Roar Rookie

16 Have your say

Thankfully racism in sport is a subject that rarely generates headlines. But Dani Alves from Barcelona and the Los Angeles Clippers have won praise from all over the world for making a stand against it.

First, let’s look at the Barcelona incident.

Against Villareal on Sunday, the Catalan giants had surged forward in an attacking raid. The ball was played in but deflected out for a corner, giving Barcelona a chance to press home their advantage.

As Dani Alves stepped up to the corner post to take the kick, a banana was thrown at his feet by a Villareal fan.

The incident is an example of the sporadic but disgusting displays in Europe in which fans taunt players from opposing teams. The ugly scenes typically involve the targeting of players with darker skin for ridicule by grunting and mimicking ape noises.

In this context, a harmless single piece of fruit lobbed at Alves’ feet takes a much uglier meaning.

So what did he do?

Displaying perfect composure under pressure, Alves didn’t break stride. He leaned over, picked up and peeled the banana, took a bite, brushed off his hands and served up a dangerous swinging corner.

He finished the job with a brilliant jab at the offender after the game, saying “I don’t know who threw the banana, but I want to thank him. It gave me the energy to put two more crosses in for our goals.” Barcelona won the match 3-2.

Now, to the Los Angeles Clippers incident.

The NBA finals series regularly draws viewers in excess of the population of Australia from a global audience. In the fifth playoff match between the LA Clippers and the Golden State Warriors those viewers saw an unusual spectacle.

The entire LA playing roster wore their training t-shirts inside out to obscure the logos on their uniforms.

The move was a silent, dignified, but very public, protest against the racist remarks team owner Donald Sterling allegedly made about his then girlfriend’s social circle.

Among other things, the voice that is said to belong to Sterling says on a recording: “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people” and “The little I ask you is … not to bring them to my games”.

The problem of racism in sport is far from a remote issue in Australia, as events in the last year have shown.

The controversy surrounding Sydney FC midfielder Ali Abbas earlier this year as well last year’s Adam Goodes/Collingwood/Eddie McGuire incident are two such examples.

The problem is real, as has been shown by the adoption of guidelines in Europe that can penalise top-flight teams for fans’ racism. They can force them to play in deserted stadiums, docking them points or imposing financial penalties for repeated infractions by fans. The A-League, AFL and NRL have taken their own actions to both prevent and deal with racial vilification of their players.

The governing bodies of the sport are also targeting generational change. Each copy of the wildly popular FIFA video game franchise (which has sold over 100 million copies worldwide) carries the “Say No to Racism” message on billboards during in-game match play.

In both incidents from the last 24 hours, the parties involved should be commended for taking action that didn’t hurt fans, or the goals of their own teams, such as a boycott or walk-off. They should also be commended for drawing attention to the issue, through humour and silence, respectively.

The actions of Alves and the Clippers has been met with widespread support from fellow sportspeople, politicians, celebrities and in both print and social media.

That is because sport is a reflection of our society. In Australia, and elsewhere, there is no tolerance in the vast majority of the community for the idiotic notion held by a foolish minority. Vilifying or insulting a person based on the colour of their skin, culture or religion is never acceptable.

By using humour and a silent protest, Alves and the Clippers have shown that those who project their ignorant beliefs on others will rightly be ridiculed by society. In doing so they have joined a celebrated list of athletes who have demonstrated to sports fans everywhere that racism has no place in sport.