I’ve only been following the World Cup Since 98 when I was in Italy and was caught up in the hysteria of jogo bonito, “the beautiful game.” France improbably beat Brazil that year. In 2002 I found myself waking up at 4 in the morning to watch Diouf and Senegal beat Zidane and his Frenchmen. And this year I hope to see Theirry Henry guide France and I hope to see the best player in the world, Ronaldinho (pictured above), try to eclipse Pele. Unfortunately, this year I will also likely see something I didn’t in the previous years: Racism.
Why now? More xenophobia. It’s spreading across Europe (see the riots in France a few months ago) because of fears of terrorism and the rise of minorities in European countries. Unlike in the U.S., Europe had no Civil Rights movement that tempered people’s un-p.c. ways. It is common in Europe for players of color to be subjected to racial taunts and monkey sounds, to have bananas thrown at them, spat upon, and to be ridiculed by even coaches on opposing teams. A few months ago Spain’s coach Luis Aragones was fined for trying to motivate one his players by saying that the player was better than that “negro de mierda” (”that black sh!t”), referring to Henry. Although Germany has one of the world’s lowest rates of violent crime, a government spokesman in May warned people of color should avoid visiting some small towns Brandenburg and other places in Eastern Germany or they may not leave with their lives.
Damn. I’m sure the The State Of . . . the beautiful game will survive any racial conflict we see over in Germany. It seems to be just in Europe as I have not heard of any racially motivated violence over soccer in Asia, Africa, Latin America, or the US (not that we really care about futbol). FIFA says that it will be imposing penalties on fans who behave in a racist manner and, after the cup, they will start punishing the teams that the rowdy fans support. Regardless . . . I will watch as many matches as I can and enjoy being one with the rest of the world. I hope you can do the same.
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