Kick It Out

Before reading this I encourage you to go watch this and this.

Thirteen months ago football would have had you believe that racism was no longer an issue. It had been largely swept under the carpet and many higher up types congratulated themselves on a job well done. In the year since, this theory has been shown to be completely unfounded. The John Terry and Luis Suarez affairs put a national spotlight on the issue in England, and it seems to be rearing its ugly head across Europe every few weeks at the moment. I was at the Tottenham vs Lazio game in September that saw UEFA investigate the racist chanting heard from the visiting supporters. Upon hearing it in person your heart sinks to your stomach. What could the authorities do to quell this in the moment? This is why UEFA must make an example of the Serbian FA for the behaviour at tonight's game.

For anyone who hasn't clicked the above links and watched the video, England's Under 21s came under a barrage of abuse for most of the game, according to comments by Jordan Henderson, and were the target of missiles thrown on to the pitch. Much of this abuse was racially charged, with monkey noises clearly audible on the second of the above videos. England's players reacted angrily, as most anyone would in a similar situation, and Danny Rose, one of England's black players, was shown a red card for kicking a ball into the crowd in retaliation. A few skirmishes and scuffles then broke out on the pitch and down the tunnel. The only upside, if it can be seen as such, of this scene descending into on-field violence is that it means UEFA cannot ignore it, as they have been seen to have done on similar occasions in the past.

Severe punishments need to be handed out. If English football can be banned from European competition for two years because of the behaviour of its fans, as it was in the aftermath of the Heysel disaster, then UEFA needs to take similar action against Serbia in the wake of this abuse. Make the national team play games behind closed doors, exclude their club teams, do something to make an example of the Serbian FA, and for once be seen to be taking a stand on an issue.