We all knew what would happen with a section of the England support if they lost last night, and there’s been some particularly grim reading about the abuse that some of their players have been taking on social media.
If it’s going to be eradicated then it needs football to come together to stamp it out, while whataboutery and “but they did this” simply can’t be tolerated as an excuse for tolerating such behaviour.
Strong words from clubs and institutions absolutely have their place to raise awareness, but realistically it’s all going to come down to their actions when they have a situation to deal with.
Barcelona released this message on their Twitter account this evening, and it’s particularly noticeable when you consider the recent incident with Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele:
Losing a penalty shootout is a part of football, and a part of life.
Racism is not. pic.twitter.com/tUckiMT1Os
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 12, 2021
Footage emerged of the two players mocking Asian employees who had come to fix something in their hotel room, and at this point all Barca have done is grovel to their sponsors who kicked up a fuss and threatened to hurt them financially.
Unfortunately, that makes the meaning behind this message feel somewhat empty, and the reaction from some of the fans is pretty much spot-on.
They do acknowledge the merit of the message and praise that, but they also want to see Barca uphold their end of the bargain here when it comes to taking action themselves:
Practice what you preach and punish Griezmann and Dembele ? https://t.co/6q3mYjDqCw
— JayLou ?? ?? (@UTDhound) July 12, 2021
Racism is, unfortunately, part of life and shouldn’t be. We, as a society, need to get rid of racism as quick as possible.
Talking about racism, @FCBarcelona are you going to kick out Dembele and Griezmann for their racist comments? Not sell, kick out from the club.
— ????Albert Bros???? (@AlbertBros1990) July 12, 2021
Griezmann and Dembele retweeting the tweet… pic.twitter.com/5uXo8enRTM
— Saurabh Roy (@Baila_Ahora) July 12, 2021
But we still keeping griezmann and dembele. hypocrisy
— 🙁 (@MahirKoak18) July 12, 2021
Yes racism is not a part of football thats why griezmann and dembele need to be sold immediately
— 🙁 (@MahirKoak18) July 12, 2021
My club.
Now get rid of Griezmann and Dembele.
— Adam (@AJA0044) July 12, 2021
so then what we doing about griezmann and dembele then https://t.co/tB2hQ8hzoM
— jamie (@JamieMonck) July 12, 2021
The big thing here is that taking action will hurt Barca economically, but if they are serious about setting an example then that’s simply what has to happen.
I think players have their life living that is different from playing football, they did not commit offense in pitch while playing ball nor against their coleage rather against hotel attendant, so the offense is outside football matter that playing football does not stop they from living their normal life.