JAN 28 — Liverpool versus Manchester United has long been one of the most famous and hotly contested sporting occasions in the world, but this weekend’s FA Cup fourth-round meeting between the two clubs will see a new element of controversy introduced into their long-standing rivalry.
There have been countless disputes between the Reds and the Red Devils over the years but, until now, the topic of racism has not been among them.
The build-up to this weekend’s game at Anfield, though, has been dominated by discussion of Liverpool striker Luis Suarez’s racist behaviour towards United defender Patrice Evra when the sides last met in October — Suarez is in the middle of an eight-game ban after being found guilty by the FA and will miss the game.
Two hundred miles away in west London, a similar story is unfolding as QPR host Chelsea against the backdrop of racism allegations against Chelsea skipper John Terry, who faces a court case following his confrontation with Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand at Loftus Road, also in October.
It’s a remarkable coincidence that both fixtures were drawn out of the hat to take place in the same weekend, and measures have already been taken to defuse the potentially explosive Race Wars: Part Two: both games will kick off early to minimise alcohol-fuelled misbehaviour; Sir Alex Ferguson has written to United fans appealing for responsible support, and QPR and Chelsea have issued a joint statement condemning discrimination and asking for calm.
What to make of it all?
In modern society we are constantly exhorted to be “inclusive” and avoid any kind of perceived discrimination, surrounded as we are by the wide range of -isms that almost constantly monitor our behaviour. We cannot treat people differently on grounds of their age (ageism), gender (sexism), sexual preferences (homophobia… why is that not an -ism?), or even their weight (size-ism).
But most of all, we cannot, under any circumstances, treat people differently on grounds of their colour. Of all the potential offences against political correctness, racism is widely regarded as by far the most serious — hence the enormous furore that has been kicked up by the incidents involving Suarez and Terry.
Racism is such a sensitive subject to address in the UK (and elsewhere in the world, I am sure) that it’s difficult to tackle in an open and honest manner. As Sepp Blatter discovered when he made an ill-advised contribution to the debate (suggesting that racist disputes on the football field can be settled by a handshake), it’s just so easy to cause offence.
In fact, it’s so easy to unintentionally upset somebody that most people choose to simply avoid the issue; rather than being swiftly denounced for merely questioning whether it’s actually racist to call someone “black”, for example, it’s far safer to stay away from the subject altogether.
Attempting to make a joke about race is certainly well out of bounds, ensuring that the majority of British sit-coms from the 1970s are safely locked away in a cupboard marked: “Non-PC!” Images of Alf Garnett banging on about “coons” on “Til Death Us Do Part” are unlikely to be revived any time soon — even though the lead actor (Warren Mitchell) was in fact Jewish and used the witterings of his character to mock the idiocy of racists.
There is, of course, a real danger of sinking into positive discrimination whereby black/gay/fat/old people are given special treatment simply because they are a member of a minority group… which is surely almost as bad as the original discrimination itself.
However, racism is a specifically complex issue and if there is a touch of over-sensitivity when it comes to matters of race, that’s perfectly understandable because, for many years, people have been severely discriminated against — and far worse — simply because of the colour of their skin.
Nobody, to my knowledge, has ever been murdered or forced to live in a depraved state of subjugation simply because they were overweight or cursed with red hair; but that has happened, and still happens, far too often on the grounds of racial differences. So if there is a little too much political correctness when it comes to policing racism, that’s forgivable. Better too much than too little.
And therefore, Suarez never had much chance of being acquitted once he supposedly admitted using the word “negrito” towards Evra.
Even though Suarez claimed that the phrase, which can be loosely translated as “little black man”, is an affectionate term in his native Uruguay, that argument doesn’t carry any weight. Firstly, the incident didn’t take place in Uruguay; secondly, Evra is not Uruguayan. No matter what Suarez meant, both the environment in which he said it and the person towards whom it was directed ensured that an offensive interpretation was unavoidable.
It’s difficult to make any meaningful conclusions about Terry’s incident with Ferdinand because, at the moment, it’s just a case of one man’s word against another’s. At least the whole facts should become at our disposal through the court case that gets under way next month.
Until then, the footballing authorities will be carefully watching the behaviour of both players and fans this weekend. Let’s just hope… (insert your own inappropriate, non-PC joke here — I daren’t).
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
