There doesn’t appear to be a week that goes by without people on social media racially abusing Premier League players and others. Kao da prođe tjedan, a da ljudi na društvenim medijima ne vrijeđaju rasno igrače Premier lige i druge. As unpalatable as it is to say it, it’s almost become the norm. Iako je neugodno reći to, gotovo je postalo norma. Expected. Očekivano. Why? Zašto? Thus far, the powers that be in the English game and the authorities that have the power to exert a deterrent upon those that have engaged in such disgusting behaviour, have left much to be desired. Do sada, moći u engleskom fudbalu i vlasti koje imaju moć da izvrše odvraćanje onih koji su se upustili u takvo odvratno ponašanje, nisu ostavile mnogo toga željenog. Whilst it’s no excuse, with no proper punishment to speak of it’s no wonder that people feel that they can get away with just a rap on the knuckles for want of a better term. Iako to nije izgovor, bez pravne kazne o kojoj bi se moglo govoriti, nije čudo što ljudi osjećaju da mogu proći samo s opomenom. It’s a stain on the game and society across the world and it has to be stopped, and that begins by sending out a message that the authorities just won’t stand for it any longer. To je mrlja na igri i društvu širom svijeta i mora biti zaustavljeno, a to počinje slanjem poruke da vlasti više neće tolerisati to.
Some Valencia supporters who seemed to delight in racially abusing Real Madrid’s Vini Jr.
will almost certainly be thinking about their life choices this morning, after being banned from football grounds by the Spanish Federation, and thrown into jail for eight months. There’s some certainty to all three treading very carefully in future.
Former professional, Stan Collymore, thinks the Spanish have got things spot on, but he has slammed their Premier League counterparts. Bivši profesionalac, Stan Collymore, misli da su Španci stvari postavili na pravo mjesto, ali kritikovao je njihove kolege iz Premier lige. “On Twitter, I remember the Premier League asking everyone to put black squares on their bio to show solidarity with their campaign against racism. It means nothing. Well respected broadcasters and journalists not tweeting for 24 hours with a black square. Oh, great. That’s gonna stop a racist from being a racist,” rekao je za CaughtOffside u svojoj ekskluzivnoj kolumni. “I remember getting emails from the Premier League saying ‘I see you’re very critical of our stance on racism,’ and then being bombarded with a pie chart with how much interaction they had. It doesn’t work until the deterrent stops people from doing it. Sjećam se e-mailova koje sam dobio od Premier lige koji su mi rekli ‘Vidim da ste vrlo kritični prema našem stavu o rasizmu’, a zatim su me zatrpali dijagramima s kojom su imali interakciju. To ne funkcioniše dok odvraćanje ne spriječi ljude da to rade. “I know what it’s like to be racially abused on social media, in a football environment from football fans who then get punished. One of them was a trainee lawyer at the time, one was a 15-year-old boy that told his parents and broke down crying and one was a Derby fan. Znam kakav je osjećaj biti rasno zlostavljan na društvenim mrežama, u fudbalskom okruženju od navijača koji su onda kažnjeni. Jedan od njih je bio pripravnik advokat u tom trenutku, jedan je bio 15-godišnji dječak koji je rekao svojim roditeljima i počeo plakati, a jedan je bio navijač Derbija. “They were all taken to court, one had to wear a tag, one was fined and the other had to pay something like £100 in victim surcharge, money that they may not have had at that time. Svi su izvedeni pred sud, jedan je morao nositi elektronsku ogrlicu, jedan je kažnjen i drugi je morao platiti oko 100 funti za naknadu žrtvama, novac koji možda nisu imali u to vrijeme. Dakle, s moje perspektive, to je vrlo jednostavno. If you take the next step and even give racists just a week in jail, it will make a difference. Ako odete korak dalje i čak rasistima date samo sedmicu u zatvoru, to će napraviti razliku. Nobody wants to go to jail. Niko ne želi ići u zatvor. Anybody, pretty much most people, can pay a £50 fine and then become the guy that abused [insert black player here]. Većina ljudi može platiti kaznu od 50 funti i onda postati osoba koja je zlostavljala [umetni ime crnog igrača]. “So, absolutely fantastic from the Spanish authorities. Dakle, apsolutno fantastično od španskih vlasti. The punishment for those who racially abused Vini Jr. is 10 times more important than what the English authorities would do about it, because we have a background of virtue signalling in this country. Kazna za one koji su rasno zlostavljali Vini Jr. je 10 puta važnija od toga što bi engleske vlasti učinile, jer imamo pozadinu signaliziranja vrline u ovoj zemlji. “You look back when England played in Seville many moons ago and there was blackface etc., and I think that Spain has had a problem with acknowledging it. Pogledate unatrag kada je Engleska igrala u Sevilji prije mnogo godina i bilo je “blackface” i slično, mislim da Španija ima problem s priznavanjem toga. So this is big. Dakle, ovo je veliko. It’s saying, you go to a football match and you start doing this, you’re gonna get a proper punishment. Ovo govori, ideš na fudbalsku utakmicu i počneš to raditi, dobit ćeš pravu kaznu. “Eastern Europe, which has a problem in football traditionally with racially abusing players, need to do the same and if we do, we then have serious tools to be able to eradicate it from the grounds. Istočna Evropa, koja tradicionalno ima problem u fudbalu s rasno zlostavljanje igrača, treba to učiniti i ako to učinimo, imamo ozbiljne alate da ga eliminiramo s terena. “Well done the Spanish Federation, well done the Spanish judicial system. Svaka čast španskoj federaciji, svaka čast španskom pravosuđu. England – time to follow. Engleska – vrijeme je za praćenje. With prisons already overcrowded in this country, there’s sure to be an excuse that there simply isn’t room to throw those found guilty of racist abuse into jail. S obzirom da su zatvori već pretrpani u ovoj zemlji, sigurno će biti izgovora da jednostavno nema mjesta za baciti one koji su proglašeni krivima za rasnu zlostavljanje u zatvor. However, something clearly needs to change at the top level of the game or else one can only conclude that the Premier League are also an organisation that are unconsciously racist. Međutim, nešto jasno treba promijeniti na vrhunskom nivou igre inače možemo samo zaključi da je Premier liga također organizacija koja je nesvjesno rasistička.
