And
Why Tech Companies Need To Do Better! How They Can Do Better! But Why They Don’t Do Better!
Guadeloupe And Martinque Frenchman Thierry Henry, Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o And Senegalese Frenchman Player Patrice Evra. Between Them They Have Played For National Teams, European Teams And The African Cup of Nations.
Sadly They Are All Witnessing Racist Abuse & Referee Inaction Being Perpetrated On The Next Young Generation. And Some Quarters Are Still Denying The Problem Is Even Happening. That Is Why It Is Essential To Continue Fighting Against This Injustice And To Document It And Keep Telling The Stories of Black History In Authentic Black Voices And Those of Friends & Allies.
Meantime Many More Companies, Executives, Players, Clubs And Fans Now Acknowledge That Football Management And Administration Needs Fresh Thinking, New Solutions And Bright Personnel With More Modern Attitudes Throughout The Game In Order To Make Effective Longlasting Change.
Samuel Eto’o @samueletoo Ultimately Said He Stopped Taking His Family To Games Because The Racism Was Too Toxic For His Family To Be Around. Especially His Children, To Whom He Found It Hard To Explain.
He Is Now The President of The Cameroonian Football Federation fecafoot-officiel.com.
He Also The founder of Charitable Organisation Set Up Help Disadvantaged Children In Cameroon @etoofoundation
As The Years Went By You Saw More And More Black Kids Playing Football.
And I Thinks It’s Just The Sheer Weight of Numbers That Football Couldn’t Ignore The Amount of Talent Available To Them.
And That Has Led To Where We Are Today.
Paul Batson, West Browich Albion
#Mandela Day 2021 Pele, Mandela, Eto’o @etoofoundation
Eto’o Signed For Real Madrid Aged Just 16 In 1997, Mallorca In 2000, And Barcelona In 2004. During This Time In Spain He Became Acquainted With The Late Spanish Coach Aragones. And He Defended Him Against Accusations of Racially Abusing Theirry Henry By Using A Racial Slur At Charity Match In February 2005 (Following The Thailand Tsunami of December 2004).
Comment: Eto’o Naively Claimed Argones Was Just Trying To Motivate Spanish Player Reyes By Talking About Thierry Henry Like That (Which Was Caught On Camera). However, If One Person (Who Is Supposed To Be A Leader) Can Only Motivate Another Person By Denigrating A Third Person They Are A Poor Leader. And If They Can Only Do It By Being Racist About That Third Person Then That Is Clearly Racist Behaviour (From A Poor Leader).
Racism Is A Crime
And
Not To Punish It
Is To Be An Accomplish
Vinicius Jnr, Real Madrid Player
Tragically Eto’o’s Naivety Met With Reality During An International Football Friendly That Followed Between England And Spain. Spain’s Black Players Were Racially Abused.
Such Abuse Continued At Various Subsequent Matches. After One Such Match In 2005 Against Real Zaragove Referee (Fernando Carmona Méndez) Failed To Mention The Racist Abuse In His Referee Report.Ironically He Did However Inadvertently Highlight The Depth of The Problem Though By Describing The Crowd As “Normal”. Seemingly, To Him, Racist Abuse In Spain Is “Normal”.
Eventually In Another Match Against The Same Club In February 2006 Eto’o Threatened To Walk off The Pitch During The Second Half After Real Zaragove Fans Made Monkey Noises, Threw Peanuts Everytime He Took Possession, And Chanted Racist Abuse.
Some of His Fellow Players, His Then Coach Frank Rijkaard And The Referee Persuaded Him To Stay. Real Zaragova Was Ultimately Fined Just 9,000 Euros By The RFEF Over The Incident. A Relative Pittance Given The Hundreds of Thousands They Deal With And The Grotesque Amounts Paid In Player Wages.
In Both Matches Barcelona Beat Real Zaragova. 4-1 On February 12 2005 And 2-0 February 25th 2006.
