“Monkey chants are believed to be racist. Where is it written.”
That was said by the former head of Russian Football Vyacheslav Koloskov, who was also a member of Russia’s successful bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
Comments like these from senior footballing identities only epitomise Russia’s continual delusion when it comes to racism in football in its own country.
Since Russia was awarded the rights to host the biggest sporting spectacle on the planet, the issue of racism has continually been raised as a major problem, especially for an event such as the World Cup, where thousands of people converge from across the globe, all from various cultures, religions, backgrounds and beliefs.
On 20 October 2014, despite the heavy scrutiny and the poor perception of both Russia’s stance on racism and their World Cup bid as a whole, the chief executive of Russia’s World Cup committee, Alexey Sorokin, explained the Russian Football Union were doing everything in is power to eradicate the racism epidemic that has plagued the country for so long.
Unfortunately, racism in football has reared its ugly head in Russia in an all too familiar story. Last Friday on the opening day of the new Russian Premier League season, Ghana and FC Ufa footballer Emmanuel Frimpong was subjected to racial abuse from portions of the Spartak Moscow crowd.
Frimpong vented his anger towards the specific group of fans by gesturing in an offensive manner. The gesture saw him sent off, and in the coming days was ridiculously handed a two-match ban by the Russian Football Union.
In similar circumstances last season, Congolese defender Christopher Samba was given the same ban for a similar incident when on the receiving end of racial slurs from barbaric Russian fans.
On the other side of the coin, the match inspector and delegate found there to be no instances of racial vilification from the Spartak fans, meaning no disciplinary action would be undertaken against the Russian giants and the alleged fans involved.
In February, findings from a report complied from the anti-discrimination group FARE uncovered more then 200 incidents of racial and discriminatory behaviour that occurred throughout Russian football over the last two seasons.
Brazilian and Zenit St.Petersburg forward Hulk revealed he has been racially vilified in almost every game he has played in since signing for the Russian champions in 2012. The 28-year-old has repeatedly been ridiculed by Russian crowds who direct monkey chants towards him and has even accused a Russian referee of racially abusing him during his time at the club.
Back in 2010, Lokomotiv Moscow fans displayed a racial banner directed at Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie, celebrating the club’s decision to sell the then-29-year-old to English club West Brom. Odemwingie was critical of the Russian football authorities who he feels do not do enough to stamp out the problem.
“Coloured players feel the open racism there and I recall a game against CSKA Moscow when their fans started the sick noises – I wouldn’t have any of it and gave it back to them,” Odemwingie explained in an interview with BBC.
“This was widely publicised because photographers had shots of my protest but still nothing was done to curb it.”
These are just specific episodes in a long list of racial indiscretions that have transpired inside a football arena in Russia, also underlining Russia’s acceptance of turning a blind eye to the issue and burying their heads in the sand, thinking everything is okay. Frimpong, Samba or Odemwingie would not have reacted with such infuriation for no apparent reason.
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko played down concerns of the treatment of black footballers within the Russian football fraternity, but remains adamant Russia is no different to any other country when it comes to the issue of racism.
“There are problems everywhere but in Russia it’s not very serious,” Mutko told the BBC in February.
“Sometimes fans shout racist things but we take measures. There are punishments. I don’t think we stand out on this issue. There are lots of black players here and I don’t see any problem.”
This hallucination stems from the top, where Russian president Vladimir Putin does not seem to want to make a hard stand on the issue, allowing the subject to rumble on, when it so desperately needs attending to. The lack of concern continues to be a major hinderance in Russia’s preparations towards the 2018 showpiece event.
Putin, who coincidentally landed himself in hot water just last year for not denouncing a racial banner that hung across the US embassy in Moscow, directed at American president Barrack Obama and his wife Michelle, has been put on notice by FIFA anti-discriminatory task member Piara Power, urging Putin to publicly condemn the racial troubles that exist in Russian football.
The World Cup is still just under three years away, and there is still time for Russian authorities to address this obvious problem and start making inroads into eliminating racism, so the tournament can be remembered for beauty of the game on the pitch and not be tarnished by the ugly scenes off it.
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