Kick Racism Out Of Football

Report on the Conference: Tackling Racism in Football Across Europe at Manchester United Football Club, 30th January 1998, Anne Gough, Deane-Cum-Heaton Branch, Bolton West Constituency Labour Party

The Conference was organised by the EPLP and hosted by Manchester United. About 200 delegates attended from a range of clubs and organisations.

The conference was opened by Eddie Newman, MEP who set the scene. He talked about the importance of black role models and said that he thought that, although there were black players, there should be no complacency.

  Opening Address, Pauline Green MEP, Leader of the Group of European Socialists

Pauline set out in her opening address many of the political issues that surround this subject and reported on many of the steps the EPLP and the European Group of Socialist MEPs have been engaged in before, during and now following the European Year Against Racism. I think it is useful to report this session quite fully.

Pauline started off by saying that clubs had done sterling work and the PFA supported the work that had been done. She said that the Manchester conference was one of four around Europe organised by the Socialist Group.

They would all look at different themes of racism. They were in Berlin, Bologna and ending in Marseilles where the theme will be "How cultures can be harnessed".

Posters, postcards, badges etc. are all available for publicity purposes now.

The EPLP is currently looking for a group of left-wing lawyers to fight for Civil Rights for ethnic minority groups. They want to look at what constitutions say versus the reality of what ethnic minority groups face. There are currently investigations taking place in eight cities.

Pauline went on to talk about the Brussels Conference in March this year which will bring many more people together to look at what comes out of all of the other conferences. There will be 16 exhibitions from all EU countries and teachers will be displaying work that has been done. This will be followed by a seminar.

She stressed that the new competence given in the Amsterdam Treaty strengthened their hand and they were looking at ways they could make further progress. The fact that the majority of EEC countries' leaders, MEPs and Commissioners are currently from the left should help. She referred to the Vienna Observatory; a new monitoring centre in Europe designed to monitor cases of racism, fascism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

She reminded everyone that right-wing parties had found fertile ground in football crowds and there was now a need to take the fight against racism to the weekend leagues and the battle against disaffection in youth is critical.

The Conference presented a lot of information over 12 plenary contributions as well as 5 workshops. I will try to give a flavour of the contributions. If anyone would like further information please contact me through Gary Titley, MEP's Office.

  The European Dimension

The first plenary, entitled The European Dimension was chaired by Wayne David, MEP.

In his introduction Wayne stated that although the European Year Against Racism had had a very modest budget it had, in fact, been one of the most successful European Years.

Udo Merkel, University of Brighton

Udo is the author of significant research into racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in sport. He has studied the effects between players, spectators, managers, the media and everyday life. He has studied the effects on different groups in different European countries.

Some of his findings are that:

      There is a tendency to trivialise the problem and for people to say it is individual not group, structural or institutional.

      As a result of institutional racism ethnically homogeneous teams and leagues have developed

      There is no explicit anti-discrimination legislation that covers the area of sport

      He also said that he was looking for examples of anti-racist campaigns in sport across Europe, such as the Let's Kick Racism Out of Football.

  The Football Association's View, Mark Sudbury

Mark has had three years involvement in anti-racism work in football. He pointed out that this was the third conference in England on this subject in the last 4/5 months and that media interest and the Government Task Force are showing increased interest.

He went on to detail how the Let's Kick Racism Out of Football started and developed to the stage it is now. He commented on the difference there was now on the terraces to the 70s/80s. The fact that large group, overt racism did not happen in the same way. He commented on some local campaigns, such as one at the Barnsley v Arsenal match. He also commented that fans were now much more aware.

He said that the focus of the Kick It Out Campaign now had to go out to smaller clubs and into lower leagues, non-league and youth clubs. He talked about the need for pre-World Cup activities.

Mark finished by reminding delegates that there are no Asian players in the Premier League, only a handful of black managers, few black coaches, very few black administrators or referees and that only 1% of supporters on the terraces come from ethnic minority groups.

  The European Year Against Racism, Sandra Lutchman, European Commission

Sandra talked about the European Year Against Racism and described some of the activities that had taken place. She said that sport had a fundamental role in the integration of ethnic minority groups into Europe. She reported that in Austria the Austrian coach went as far as removing a racist member of the team. However, she went on to say how in some European countries black boxers, particularly, had to change their names in order to get sponsors. She finished by saying that there is a need for different Directorates of the Commission to co-operate more and that following the EYAR there is an Action Plan which will be discussed in March /April this year.

  Will Van Rhee, Kononklijke Nederlandsche Voetbalbond (Dutch Football Association)

Will explained how historically, racist chanting on the terraces encouraged the KNVB to set up a working group which produced a report in 1993. This recommended that clubs must comply with certain requirements before they gain their registration.

Local Requirements:

      They must have a Spectator Action Plan that has to include how they will combat racism.

      Match organisation must include the removal of any racist banners / the arrest of racist chanters / arrangements with referees and the police for dealing with chanting

      Stadium bans for offenders

National Policies:

      Adoption of a code of behaviour for officials drawn up nationally in 1995

      Training for referees and coaches in conflict resolution.

      Referees have the right to stop a match and take the players off the field if they are not satisfied with the spectators and clubs are fined if their supporters continue to chant. It is therefore in the clubs interest to stop it.

