The virus of racism

In one “friendly” match between two Italian clubs last January, Ghana’s Kevin-Prince Boateng of the visiting AC Milan kicked the ball into the stands and walked off the pitch in anger and disgust. He was followed by his teammates and supported by his club and the match was abandoned. In the days that followed—instead of being  raked over the coals for what seemed like unsportsmanlike and unprofessional conduct—Boateng was hailed as a hero by the world of football.

That singular act was a powerful blow delivered by one person against the one malignant ailment that has afflicted the world’s most popular sport for decades—racism. Boateng was verbally abused by fans of the host club and, after 25 minutes of racist chants, he decided he would not take it any longer. With one single kick, Boateng achieved what the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa), the world governing body of the sport, had failed to accomplish—to deliver an eloquent and compelling message that hatred, discrimination, intolerance and prejudice have no place in football or anywhere in sports and the civilized world.

Red-faced after Boateng’s heroism, Fifa formed an antiracism task force to come up with tougher measures against offenders. According to Sepp Blatter, president of Fifa: “There have been despicable events this year that have cast a long shadow over football and the rest of society.” But only days after Fifa adopted the new antiracism measures, another ugly incident was added to that list. This time, the object of racist abuse was an entire nation.

By all accounts, including that of Inquirer reporter Cedelf Tupas, the match between the Philippine Azkals and Hong Kong last week was hardly friendly. Raucous spectators booed the Azkals and pelted them with debris the moment they entered the pitch of the Mong Kok Stadium to warm up. As sports competitions go, that’s par for the course, no matter that the match was called a “friendly.” But the boos and catcalls got even louder and rowdier when the Philippine national anthem was played. And when James Younghusband scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the first half, it was downhill from there.

Calling the Filipinos “a slave nation,” a section of the spectators shouted down a small group of Filipinos, mostly women and children, as they pelted the Azkals with water bottles and tetra packs. They unfurled a banner to remind everyone of the botched bus hostage rescue that killed eight Hong Kong tourists in 2010 at the Rizal Park, as if the Azkals and their fans had anything to do with it.

Overshadowed by the ugly scenes was the excellence on the pitch displayed by both teams, with Younghusband heading in a first-half goal, Neil Etheridge making one sensational save after another, and the Hong Kong side putting up a spirited fight up to the last minute. Almost forgotten, too, was the fact that in its finest performance thus far, the Philippines scored its first victory over Hong Kong since 1958 while enduring the hostility of the host crowd.

The incident comes at a time when the Philippines is grappling with diplomatic difficulties with its neighbors. Apart from the never-to-be-forgotten bus hostage rescue bungling, the Philippines is dealing with China’s incursions into its maritime territories and the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine coast guards.

Sports had become hostage to these diplomatic disputes. Only last month, the basketball association of Chinese-Taipei withdrew its invitation for the Philippines to defend the title in next month’s Jones Cup basketball tournament, purportedly for security reasons. The situation will become trickier when the Philippines hosts the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) Asia basketball tournament in August. Chinese-Taipei has been grouped with the Philippines in the first round.

That political statements, let alone racist acts, are made in sporting events goes against the principles of sportsmanship, mutual respect and fair play that must govern all of sports. In Blatter’s words, the whole family of football must go against what has blighted the game for so long.

“The big problem with racism,” Boateng said, “is that there is no vaccine for it. There are no antibiotics that you can simply take. It is like an extremely dangerous and contagious virus. It is emboldened by our indifference and inaction.”