In The 2005 Real Zaragov Case Two of The Racist Fans Were Identified And Given 5 Month Bans. The Club Was Fined Just 600 Euros. Eto’o Said The Punishment Was Insufficient And Estadio La Romareda (Real Zaragova’s Home Stadium) Should Have Been Shutdown For A Year.
In The 2006 Case They Said In A Statement That They Were Seeking Official Help To Track Down The Racial Abuse Perpetrators Who Would Be Reported To The Relevant Authorities If Caught.
In October 2010 After His July Transfer To Inter Milan Eto’o Scored The Only Goal In A 1-0 Victory In A Game Against Cagliari. He Was Subjected To Racial Abuse From The Cagliari Crowd. Officials Did Stop The Game This Time. And Inter Milan Fans Sang So As To Drown Out The Racist Chants, And Prevent It From Being Stopped Again.Cagliari Were Later Fined 25,000 Euros (Again A Relatively Miniscule Amount, Compared To The Hundreds of Thousands The Club Deals With As Standard).
Thierry Henry Called Out Big Tech Firms In March 2021 For Thier Hippocracy In Dealing Quickly With Music Copyright Breaches On Social Media But Not With Racism on Social Media. The Difference Is of Course That The Former Involves Protecting Their Profits And The Latter Involves Protecting Their Platform Users, Something They Care Alot Less About. Despite Having Over 2m Followers He Came off Social Media In 2021 In Protest.
We Mentioned In Our Own Instagram Post At The Time The Launch of A New Tech Series Showcasing Black Tech Talent. It Was Called The Broadcasts And Can Be Found At Thebroadcasts.co.uk @theorator.press.on.insta (TO.P).
Over The Years A Number of Great Inventors Have Reported That They Invented Their Product Because They Could Not Find What They Were Looking For When They Went Looking For It So They Created It Themselves. And Now It Seems As If A New Age of Black Tech Entrepreneurs Are Doing Just That As Established Tech Giants Fail or Simply Refuse To Provide A Solution To Online Racism.
Henry Now Works With The French Football Federation Coaching The French Under 21s Team fff.fr He Also Works As A Commentator Including At The (Confederation of African Football) CAF African Cup of Nations 2023′ Which Concluded In February 2024′ (With A Outstanding Win For Cote d’Ivoire).
As A French Superstar Striker, Real Madrid And Arsenal Player Henry Became Famous For Having Flair & Chic Known As ‘Va Va Voom’. So Much So That He Became A Brand Ambassador For French Car Company Renault Through Their Famous Renault Clio Advert Campaign. The Ads Portrayed A Chic Image In Order To Appeal To Female Drivers. A Young French Female Character Called Nicole And Her Efforts To Elude Her “Papa” Were Central To The Adverts. Henry Endorsed The Car As Being Chic For Guys Too As It Had Va Va Voom.
Vehicle Va Va Voom!
One of The Best Adverts In The History of Advertsing Campaigns & Marketing.
Thierry Has Since Become Manager of The French Under 21s Football Team. Greater Diversity In Football Management And Refereeing Is One Way To Combat The Destructive Malignancy of Racism In Football And Society
A gentleman on and off the pitch,
Who displayed his full talent and elegance
in his three years With The Club
Barcelona FC Website On Former Striker Thierry Henry
Yet The Reality Is At The Time of The Va Va Voom Phenomenon He Was Still Having To Fight The Brutality, Evil And Ugliness of Racism. Sadly That Fight Was Happening Before The Ads, Continued After The Ads And Continues Today. And Now The Disease Has Spread Online.
But Sometimes There Is Light And People Have To Do What They Can When They Can. He Was Doing What He Could Do Then, With His Platform & Va Va Voom. And It Worked As A Valuable Contribution Because The Phrase, The Adverts, The Car And The Company Are Famous Today As Then. It Is Part of His Legacy. And Today He Is A French Team Football Manager.
Nonetheless The Fight Towards The Eradication of Racism In Football And Society Continues Because The Majority of People Prefer Peace, Love And Happiness.
In 2005 After He Was Verbally Racially Attacked By A (Now Deceased) Member of Spanish Football Management Nike Stepped Up As A Big Sports Corporation And Worked With Henry On A Campaign Called ‘Stand Up Speak Up’ Against Racism (Outlined Below).
