60 1GM Tuesday September 15 2020 | the times
Sport
worthless if there is nothing alongside that to
help educate people,” Southgate said. Education
is, clearly, crucial but it would concentrate
minds from classroom to dressing room to
boardroom if players walked off.
Fast-forward to Sofia on October 14 last year
and Southgate’s black players, specifically
Tyrone Mings, Marcus Rashford and Sterling,
were assailed with monkey chants and Nazi
salutes by a group of Bulgaria fans. England
being England, sticklers for convention, played it
by the rules, following Uefa’s hopeless three-
stage protocol, stayed on, and responded to
Bulgaria by running the ball into their net six
times. Southgate spoke proudly of that reaction.
Fair enough. England were stoic, and prolific.
“The players wanted to get on with the football,”
he said.
Nice but naive. It is impossible to get on with
the football when intolerance intervenes. It will
happen again. And again. Until players walk off,
forcing fans to turn on their toxic terrace
neighbours, and Uefa bans nations, the carousel
of malice will continue to turn. Events this year
have reminded everyone of the depth and
extent of racism, of the problem on the streets,
in the terraces and on the field.
It’s not just football protesting. And not just
about incidents in sport. Formula One should be
grateful to have a leader like Lewis Hamilton
standing up for the rights of the black
community. The world champion, strangely
never properly appreciated in Britain, wore a top
at the Tuscan Grand Prix that read “arrest the
cops who killed Breonna Taylor” to highlight
police brutality towards the 26-year-old black
woman who was shot dead in March.
Tennis is fortunate to have the inspiring
Naomi Osaka who, before and after each of her
US Open matches, wore a face covering
commemorating the names of black people
killed at the hands of police in the US.
Osaka and Hamilton are powerful advocates,
not runners-up, but champions, showing that it
is possible to be involved in social messages
while also retaining concentration to succeed in
sport. Winners in sport and life. Those who
claim that athletes should not bring political
issues into the arena ignore the reality that this
is not politics. This is about humanity, about
sport as a catalyst for social change.endured. Why take a knee if you then don’t take
a stand? Over the weekend, before the Neymar
drama, an FA Cup preliminary tie was
abandoned after CB Hounslow United refused
to play on after the break against Sevenoaks
Town amid claims of racist abuse, denied by
Sevenoaks. Hounslow, in effect, walked off.
Whether racist abuse is alleged to come from
the stands or from an opponent, the only
response now is to walk off.
Three of England’s black players, Danny Rose,
Callum Hudson-Odoi and Raheem Sterling,
were targeted with monkey chants by
Montenegro fans in Podgorica on March 26 last
year. Reporters stood on a dais backstage and
argued with Gareth Southgate, about why he
had not called his England players off.
Southgate, a good man and very socially
aware, was deeply conflicted, eventually
transferring responsibility to the authorities,
footballing and societal. “Sanctions aresignificant length for teams, let alone players. It
would have been a powerful image had Neymar,
if he truly did hear racist abuse as he alleges,
simply walked off rather than reacting in a way
that ultimately got him sent off.
Consider the impact around the world if,
rather than reacting with his hands, Neymar
had responded with his feet. And walked.
Imagine if he’d told his team-mates what he hadNeymar should have used feet not fist
Henry Winter
Chief Football Writer
S
eething with rage, Neymar stormed
around Parc des Princes on Sunday
evening, claiming to be the victim of
racial abuse towards the end of Paris
Saint-Germain’s tear-up with Marseilles.
PSG were losing, a mêlée broke out, Neymar
lost it, and punched his marker.
When VAR spotted Neymar’s act of
aggression towards Álvaro González, the referee
dashed to his monitor, reviewed the incident
and dismissed the Brazil striker. “It’s easy for
VAR to get my ‘assault’,” Neymar tweeted. “Now
I want to see them get the video of the racist
calling me ‘monkey son of a whore’. That’s what
I want to see.” Neymar then mentioned his
booking for a favourite trick, attempting to lift
the ball over a Montpellier player in February.
“OK, so a RAINBOW FLICK and you punish
me, I give him a ‘CLIP’ round the head and I’m
sent off... and what about them? So what?” As
he left the field, an animated Neymar informed
the fourth official that he had been racially
abused.
Before flying south, Álvaro posted a picture of
him with his polyglot Marseilles team and
tweeted that there is “no place for racism”. The
30-year-old Spaniard added the rider, clearly
directed at Neymar, that “sometimes you have
to learn to lose and take (accept) it on the field”.
