US Soccer player has enough of the racial taunts

If you are a fan of soccer then you know that FIFA has been waging a campaign to try and lessen the problem of racism in the sport. In many european matches it is not uncommon for fans to call players of color "monkey" or to throw bananas on he field. Well one player has finally had enough of all the racial taunts thrown his way.

U.S. International and Standard Liege defender Oguchi Onyewu has filed a lawsuit against Anderlecht player Jelle Van Damme for racial abuse that allegedly happened during the Belgian Jupiler playoffs last month.

Van Damme, 25, is being accused of calling Onyewu a “dirty monkey” during their playoff final in May. The defender has denied the charges and said that he is not a racist.

Jean-Louis Dupont recently issued a complaint with a Belgian court.

"He was convinced it was his duty to lodge the complaint," Dupont said. "It is not a question whether Van Damme is racist. The issue is that these slurs are still used on the pitch, and are being used because they know it hurts."

Onyewu is currently training with the U.S. squad ahead of their matches against Costa Rica and Honduras and was not yet available for comment on the allegations or the lawsuit.

 

I've read about this issue on the ESPN website. It's rather unfortunate that incidents like this repeatedly occur, but in my humble opinion, UEFA and the ultimate governing body FIFA, are complicit in this nonsense. There have been scores of racial incidents involving black players and the "penalties" that these governing bodies have handed down have been tepid at best and disgraceful at worst. Quite frankly, asking clubs to pay thousands of Euros in fines and telling them to play behind closed doors is a slap on the wrist. And more so in light of the fact that a player who verbally abuses a fellow player, referee or other officials can and often will be sent off. If that is not excusable, then I fail to understand why blatant and overt racist and discriminatory language should be coddled.

Despite all of this, I doubt this lawsuit will get very far. It is highly unlikely that the referee even knew about it, and as such he probably does not have a referee's report. Moreover, there were no witnesses so it all comes down to a he-said-he-said incident which is a time-waster if we are to be frank. If it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Onyewu was insulted, then the case is moot. It's unfortunate, but it is the reality. I like him as a person, but he is going nowhere with this.

 

This is one of several reasons why I find it difficult to appreciate soccer or the way some European sports fans conduct themselves in general. Lewis Hamilton has made reference to being taunted by racist Formula 1 fans. An American tourist who was mistaken for a Man. U fan was stabbed (but survived) when the Euro Cup Final was played.

Fans undermine the enjoyment of the sport when they embrace such uncivilized behavior.

 

About 5 United fans were stabbed in Rome.
Football violence in Europe is terrible at the moment and in Italy it's the worst by far. They go to football games with knives and bats and they have to have nets around the pitch to stop bottles from being thrown at the footballers.
Football violence in England peaked during the 70s and now it's calmed down a lot, but in Spain and Italy and in some parts of Eastern Europe it's really out of control.


Regarding Oguchi Onyewu, I think there's only so much a man can take and he was right to file the lawsuit. I don't know about Belgium to be honest, so I don't know how the fight against racism in sport is there. Here, I don't think it's that bad and the fans are generally pretty well behaved (there is racism in sports in England unfortunately, but it's directed towards Middle Easterns) so it always shocks me to hear about places like Spain and Poland and how BAD racism there actually is.
But BELGIUM?! Christ, this really surprises me. What the fuck is there in Belgium apart from some fields??
I think that other football assossiations throughout Europe REALLY need to start working harder to abolish racism in sports. The problem is, is that a lot of them (Spain) don't see it as racist or as a problem. They treated the Lewis Hamilton incident as a joke and when the England national team played there and got bananas thrown at them, they said that the English just don't have a sense of humour.

 

A "joke", hu?

Fucking ridiculous.

Sense of humor?

Pshh.

 

what is interesting to me is how liberal Europe tells the world it is, and how they have zero tolerance for racism and that only the US has racism. but in my travels in europe, on the continent as well as the UK, i have seen some of the worst racism--on the pitch and in the streets that i have never seen in the US south, where i grew up. Interesting how the so called open minded, progressive and forward thinking Europe , tries to pretend it doesnt happen there and they are better than the rest of us.

i am also amazed how many black americans believe the hype and think white europeans are some how more open to them, when the history of the place is ripe with colonialism, superiority and paternalism.

 

Ways for black athletes in Europe to retaliate:

England- wear some jacked up fake teeth and a red wig with "whiteface"

Spain- dress like Don Quixote or a T-shirt that says "I was a Moor's b****)

Belgium- ???

Italy- Slick your hair back, wear fake eyebrows and talk about olive oil


All of these suggestions are silly...which is exactly how those fans are acting...but why would anyone be surprised?