A few days ago England’s under-21s secured their place in EURO 2013 (which is, I believe, taking place in Israel) but sadly while you will have almost certainly seen news reports of the match it won’t have been for any sporting prowess on display.
Violence in the crowd, violence on the field and horrendous monkey chanting as Danny Rose left the pitch having been given a red card (for an offense the press could not seem to recall). There seems to be a consensus that there is a problem with racism in Serbian football, it’s certainly not the first time an England player has been on the receiving end of unacceptable abuse.
In this country we’ve had our own struggle with racism at football matches, although these days the abuse appears to be coming mainly from the players rather than the crowd. The progress made here gives me hope that these issues can and should be tackled, even if eliminating racism entirely is probably beyond the remit of the great and the good of the footballing world.
It must be intimidating enough for these young men to be representing their country in a foreign field without having stones, coins and racism thrown at them from the stands. They simply should not be expected to put up with it.
What’s missing from this story?
There are two essential elements to these events that the press don’t seem to feel are relevant to the story – both of which I think are crucial to a more rounded understanding.
First of all UEFA is initiating proceedings against the football authorities in both Serbia AND England. The British press have given the behaviour of the Serbian fans a good slice of coverage, rightly, but the charges of “improper conduct” against the England players have been dropped from the news reports, if not dropped by UEFA.
This leaves those relying on the British press in the position of not knowing why Rose was sent off, nor what improper conduct the England team have supposedly committed. Perhaps both are gross miscarriages of justice, and my suspicions are that we are looking at the consequence of the unreasonable pressure the team were put under through the sustained pelting and racism from the crowd in a game that, in hindsight, should probably have been stopped. However the British press are pretending the red card and investigation against the England team’s behaviour don’t exist.
I raise the red card not because I think Rose could have done anything to excuse the abuse he received but because the papers should at least be aiming to give a proper report so that we can get a clear idea of why what happened, happened and how the match spiraled out of control.
A legacy of hatred
The second piece of information that seems relevant to the story is that just 13 years ago, in 1999, the UK government was at the forefront of a bombing campaign that would have touched the lives of each and every Serbian in the stadium that night.
While the Battle of the Boyne or the Alamo might have political resonance in some parts of the world among the ideologically inclined it’s not quite the same as personally knowing people who were killed or injured by a foreign power. It’s not the same as remembering cowering under the kitchen table during a bombing raid or seeing the economic devastation around you in your home city. This is a living issue today.
For clarity this is true regardless of whether the war was right or not. Even supporters of Blair’s Balkan adventure should be intellectually honest enough to understand that the whole episode will have left an enormously painful imprint on the minds of those who survived. It’s clear some people feel they should have got over it by now. I think that’s an unrealistic double standard resulting from an unwillingness to face the consequences of war.
The degeneration of the Balkans into ethnic cleansing and hatred since the fall of the Eastern Bloc is an enormously complex issue, and one I’m not sure I could do justice to. I don’t think that the memories of the Kosovo war are the sole factor at play here, nor that the racist chants were a poorly articulated anti-war statement, but bombing people is a serious business and we’re kidding ourselves if we think it had no bearing on events the other night.
My request to the press
I find it odd that there are some who think pointing out a wider context to the evening’s events is excusing the racism or the violence. It seems to me that if we want to understand what is happening around us we must always be willing to look at issues from a variety of angles. However, today I’m calling for something rather simple from the media;
1. Please report the fact that UEFA is investigating the England team for improper conduct. What are the allegations?
2. Please report the circumstances under which Danny Rose came to receive a red card. What was his offense?
3. Please recognise that the history between Serbia and England is not confined to sporting events. We would not have forgotten thousands killed in bombing raids just 13 years ago, so why would we expect others to do so?