I think it's safe to say that Russia has, to put it lightly, some issues.
Looking at Russia from a strictly soccer perspective, you have CSKA Moscow, who can't have fans in their next couple European games due to violence and racist banners.
You also have Zenit, a team whose fans published a public letter to the organization saying that they did not want the team to sign a black player, saying "We're not racists, but we see the absence of black players at Zenit as an important tradition."
Well, one more thing just got thrown into the mix: a coach saying racist things about his own players.
One team in the Russian Premier League is FC Rostov. The coach, Igor Gamula, was asked this weekend about the possibility of the team signing a certain defender the team has been linked to for a month, and this player happens to be from Cameroon.
In response to this question, Gamula said that the club “enough dark-skinned players, we’ve got six of the things.”
There are no words.
He recently came out and apologized for this absolute gem of a quote, saying:
"I've never divided players into good or bad, foreigners or
Russians."
He also said he was "in shock" at the reception
his comments had received...
"I was deeply worried and didn't sleep for two days. I hadn't wanted to insult or upset anyone."
I can't.
He apologized here, if you read between the lines in his comments, for people getting mad at what he said. How is he surprised that there was an uproar after he said "we have six of the things?"
Perhaps the best part of this entire situation is this: The man still has his job.
Let me say that again: The man still has his job.
He has not been fired, or at least not yet as of me writing this.
There is a consensus, however, that the players on his team do not want him as coach anymore, and that he should be removed.
The key here is that he hasn't been removed.
Can you imagine if John Harbaugh said that about the Ravens?
He would be fired the next day!
But in this sport, and in that country, all that happens is that people look away. This is also the country that: A) FIFA itself has said has a problem with racism that needs to be fixed, and B) is hosting the next World Cup.
A country where people refer to black people as "things" and say that they don't want them on their team for "tradition" is hosting THE BIGGEST INTERNATIONAL SPORTING EVENT IN THE WORLD.
When FIFA says racism is an issue, and it particularly is in this country, how do you award them the World Cup, and how can coaches in various countries deny that racism is a problem in soccer?
Jose Mourinho, coach of English club Chelsea, former coach of Real Madrid, said early in October: "There is no racism in football."
How can any coach deny this is a problem, when incidents happen every week?
The problem lies in the culture of ignorance and the turning of the cold shoulder: it becomes more and more apparent every week that teams and countries and organizations just want to avoid bad publicity.
FIFA needs to step its game up and actually try to "kick out racism," otherwise they'll just be in an endless cycle of "this isn't a problem" and "we need to stop this."
As usual, thank you for reading, and any feedback is appreciated!
CITED:
http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8925707
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/11/01/russian-soccer-coach-says-he-doesnt-need-any-more-black-players-on-his-team-makes-terrible-ebola-joke/
http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2014/10/24/3583668/soccer-governing-bodies-spineless-on-racism-as-russia-world-cup-looms/
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/18/manchester-city-russia-racism-yaya-toure-cska-moscow
