This isn’t How You Say “No to Racism.”
By: Arul Velan
Tags: Sports, Soccer, Thinking, Lists, Racism

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

French and Turkish players have to wake up!

For those who watch soccer, I believe you know what I am talking about. For those who don’t, let me sum this up very quickly.

In a nutshell,

During the UEFA Champions League game yesterday, both the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Istanbul Basaksehir’s players decided to walk off the stadium when the 4th official (referee) spat racist remarks at one of the coaching assistants during the game. Basaksehir’s Cameroonian assistant coach Pierre Webo was flashed a red for protesting against a referring decision.

This was what the 4th official said (loosely translated from his native language, Romanian, by the media):

“The black one over there. Go and check who he is. The black one over there, it’s not possible to act like that.”

And the imbecile’s response triggered the 22 players to walk their butts off the pitch.

I find this totally unfair to the fans who were eager to watch them play. I find that the players let their anger get the better of them.

Many might disagree with me. But I believe that they made a stupid move and the players could have responded to the racist remarks in a more mature manner.

Show your strength on the pitch

All 22 players (and the reserves on the bench) are at the stadium for one significant reason. It is for their love for football. If they don’t love football and don’t love playing football, then they shouldn’t even be there. At that moment, all of the players forgot their purpose. At that moment, they let respecting another human being overrule a football game.

Doc Rivers, an NBA veteran, said this to his players when they had to face a similar racist situation. He said:

“We are never going to be victims.”

Doc and the players were expected to boycott the game — instead, they designed their own protest, made the statement center court pre-game, and went back to play the game.

Likewise, the French and Turkish players should have finished the game. They should have played their best for the game, telling the world that racist comments are not more important than their love for the game. They should not have become victims. By walking out, they became the victims.

Show love, not hate

Racist comments were made. Players got angry and they walked out. And the score was:

Racism 1 People 0.

People showed unity the wrong way during that game. People of color had their feelings hurt. And this hurt resonated beyond the stadium.

Instead, they should have shown unity on the pitch by producing a good game and show unity amongst their team mates. When someone scored, they should have celebrated with hugs and love, regardless of the color of the skin. If the goalkeeper was a person of color and he kept a clean sheet, everyone should have praised him and gave him a pat on his back. If the defenders were persons of color and they did a fantastic job defending against the other team, then that should have been welcomed with hugs and kisses at the end of the game.

There are millions of fans who are watching games via the TV. It would have been a louder statement if they did this instead of running back to their locker rooms in anger and frustration over a racist comment.

At the end of the game, all the players could have simply walked out the pitch, hugging Webo and holding their heads held high- telling everyone that they respect the game and the coaches who act of their guides.

Show the Press who you are

After any football game, there will be a post-match press conference where the press will interview both the coaches and players.

And this should have been an excellent platform for them to voice out their anger and frustration. There were some heavyweight players on the PSG team like Kylian Mbappe and Neymar Jr — who have millions of followers all around the world.

Either Mbappe or Neymar should have grabbed the mic and said that people should not react to racism with more hate but to show the world what you are capable of so that ignorant people will look past the color of the skin and praise your talent. Racism can be stopped with talent. And this could have been easily highlighted via the press conference.

Also, the Turkish players could have used this opportunity to do something likewise and even praise Webo for his coaching efforts and their appreciation towards Webo on how they groomed them. It would have been an eye-opener for those who have not appreciated Webo to finally appreciate him as a coach. There would have been more visibility for him rather than being seen solely as a victim of racism that day.

At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself this question. Do you forever want to be victim of racism and not do what you love or do what you love and should how capable you are to the world?

Don’t let racism stop you from living your dream.