Zenit St. Petersburg is a soccer club that within the last
couple of years has become a Russian powerhouse in the sport. The financial
takeover of the team saw more talented and diverse players come to the club. Russia
is composed of a predominantly white population and is also not the most
accepting society. These introduced players were and still are victims of
racial abuse from both the other players and fans. In the case of Zenit, they
are not only targeted by the opposition’s fan base, but their own as well. In
2012, fans of the club wrote an open letter to the team demanding them to not buy
any non-white or homosexual players. This does not seem like a real fan base to
me. Sports fans come together as a community to support their team; these fans
accept others that are supporters of their club. They win, together. They lose,
together. Celebrate, together. Stand, together. Yet this morale is lost when
the color of skin or sexual identity of their players is not accepted. Fans
watch soccer because it is a beautiful game, the talent of the players awe’s
everyone and brings chills to their spines. Instead of respecting and
applauding these marginalized players (because some of them are brilliant), they
are booing and taunting them. Hulk, a Brazilian who is arguably one of the best
players in the league, has been subject to these racist acts for over three
years and it is not likely to stop. His responses have been to blow kisses back
at the crowd which shows that he will not pay attention to their narrow-mindedness.
These discriminatory acts are contradictory to the movements of UEFA (Union of
European Football Association) by promoting fair play and their “No to Racism”
campaign. These culprits do not realize what they have got, the resurgence of
quality in the league will quickly dwindle as players will not want to be
subject to this intolerance. It will be interesting to see the conduct of the
fast approaching Euro 2018 held in Paris this summer.
“Zenit St Petersburg’s Hulk accuses Spartak Moscow fans of
racist abuse”. The Guardian.
(September, 2015). Retrieved May 2, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/sep/27/zenit-st-petersburg-hulk-spartak-moscow-accuse-racist-abuse
Fans are turning "joga bonito" into an arena of racialization and racism. There really is nothing in sports, in my opinion, like watching futebol/soccer/football/futbol. I agree that it can bring chills to one's spine. Some people talk about sports as being the only and true meritocracy, where merit and talent rule. It is clear that in the US and globally we cannot escape the ethno-racial hierarchy. Imagine the stress that Hulk carries around with him--eventually even Hulk will run out of kisses.
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