Gary Neville in the tunnel, which incensed Roy Keane who produced an inspired performance in the game that United went onto win 4-2.

While there were questions regarding Nike’s involvement in the Anti-racism movement, nothing concrete came out of it. However, another row exploded when Wayne Rooney handed out Anti-racism bands to the England players in the dressing room during an international match. This led to Gary Neville going public blasting Nike of using Anti-racism to promote their brand. It was astonishing when one considers the fact that Nike had a 10-year contract with Manchester United and Rio Ferdinand was a central figure in the launch of Stand Up, Speak Up. That public outburst also explained the reason for the tunnel incident at Highbury. But the matter of the fact is – He was right!

There is little doubt that the various Anti-racism groups have achieved amazing things. Players have fought their way past racism. We have had Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, who were victims of racist abuse, lead Manchester United to a treble in 1999. Theirry Henry led Arsenal to an unbeaten season that stretched to 49 games. Paul Ince has taken up coaching and soon we’ll have black manager in the top flight and in administration. Well, why not?

“Rugby fans watch the game, Football fans watch their team”. And that’s exactly the way it should be. Football, as a game, is played by millions of players every week. Millions watch it, read about it, listen to it and discuss it. Births, weddings, funerals are arranged around it. Football is the only religion worth talking about for many, including you and me. It is time to give back something to the game that has given us a lot. We should not be bothered by the color of the player on the pitch. As fans, all that should matter is the color of shirt of the team that we root for.