Published: 25 October, 2012

After his successful stint writing our Crow, Spurs’ fan Tony Dallas returns in a regular column casting his eye over sport’s burning issues. With more than 20 years working as a sports development officer, he knows what he’s talking about.

WHAT is it going to take for football’s governing bodies to realise enough is enough? Are black players going to have to be abused physically as well as verbally in order for something to change?

Well, in the Serbia versus England Under-21s game, that’s exactly what happened. There’s no doubt that initiatives like Kick it Out need the support of players and fans, and that even more education is required to eradicate the curse that is racism.

However, witnessing those scenes at the Stadion Mladost made me sick and left me in no doubt that something more radical needs to be done. Jason Roberts and Rio Ferdinand exercised a moral right not to wear the Kick it Out T-shirts at the weekend, effectively outlining their feelings about the success of the campaign and I agree with them.

The responses of the two managers couldn’t have been more different in tone or ideology. Alex Ferguson said he was “embarrassed” that Rio didn’t wear the T-shirt and that he’d be “dealt with!”.

On the other hand, Reading boss Brian McDermott said he respected Roberts’ right not to wear the shirt. I think Ferguson should be embarrassed that he showed little, if no, compassion for the brother of a man racially abused, by the then England captain John Terry.

As a nation, we should be apoplectic that the FA had the ideal opportunity to ratify how far the so-called football family have come by imposing the heaviest sanctions possible. But they didn’t and we’re not.
Meanwhile Terry still captains his club side in and out of Europe.

This is a subject that some will find difficult to reason with because it requires a long hard look at one’s self. For instance, when you look at me do you see a man or a black man? For the majority it will be the latter because society wills it so, and that to me is acceptable. However to treat me differently or abuse me because of it, therein lies the problem. Jewish philosopher Abraham J Herschel said: “Racism is man’s greatest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.”

The people that run and play our national game need to be the example of the real change we want to see, but sadly they’re not.

Are the FA and Sir Alex offside? Tell us what you think – at sports@camdennewjournal.com