Virtually Twenty Years Later He Is Still Fighting Against Racism. Now Both On And Off Line.
Comment: On This Occassion Nike Did The Right Thing. But As We Pointed Out In A Seperate Article On The Issue of Discrimination, Support For Gender Equality Does Not Automatically Mean Support For Racial Equality. And Vice Versa.
For Instance Nike Got It Horribly Wrong More Recently When It Initially Refused To Manufacture A Mary Earps Kit After The FIFA WWC 2023. However It Only Bowed Under Public Pressure In Support of The Lioness Goalkeeper.
These Two Nike Cases (Thierry, Then Mary) Highlight That Fact That Consistency Is Key In The Fight Against Discrimination.
Patrice Evra @patrice.evra The Former Man United Defender Called Out Luis Suarez For Subjecting Him To A Racial In A Match Against Liverpool In October 2011. Uruguayan Suarez (Also Infamous For Biting Players) Was Banned For Eight Games And Fined £40,000 Which Is A Relatively Small Amount When On A Grossly Excessive Footballer’s Salary of Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds A Week.
In An Interview With His Then New Club Barcelona Suarez Refused To Admit He Did Anything Wrong, Denied There Was Any Evidence To Show That He Did Anything Wrong, And Made Himself Out As The Victim.
In Comparison Evra Referenced TV Footage Which Showed Exactly What Happened And The Racial Abuse Suarez Perpetrated.
He Revisited The Horrible Incident When Asked About It In A Powerful Episode of The ‘UTD Podcast’ With Sam Homewood.
He Also Revealed The Shocking Behaviour of The Referee Involved (Andre Marriner).
Evra Now Works With The United Nations (UN) And World Health Organisation (WHO) In Its Mission Helping To Protect Young Children From Violence.
Two Years After He Retired From Professional Football In 2019 He Released A Book Called ‘I Love This Game’ In Which He Revealed For The First Time That He Had Suffered Physical And Sexual Abuse At School By A Teacher. He Later Spoke of His Ordeal Whilst Taking Part In The April 2022 BBC One-Off Extreme Fitness Celebrity Reality Show ‘Freeze The Fear’ With Superfit Senior Wim Hoff. Promoting The Book On Kay Burley’s Sky Breakfast Show, Thursday November 6th 2021 He Also Spoke of His Experience of Racist Abuse.
“Racism” Was Considered “Banter”
“But Now To Stay Silent Is A Crime.”
“I Want People Like Me To Keep Going And Work Even Harder”.
Patrice Evra, Manchester United Player
In October 2011 Chelsea Player And England Captain John Terry Was Accussed By Anton Ferdinand (Brother of Rio) @anton_ferdinand5 of Calling Him An F’ing Black C Word During A Football Match.
Despite Lip Readers Appearing In Court As Expert Witnesses Regarding Video Footage of Terry Mouthing The Alleged Racial Slur He Got Off With An Acquittal.
He Was Nonetheless Fined £220,000 By The FA (Football Association) And Given A Four Match Ban. But To Add Further Insult To Injury The FA Decided He Was Not Racist Despite His Use of Racist Language.
Comment: Inconsistency Between The Court Acquittal And The FA Guilty Decision, The Heavy FA Fine And The Disproportionately Low 4 Match Ban (Suarez Got 8 In A Similar Racial Abuse Against Patrice Evra Case For Instance), The FA Declaration That Terry Was Not A Racist And The FA Fine And Ban Issued Against Him For Using Racist Language, Terry Himself Apologing For This Behaviour And Declaring That Such Behaviour Was Unacceptable, Had No Place On The Pitch Nor In Society General, And He Would Not Appeal, The Withdrawal of His Captaincy And Later Restoring It – The Executive And Administrative Handling of This Case Was A Horrible, Hurtful, Inconsistent Mess.
