After a video of Chelsea fans’ racist behavior went viral last week, I bet bost of us expected fans to calm down. According to an article by Fox News however, the club’s following has yet to learn its lesson.
This photo is a screenshot of the Parisian man who was forced off of the metro to chants of “we’re racist and that’s the way we like it.” (Source: Time Magazine)
This first incident, one we discussed in class, resulted in the ban of five Chelsea supporters by Chelsea’s administration. Their action on the first instance of racism was quick and decisive. However, it apparently wasn’t enough. Shortly after Chelsea beat Tottenham in the Capital One Cup, British police received a call about a disturbance on a train headed to Manchester. Police stopped the train at Stoke to investigate the incident. Yet again, the complaints were about harassment of passengers and racist comments. As of yet, all that is known is that four men were asked to leave the train during its stop at Stoke, and witnesses are being interviewed about the incident. While authorities are currently conducting an investigation, Chelsea’s administration has not yet taken action.
However, is it clear that Chelsea had at least tried to take some preventative measures in light of the incident on the Paris metro. According to Fox, Chelsea supporters were warned that any racist chanting at the Capital One Cup would lead to arrest. Clearly, signs and warnings are not enough. If this investigation turns up evidence of further racism bt Chelsea fans, the club needs to think about a more serious way to punish its fans. Otherwise, this situation will become more and more familiar.
Institutionally, it may also become necessary to examine Chelsea’s treatment of racism from fans and racism from players. According to Fox news, some of the racist fans attempted to use former actions and statements by Chelsea Captain John Terry to justify their racism. In 2012, Terry was found not guilty of racial abuse in criminal court, but was fined and suspended by the FA. More information on the action of the Captain and former British National Team player can be found here.
Actually, while reading about this instance, I also came upon an instance in which a soccer fan (it was unclear as to whether he was a Chelsea supporter or one of the opposing team) was banned from their games for his racist comments directed at Drogba. A lot of the buzz surrounding Terry’s punishment also came from comparison between how Chelsea treated racist comments coming from their own team (that is, Terry’s statements) and how they treated the statements being made towards Chelsea (the fan’s comments about Drogba). I’d have to go back to the original article to find it, but essentially some writers asserted that Chelsea was holding a double standard.
It’s really terrifying to see how mob mentality works in many of these situations, and I applaud Chelsea for at least taking a stand in the case of Paris. I think what is most disturbing though is what you referenced about fans quoting players in an attempt to justify their racist acts. I do think it is difficult for teams to be 100% held accountable for actions by their fan-base, but certainly racial acts on the field need to be completely shut down in order to send a clear message to all soccer-fans that it is unacceptable. I would hope that John Terry would speak out in reference to this in order to invalidate the claims made by those fans. Thanks for the follow up post Brigid!