England’s 4-1 win in Croatia was a fantastic victory and one which will have significant bearings on England’s qualification and Fabio Capello’s reign as England manager. Provided the squad and young Theo Walcott in particular keep their feet on the ground then the result could prove to be a foundation for greater success. Capello surely knows that Wednesday’s win was but a stepping stone on the path to glory.Not every aspect of the win was as attractive as England’s passing however. Football was once again dragged into the racism row with striker Emile Heskey being subjected to monkey chants by the home fans after he was yellow carded for a foul on Niko Kovac. Heskey, no stranger to the trials of away day racism, took it on the chin, saying "You have to let the people above deal with that and I will carry on playing my game."
As much as Heskey plays down the incident, its an ugly, thorny issue that has and will rear its head time and time again unless something is done. Go back six years to 2002 and Heskey was on England duty as they played out a scrappy 2-1 win in Slovakia, another eastern European country. Heskey, along with defender Ashley Cole, was subjected to racial abuse and monkey chants throughout the whole game. The Slovak FA tried to pour cold water on the issue but the abuse was described as "the worst I have ever encountered" by Heskey.
England players suffered a year earlier in Albania during a routine 3-1 win but it was in 2006 and Madrid, where perhaps the biggest case of racism occurred. A dull friendly match saw England lose 1-0 but the real story was the shocking and disgusting abuse aimed at Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright Phillips every time they touched the ball. The chanting emanated from around the whole stadium and pictures showed fans all around the ground swearing and hurling furious vitriol at England’s black players.
Whereas before the incidents took place in less profile countries and could be quietly swept away by UEFA - this time there was no hiding. The FA made all the right noises and FIFA investigated alongside the Spanish FA. There was talk of banning Spain from tournaments and making them play games behind closed doors. However harsh the punishments that were muted are, the world couldn’t help but notice what was happening.
The abuse of Heskey in Croatia was sickening and detrimental to the state of the game. When the Madrid incident happened, Sepp Blatter opined that football had the potential to be a powerful anti racism tool and that respected players should speak out against the dangers and moral issues of racism. Efforts have certainly been made in England with initiatives such as Kick Racism Out Of Football.
The concern remains that in the rest of Europe there is nothing being done. The Spanish FA were fined £44,750 for the scenes witnessed on that ugly night in Madrid. A pathetic fee, for sure, and Rio Ferdinand later spoke at the ’joke’ nature of the punishment. If FIFA and UEFA are serious about this problem then it is painstakingly clear that more needs to be done.
The FA have asked FIFA to investigate the actions of the Croatian fans in Zagreb but it is all well and good when our country is making noises - the rest of Europe needs to cotton on for changes to be made. Racism has absolutely no place in football and is a pathetic way of trying to bring a player down. Some of the world’s best players are black and have extremely successful careers - they should be seen as role models.
FIFA needs to get serious with these countries and start imposing some serious punishments. It may seem harsh to ban teams from tournaments or to force teams to play with no crowd but serious actions are needed to enforce serious changes. FIFA must get tough or scenes such as the hideous ones seen in Zagreb will continue to be a black mark on the potential healing power that is competitive football.
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