Peter Herbert, Leading Racial Equality Advocate And Chair of The Black Lawyers Society, Was So Disgusted By It That He Called For The Establishment of A Black Football Players Association. However The FA And PFA Ironically Claimed It Would Be Devisive. For Many People This Case And The FA’s Response To It Proved That Their Way of Doing Things Was Not Working Effectively Enough.
Club Fines, Player Fines, Match Bans, Player Bans, Fan Bans, Player Walk Offs, Stadium Closures, And Pursuit of Legal Action, Are Now Established Remedies For Racism In Football. However Many Feel More Still Needs To Be Done (As The Problem Persists).
E.g Using Technology As An ID Tool To Prevent Racial Abusers, Or Expose Them Easily, And Bring Them To Justice. Plus More Diverse Referees, Management And Boardrooms.
French Superstar Striker Thierry Henry Joined Arsenal In 1999. He Was Named FIFA World Player of The Year In 2003 And 2004 And Eventually Joined Barcelona In 2007. Whilst At Barca The Then National Spanish Coach (And Former Atletico Madrid Player) The Late Luis Argones Was Fined (Just Over £2000) By RFEF For Using A Deeply Offensive Racist Term To Refer To The Superstar Player Argones Could Not Deny It Because TV Cameras Caught Him Saying The Words Whilst Speaking With Spanish Player Jose Antonio Reyes During A Pre-Match Training Session. His Words Were “You Will Show This Black S–t That You Are Better Than Him.” In Comparison To The Grossly High Level of Wages In Professional Football Management The Fine Was Minuscule And Henry Dismissed It As “Absolutely Ridiculous”.
He Also Requested That Football’s Overall Governing Body, FIFA (The Federation Internationale de Football Association), Apply A More Substantial And Meaningful Punishment For The Offensive Language. They Failed To Do So. Football’s Anti-Racist ‘Group Kick It Out’ Also Dismissed The Fine As “A Tokenistic Gesture”. Kick It Out Had Been Started 12 Years Earlier (Originally Named Kick Racism Out of Football In 1993). It Was An Initiative of Herman Ouseley, Chief Executive Officer of Commission for Racial Equality. It Evolved Over The Years And Last Year Celebrated Its 30th Anniversary. It Has Endured And Done Good Work. The Fact That These Incidents Keep Happening However Show There Remains Work To Be And Arguably Room For Improvement And Development In Terms of More Effective Strategies.
Nike & Henry Started ‘The Stand Up Speak Up’ Campaign Against Racism In 2005 As A Direct Response To The Argones Racist Incident. It Was Successful And Raised Over Six And A Half Million Pounds For Over Two Hundred Different Anti-Racism Initiatives And Lasted Four Years Last Up Until 2009. It Was Supported By England’s Rio Ferdinand, England’s Wayne Rooney, Spain’s Carles Puyol, And Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, And Brazil’s Adriano Ribeiro And Ronaldinho. The Campaign Featured Two Intertwined Black & White Wristbands.
However Manchester United Teammates Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane All Refused To Wear The Anti-Racism Tracksuit Their Team (Manchester United) And Arsenal Wore In A Match Against Each Other On February 1st 2005. Neville Accused Nike of Caring More About Free Publicity More Than Racism.
Neville said: “The FA and the England team have always campaigned against racism very well, we have just got to be aware that it is not cheapened by companies like Nike getting a lot of PR out of it for nothing.”
Comment: It Is Incorrect That “The FA and the England team have always campaigned against racism very well. If That Were TrueThere Would Be Have Been No Need For The Campaign. Remarks Like Neville’s On This Occassion Are Not Original. Nor Helpful. A Recurring Big Obstacle To Conquering Racism Is People shifting The Conversation Away From The Problem of Racism To A Different Matter, Which Then Becomes As A Distraction.
A Nike Spokesperson Replied Quickly And Sharply To Neville’s Objection, Saying:
“The campaign isn’t about publicity, it’s about racism.”
Neville Would Later Become One of The First,Most Vocal And Most Articulate To Speak Out Against The Racism Shown At The Euros 2020 final.
TheOrator.Press ~ A New, Monthly, Online, Independent Magazine 