Offensive chants hit England

Recently the English Premier League re-asserted their efforts to excavate racism from their league. Their efforts are spurred from recent events that have affected players and fans. Whats even worse for the league is that these scandals are not coming from the fans, but they are coming from players and there was even a recent accusation against a referee. The incident that has caused the most publicity world-wide is the incident between Luis Suarez, Liverpool striker, and Patrice Evra Manchester United defender. Suarez was suspended for 8 games and fined 40,000 pounds. These punishments were handed down after a lengthy investigation that included witness testimony and testimony from both players involved in the incident. The involvement of players in the sports most pressing issue, in the worlds most popular league, between two of the worlds biggest teams has brought racism to the forefront with a new fervor that has never been seen. This incident was not between two bench players, it was between two of the top players on the field. It would be the equivalent of Kobe Bryant and Tony Parker exchanging racial slurs to each other, its bad. This incident was followed shortly by a player for Chelsea FC accusing referee Mark Clattenburg of using racially offensive language towards players. John Obi Mikel accuse Clattenburg of calling him a "stupid monkey" in their match against Manchester United just last month. Clattenburg was cleared of all charges but the issue was still in the media for a little over a month and under these circumstances, any press is bad press. All this bad press came to a head this past weekend in the London derby match between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. Targeting Tottenham's famous Jewish connections, the West Ham United fans made hissing sounds early in the first half, in relation to the concentration camps during the Second World War. Chants of 'Adolf Hitler's coming for you' were also sung. Following the stabbing of a Spurs fan in Rome earlier in the week, the West Ham supporters also chanted 'can we stab you every week?' The issue has hit the main stream now with the world's most popular league suffering from its grasp. The issue has all the publicity it needs now. The question is, what will soccer do about it?

The most racist team in the world.

The feud between Arabs and Jews has been going for centuries. The base of the hatred between the two, ironically is religion and the battle for the city of Jerusalem. Arabs believe it is the city where the prophet mohammed ascended to heaven, Jews believe it is where jesus will return to earth to create a kingdom to heaven. The fighting over the city has become violent and is still going on today. The tension between the two groups has resulted in death, poverty and constant fear around the walls of Jerusalem. This hatred towards each other is, unfortunately, portrayed no more clear then by a soccer team in the Israeli Premier League. Beitar Jerusalem is considered one of, if not the most racist club in world football. They are located just a few miles outside of Jerusalem in an area that, because of walls erected by the government to protect from suicide bombers, is predominately jewish. They are also the only team that has never had an Arab player on its roster. The clubs most passionate fans are a group called La Familia, a group of nearly 6,000 racist fans. With chants such as "Death to the Arabs," Mohammed is a son of a bitch," and "We hate all arabs." It is no doubt one of the most violent atmospheres to play in. Arab players that play on other teams in the league say that playing at that stadium "is like war." What has this world come to when a professional establishment would allow behavior like this to exist. Yes the league punishes them repeatedly and the club is struggling severely with finances and performance. but the fact of the matter is that it exists. ESPN did a documentary on this team that opened my eyes and inspired me to post about them. People around the world do not realize the passion that fans across the world support their team with in this sport. They also don't realize that racism is not a thing of the past, it is more prevalent now then ever. It might not be towards african-americans anymore but it is still there and it is destroying a beautiful game. I attached the ESPN documentary for viewing if you wish.

Saleen commercial

Its tainting the game

This blog is about racism in soccer around the world. Racism has become a serious issue for soccers governing body, much the same head injuries are such a concern for american football. Now they are two different types of problems but the importance of each are similar. Racism is tainting the game and causing some players to switch leagues and in extreme cases, such as Israel and some parts of South America, players fear for their lives. In America racism is a dark spot on our countries history. we embarrassed ourselves as a country for decades discriminating against those of color. We have grown tremendously since then and racism is something of the past to many. But around the world the passion for soccer brings out the worst in many fans. This blog is to educate those who are fans of soccer and those who are not fans of soccer about the regularity of racism in this sport. Ignorance will no longer be an excuse, educating people will hopefully help end this horrible epidemic.