ON THE MARK.

BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL....BUT NOT IN EUROPE.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson HAD to endure racist taunts if he hoped to survive.  He certainly wanted to fight back, but Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey wanted Robinson to be passive as the first man to break baseball's colour barrier.  Had Robinson fought back, the civil rights movement for African Americans would surely stall and perhaps even die right there.   Fast forward to 2013.  North American sports, for the most part, are devoid of racist chants by spectators, thanks in large part to Jackie Robinson.   In Europe, however, racism at soccer matches is an ongoing concern and yesterday, something was done about it.  AC Milan, playing a "friendly" at 4th Division Pro Patria, had their non-white players targeted with racist chants from a mini-mob of spectators.  Apparently this type of behaviour is tolerated in certain parts of Italy.  AC Milan's star midfielder, Kevin-Prince Boateng, who is black, refused to take any more abuse from the crowd, and in a stunning and courageous move, picked up the ball while in play and punted it into the section where the abuse was coming from.   He then took off his shirt and slowly walked off the field, refusing to play the rest of the game.  His teammates soon followed in a show of solidarity that may have finally forced the authorities to clamp down on this type of behaviour.   You see, the crowd at Pro Patria, rather than booing or whistling their disapproval actually CHEERED Boateng for his actions.   This public endorsement of Boateng's gesture may be just what UEFA and all member clubs need to install tough new policies.
            But there is another school of thought here.   Some feel that, rather than giving in to the racists by refusing to play, players should remain on the pitch and let the authorities do their job.   The problem is, security varies from venue to venue, and the local constabulary is sometimes loathe to get involved with fans who are hurling racial epithets.   And while it's true that the game should not be taken hostage by a handful of animals who espouse hate, the safety of the players should be paramount.  What happens when a mini-mob turns into a larger group of hundreds, or even thousands of angry, racist spectators?   For his part, AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri said his team would walk out again if one of their players were racially abused.  He also urged other teams to stage walkouts if their players were similarly abused.
     There's one big problem, though.  UEFA has a policy that will see players and coaches fined or suspended for expressing anti-racist resistance.  Instead of walking off the pitch, players are told to tell the referee, as if he's going to do something about it.   It's this ridiculous policy that has many players thinking about, but not doing anything about the racist taunts.  UEFA is sending the wrong message here.   If they had a policy with some actual teeth, the racist chants would stop and the players wouldn't have to suffer the indignities they've faced.
Prosecute the offenders to the fullest extent of the law.   Make all fans aware that this is unacceptable behaviour and maybe there will be some finger-pointing in order to identify the perps.  Today, Italian police arrested a 20 year old man who was involved.  Hopefully, more arrests will follow.
 Here is a link to yesterdays incident.
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXyqFZ_fghI&feature=player_embedded

And this isn't just a problem in Italy.  Racism is everywhere in Europe.  Choose a country and there has likely been an incident or two.  Poland, Ukraine, and especially Russia, where there's a potential problem brewing in St. Petersburg for the 1st leg of the Euro Cup on February 14th.   The local club, Zenit will play Liverpool and some Zenit supporters, on their website, have shown their lack of support for black players by posting letters such as this: "We're not racists but we see the absence of black players at Zenit as an important tradition." the letter said. "We are against representatives of sexual minorities playing for Zenit."  So, imagine what it will be like in the stands when Liverpool trots out Glen Johnson, Rahim Stirling and Daniel Sturridge for that Euro Cup match in front of a number of spectators who may be inclined to abuse those black players.   If UEFA and FIFA are smart, they'll fire a pre-emptive strike by ensuring that there will be peace in St. Petersburg.  If ever there was a time for a strong policy that will curtail and eventually eliminate racism, now is that time.   There were no such policies, moral or otherwise, back in 1947 to protect Jackie Robinson from racist taunts.  Let's see if the world of professional soccer in Europe and beyond pays any attention to our history.