Last week, the UEFA Champions League, the most prestigious tournament in club soccer, kicked off its Round of 16, featuring a heavyweight match-up of French Champions Paris Saint- Germain, and British leaders Chelsea. The first leg (they play two games, one in each arena, and go on total goals) was played in Paris, and resulted in a 1-1 draw, as the matchup will return to London next week to see who advances to the quarterfinals.
This is a big-time matchup. It is one of, if not the most significant, games in this year's competition. Chelsea is a club that is favored to win the whole thing, but PSG is one of the most solid, best teams in the world, with arguably the third best player in the world in Zlatan Ibrahimovich. The loser will go home believing they got robbed due to a random drawing and that they should have done better. The winner will continue on their quest for the cup.
Given this, you'd think the talk this week would be about the return leg coming up, its implications, and all the parts of the game that we watch this sport for.
It isn't.
What is in the news, and what has once again plagued the soccer world, is a racial incident.
The scene is the Paris metro. The time, before the game.
The train is packed. A man tries to get on the train, and is forcefully and purposely shoved out and jeered at.
The man is black.
The men in the train start to chant "Chelsea, Chelsea" in British accents, then proceed to chant:
"We're racist, we're racist, we're racist: and that's the way we like it."
The Guardian Wire obtained video of the incident and the chanting, and it is troubling, to say the least.
I have never seen anything like this before. This is astonishing.
These are English "fans" in Paris for a soccer match. And this is what they do. It's not even "on their own turf" in a way. It's hard to comprehend why.
Chelsea released a statement saying “We will support any criminal action against those involved, and should
evidence point to involvement of Chelsea season-ticket holders or
members, the club will take the strongest possible action against them,
including banning orders.”
The club also said, “Such behavior is abhorrent and has no place in football or society.”
So, if it has no place in football or society, as I think we all can agree on...
Then why does it have a place?
That's the burning question here. Why does this happen and is allowed to happen?
This reflects negatively on the club, the country, the actual fans of the team, and soccer fans all over the world. Not every soccer fan is racist. You only hear about the bad parts. But those bad parts are all over the place.
It is looked down upon by everyone. But here we are, finding that “it is outside UEFA’s remit to act” on the situation since it did not occur in the stadium or involve the players.
Oh.
So there will be criminal charges. There will be bans by the city and the club towards these people: Chelsea has banned five people (whose faces all appear in the video and have reportedly been identified by UK police) from the stadium.
So... that's it?
They did this because they had to. They acted rightly. They said the men cannot come to the games. They condemned it swiftly and acted against it, and the police will take care of the rest. Good.
But this extends further than just these men. It's a culture. They think this is okay. No one else does, but week after week and competition after competition, these kind of people show up. And that is an issue that I don't know how to solve.
When I read on Twitter (shameless plug- follow me @PatrickJStoll for sporty things) that Champions League games started again and that Chelsea was playing PSG, among other games, my first reaction was: "Oh, international games! Something is bound to happen that I can write about!"
That should not be my first reaction.
I, a huge soccer fan, who could talk about sports and players and formations and everything for days (try me), first thought of the impending racial incident over the impending heavyweight matchup.
And there it is.
And that's the way they like it.
Feedback, as always, is welcome!
CITED:
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/21/football/football-chelsea-racism-storm-london/
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/20/sport/chelsea-football-racism-paris-metro/
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/02/chelsea-train-chant-were-racist
http://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2015/feb/17/chelsea-fans-prevent-black-man-boarding-paris-metro-video?CMP=embed_video
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/world/europe/video-shows-chelsea-soccer-fans-in-racist-behavior.html
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/18/abuse-by-soccer-fans-underscores-games-lingering-racism-problem.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/19/opinion/oneill-soccer-fans-bad-rap/index.html
