How To Defeat Racism

Chelsea's draw with French champions, Paris St. Germain (PSG) in the Champions League round of 16 was hardly an earthshaking piece of news but incidents leading to the run up of that fixture stole the headlines.

A black Frenchman of Mauritanian descent wanted to catch a train home to meet his family after closing from work but he was not allowed to enter the train by Chelsea supporters who pushed him out repeatedly after the black Frenchman otherwise known as Souleymane S. tried hopelessly to enter the train filled with Chelsea supporters who were on their way to watch the PSG-Chelsea game.

The Chelsea fans then went on to chant "We are racists, and that's how we like it". Poor old Souleymane S. had to wait for the next train to go home. Funny enough, had an amateur cameraman not caught the shameful incident on video and sent it to The Guardian newspaper, this atrocity would not have been exposed because Souleymane did not disclose the incident to anyone because he felt embarrassed sharing such with members of his family.

Of course, after the show of shame was reported by the media, key figures in England condemned the incident including the likes of Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, British PM David Cameron and Chelsea football club. Chelsea football club creditably, acted swiftly and have identified 5 of the fans involved in the mess and have quickly taken disciplinary actions against the fans identified.

Souleymane called for the English fans involved to be arrested and thrown in jail for what they did to him. Well, French authorities have said If any of those identified to have pushed him out of the train ever set foot in France, they would be arrested. This and many more of such acts of racism probably go unreported in France and all over the world despite many high profile cases involving players like Mario Balotelli, Prince Boateng, Kevin Constante, Dani Alves and so on being reported.

The point I want to highlight is this: racism can be defeated but it won't be defeated with the model we have in society today. The first step in defeating racism is to realise that racism can never be eradicated totally. If we come to accept it as a fact of life that we humans are imperfect and will continually do crazy things for the most stupid of reasons then we would have won half of the battle.

The second step is to collectively as individuals, deny the racists their power. Racists persist in their actions because they get attention and their actions often provoke negative reactions from their victims. If their targets begin to ignore and snub their foolish actions and not allow the racist behaviour of the racists to hurt them, the racist loses his power. 

The government of course and all other institutions such as clubs should still sanction identified offenders but sanctions rarely change an individual's heart. It is only when a racist realises that he is making a fool of himself rather than he or she mocking a perceived inferior race then will there be a change of heart of a racist, barring any divine intervention.

This isn't a popular model for the tackling of racism but it is more effective than sanctions and education.

AFCON FALLOUT: Ivory Coast's Victory A Lesson In Persistence

The African Cup of Nations drew to a close with Ivory Coast defeating Ghana 9-8 in dramatic fashion through the lottery of a penalty shoot out. Ivory Coast goal keeper, Boubacar Barry emerged hero for the Ivorians after saving Ghana's goal keeper, Brimah Razak's penalty and then going ahead to score the decisive penalty.

This is Ivory Coast's second triumph in the competition. Their first triumph in the competition was back in 1992 when they incidentally, defeated Ghana via spot kicks 11-10. 

The Ivory Coast coach, Herve Renard, emerged as the first coach to win the competition with 2 different teams. The other team being Zambia which he led to victory over his current team, the Ivory Coast, in the AFCON final in 2012.

Sadly for the Ghana coach, Avram Grant, it was another heart ache as he lost his second major final through the dreaded penalty shoot out. He previously managed Chelsea and led them to the Champions League final where they lost to Manchester United on penalties in Moscow after the game had ended in a stalemate.

The Ivory Coast victory is just reward for their persistence in their attempts to win the Cup of Nations since their last success in 1992. Ivory Coast has several academies where talented players are regularly produced. Unfortunately, Ivory Coast despite these talents, have under achieved in AFCON with players like Drogba, Dindane, Kader Keita, Boka, Bonaventure Kalou and many others failing to win the Cup of Nations trophy after reaching two finals and losing in dramatic circumstances,

There was fear amongst Ivory Coast supporters that the rest of the golden generation of stars with players who are still in the team like the Toure brothers, Zokora, Salomon Kalou, Barry, Gervinho and Eboue would not fulfill their potential by winning a major trophy. But against all odds, even when they were trailing by two spot kicks to Ghana in last Sunday's Final, their mental strength and never say die spirit saw them through to a famous victory.

Reflections on the show of shame in Malabo

The African Cup of Nations Semi final clash between Equitorial Guinea and Ghana which ended in a convincing 3-0 victory for the Black Stars will not be remembered for the manner in which Ghana took their hosts to the cleaners but by how the game as a spectacle was disrupted (disrupted being an understatement) by disgruntled Equitorial Guinea fans at the Malabo stadium.

Trouble began shortly before half time when angry Equitorial Guinea fans upset at the fact that the game was not going their way, started throwing bottles at the Ghanaian players. Security officials had to shield the Ghanaian players into the tunnel at half time. All pleadings by the Equitorial Guinea players to the fans to calm down apparently fell on deaf ears as the fans went on rampage and attacked Ghana supporters after Ghana scored the third goal.

The Ghana fans in a bid to escape missiles being thrown at them encroached close to the pitch which led to the game being disrupted for about 30 minutes with shameful scenes on display. The game finally resumed for 3 minutes after police had managed to keep things under control. 

The damage though had been done. And the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has been swift to sanction Equitorial Guinea by slamming them with a fine of a 100,000 Dollars and ordering Equitorial Guinea to take care of the Hospital bills of 36 Equitorial Guinean fans who got injured during the riot. 

A good question one needs to ask is, will this sort of madness be allowed to take place in Europe or America in a major competition of a similar stature as the African Cup of Nations? Another question that needs to be asked is, with the experience that the Equitorial Guinea security operatives had in the controversial Quarter final match between the hosts and Tunisia over crowd control, why didn't Equitorial Guinea provide  adequate security operatives to manage any further repeat of what happened in that match where fans invaded the pitch? And why was there little protection for Ghanaian supporters? It is also pertinent to note that the police were slow in their response to curtail the activities of the rioting fans.

It is hard to excuse Equitorial Guinea for this poor organisation despite having just two months notice to prepare. Issues like security are not to be treated with kid gloves. Fortunately, there has been no reported deaths inspite of the mindless violence and wanton property damage. Ghanaian fans out of fear are being flown home in batches. The tournament continues notwithstanding, but apart from the dream final which we hope will be a spectacle, the third place match between Equitorial Guinea and DR Congo may not be very entertaining going by the comments from the Congolese camp. It appears some players may have developed cold feet at the prospect of facing the wrath of angry home supporters.