It’s just not football

Kodjovi Obilale in action (Courtesy of The Daily Mail)

With former Togo international goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale – himself injured in the attacks against his team before the Africa Cup of Nations 18 months ago – calling for fans accused of abusive chanting towards Emmanuel Adebayor to be punished, one must question why such behaviour manifests itself in football stadia.

The ex-Arsenal and current Tottenham striker was targetted by some Arsenal fans, with much of the abuse in reference to the terrorist attack – it is just like using the events of 7/7 to taunt an English player.

There have been previous instances at White Hart Lane, where Egyptian player Mido recieved abuse from opposing fans who labelled him a suicide bomber due to his Muslim roots.

One would imagine that the two subjects would be inappropriate given the occurances in the same city.

Unfortunately, football and it’s terraces have created an outlet for behaviour which would be frowned upon – even punishable – in every day society, why should this be acceptable in a sport.

In reality its not just player conduct we should be scrutinisng – often we refer to their position as role models – but also that of the fans.

Children attend football matches or watch on television and will be exposed to hearing language which their parents would normally prevent them from encountering through other forms of media.

Perhaps it’s a gender related phenomona. The Turkish example where male Fenerbahçe fans were banned from their ground, due to hooliganism, and only women and children admitted – with no detriment to the atmosphere – proved to be an interesting experiment.

However, as a widespread preactice it seems unlikely that this idea would actually be globally embraced.

It has been suggested previously, by amongst others Tim Vickery – South American correspondent for the BBC – that violence and hooliganism in football has a direct link to socio-economic conditions of its followers.

When conditions worsen the behaviour follows, such examples can be seen in Eastern Europe particularly, where abusive chanting and violence is endemic – seen recently when England travelled to Bulgaria for a qualifier.

With the 2018 World Cup being awarded to Russia, despite its chequered past in regards to racist behaviour directed towards players, most notably Roberto Carlos, it will without question bring important issues into the limelight.

Potentially Samuel Eto’o's recent move to Russia may help to challenge the ignorance. The sight of one of the world’s greatest strikers scoring lots of goals could elevate him to iconic status in Russia and at least eliminate racism amongst certain sections of fans.

Of course no discussion of violence in football can avoid the issue of sectarian trouble in Scotland, with Rangers and Celtic being at the forefront of such problems.

There has been a lot of press coverage of late regarding these issues and arrests were recently made after a Dunfermline match, where sectarian chanting was heard in a match against Rangers.

It is vital that such preventative measures are taken and there should be widespread adopting of such action.

Football is the world’s game. but essentially it is just that – a game. Some fans decide to bring the game into disrepute and it is up to the authorities, both within and outwith the game to tackle such issues affecting football.

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