      A campaign entitled "Colourful Football is Good"

      Pop against Racism

      Football Club fees are kept very low, and no-one should need to travel more than 15 minutes to join a club.

      Ethnic minority children are encouraged to join football clubs as it is seen as a way to help children learn the Dutch language, understand the Dutch way of life and to integrate into the community.

  Keynote Address, Tony Banks MP, Minister for Sport

As with Pauline's contribution I have tried to include most of what Tony said as there are many positive suggestions.

Tony started his contribution by reminding delegates that racism is an offence. He looked back to the 70s and 80s when the problem was acute, with supporters wearing nazi insignia and rightwing political leaflets being rife on the terraces, and clubs and the police saying that there was no problem. He remembered the Chief Executive of Chelsea being sent razor blades in the post when he said that he was going to tackle racism. He reminded delegates that the early work of the ANL was abused and members were branded as trouble-makers.

He said that things have moved on from then and that now there is recognition of the problem. He welcomed the initiatives that have been working at club level such as Kick It Out and reminded delegates that there is still one club in the Football League that has not joined in.

He referred to legislation that was available and said that it should be used. He also said that Government had no intention of reversing the all-seater stadia legislation.

He said how important he felt club based and schools initiatives were and said in the clubs it is crucial that there are supporter led campaigns. He expressed the view that there is a need to use football grounds at times other than match days and that young people should have access to clubs. He suggested that the Show Racism the Red Card video should be shown on all club television big screens.

He then moved on to institutional racism, saying that it must be tackled. He stated that there are too few black and Asian fans on the terraces, this being the legacy and fear of crime. He said that although the image of football was changing one only had to walk down Wembley Way to experience the nationalism expressed by some fans. National football, he said, seems to have attracted the worst of the club followers.

He challenged club scouts and asked if they were looking in the right places to find players. He wondered if this was one of the reasons that there were no Asian players in the premier league.

He said that there was a flaw in the Football Offences Act over the definition of chanting, something that needed to be looked at.

He asked clubs how many black stewards there were and what training stewards were given.

He moved on to say that racial abuse is commonplace on recreation grounds and school playing fields and that he felt that Local Authorities have a major role to play in this area as they often own the grounds and have some control over their use.

He finished by saying that the Government recognised the issue and therefore the Task Force had been set up. A report is due in February which Ministers will study and act upon.

  Parliament to Pitch Workshop, Chaired by Angela Billingham, MEP

Presenters: Sandra Lutchman – European Commission, Udo Merkel – University of Brighton, Piara Powar – Kick It Out

The workshop considered a number of issues including the need for European Legislation of Race Discrimination, along the lines of the British legislation. It was noted that if Europe is to consider such legislation then there has to be a levelling up to at least the British level and we must not allow anything to happen that levels our legislation down. There is concern about this given the differing status of ethnic minority groups and the differing levels of awareness in different countries. It was felt that the Observatory could be asked to monitor the treatment of third country national players.

      There was an exploration of what ESF funds might be available for projects to provide training

      Concern was expressed about sectarianism in football in Northern Ireland and Scotland and delegates were asked to keep this in mind when discussing the issues.

      It was suggested that MEPs could be asked to contact their local clubs and by talking to them open up ways for further discussions and campaigns.

      The growth of football in economic terms was discussed and the effects that has had on the game and how football plays a much larger part in the economics of an area. It was suggested that football should be involved in other projects in the community.

      It was suggested that the police could do more with Kick It Out.

      It was suggested that UEFA should be contacted by large numbers of grassroots organisation as they are one of the biggest stumbling blocks.

  The Way Forward

The final plenary was entitled The Way Forward and was chaired by Gordon Taylor of the PFA. This presented the findings of the working groups.

The presenters were:Gary Titley MEP, Angela Billingham MEP, Glyn Ford MEP, Sue Waddington MEP, Mark Hendrick MEP

Reports of these workshops have been written up by other members.

The conference was brought to a close by Rose Marie Ford, FIFA.

Rose Marie explained how FIFA saw its own position. She said that Article 2 stated that there should be no discrimination against a country or an individual. She stated that this worked on two levels, the philosophical/academic and the practical.

She cited the Fair Play Campaign as the way FIFA had moved forward, and quoted three of the ten points of the campaign. These covered respect of other players and officials, the rejection of drugs, cheating, racism and violence and the honouring of those who defend football's good reputation.

  My Thoughts

A conference well worth attending. It raised very publicly the issues of racism, fascism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, sectarianism and nationalism in sport generally and in football specifically. It did generate some thoughts for moving things forward.

In particular the issues for:

      Local Authorities in use of recreation land and the conditions that might be applied

      Taking the battle out to the weekend leagues and schools through the various campaigns

      Reassessing the legislation and the Task Force setting a mainstream political agenda

      Football leagues in their recruitment of players and their responsibilities within communities

      The supporters in actively working together

      MEPs and the role they may play in their constituencies and the continuing role they play in the European Parliament

      The European Commission in developing a network of committed individuals and organisations

      The European Observatory in monitoring the treatment of players who are considered third country nationals in Europe.

It made me realise yet again how far we have to go and how important it is that we keep these issues on the front burner.

Anne Gough
Deane-cum-Heaton Labour Party

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