Neymar, 28, was having none of that,
retorting: “DON’T RESPECT YOU! YOU
HAVE NO CHARACTER! RACIST.” Needless
to say, the French league’s disciplinary
committee is investigating. Neymar has a
reputation for petulance, and the game was
scarred by antics, including four others being
sent off, but he deserves a fair hearing of his
complaints, and was very specific in his tweets.
Equally, Álvaro, who categorically denies
making a racist comment, warrants an
opportunity to defend himself. He is already
dealing with the online wrath of members of
Neymar’s impassioned following, numbering
142 million on Instagram.
Regardless of the veracity of these allegations,
the episode has intensified the debate about
racism in football and what measures are
required to combat it properly. If such ugly
scenes unfolded as Neymar alleges, amounting
to prejudice poisoning the workplace, then
experience indicates it is beyond the officials’ or
authorities’ scope to remedy. They can dish out
bans and fines as they do with supporters,
closing stands, occasionally stadiums, and
levying financial penalties. Governing bodies,
national and international, have done so in the
past but the problem remains. You can’t
eradicate racism with bans, banners and
hashtags. Even the Premier League’s “no room
for racism” sleeve message has been questioned
as too lightweight.
The logical next step in confronting bigotry
within a football ground, whether from
opponent or onlooker, is a physical one: to step
off the field. Protocols are in place, leading to
warnings before any cessation, but do little. It’s
down to the players. Walk off, end the game,
shame the perpetrators, shock the authorities,
footballing and societal, into suspensions ofMourinho needs to
show more respect
José Mourinho criticising players publicly,
whether collectively as “lazy” after their
performance against Everton, or individually,
when describing Dele Alli as “not a good
trainer”, appears a risky tactic. Players hate it.
It is one thing being upbraided in private,
especially if accompanied by constructive
comments, but quite another gifting material
for unflattering headlines and a social media
pile-on. Alli deserved more respect.Neymar claims he was racially abused on the pitch before receiving one of five red cards on the night
JULIEN DE ROSA/EPA6 It has been one of the surprises of the
transfer window that the leading clubs have
not been linked more with Raúl Jiménez. The
Mexican again demonstrated his finishing
class and formidable work-rate against
Sheffield United last night. The 29-year-old
obviously enjoys life at Wolves yet he would
not look out of place in a Champions League
side. Maybe he just sees Wolves continuing to
develop excitingly under Nuno Espírito Santo.J
ude Bellingham,
aged 17, marked his
competitive debut
for Borussia Dortmund
with a goal in a 5-0 win
over Duisburg in the
German Cup. Fellow
Englishman Jadon
Sancho also scoredBellingham
off the mark
Sheffield United; Burton Albion v
Aston Villa (TV: Sky Sports Football,
radio: talkSPORT2); Derby County v
Preston North End (6.30); Fleetwood
Town v Port Vale (7.0); Gillingham v
Coventry City; Leyton Orient v
Plymouth Argyle; Middlesbrough v
Barnsley (6.0); Millwall v Cheltenham
Town; (6.0); Morecambe v Oldham
Athletic; Newcastle United v Blackburn
Rovers (7.30); Newport County v
Cambridge United (7.0); Oxford United
v Watford (7.0); Reading v Luton
Town (6.0); Rochdale v Sheffield
Wednesday; West Ham United v
Charlton Athletic (radio: talkSPORT,
7.30).Football
Premier LeagueBrighton (0) 1 Chelsea (1) 3
Trossard 54 Jorginho 23 (pen)
James 56
Zouma 66Sheffield Utd (0) 0 Wolves (2) 2Jiménez 3
Saïss 66 Premier League table, page 62Cricket
Vitality T20 Blast
Central Gloucestershire v Birmingham
Bears (2.0); Northamptonshire
Steelbacks v Worcestershire Rapids
(6.30).
North Leicestershire Foxes v
Derbyshire Falcons (6.30).Football
EFL Cup second round (7.45 unless
stated):
Bradford City v Lincoln City; Burnley vRugby union
Gallagher Premiership
Gloucester 15 Harlequins 28
Gloucester: Tries Polledri, Alemanno.
Con Cipriani. Pen Cipriani. Harlequins:
Tries: Murley, Lewies, Steele. Cons
Smith 2. Pens Smith 3. HT: 3-21.
Top of table PW LD FAPts
Exeter (Q) 20 15 5 0 606 375 73
Wasps 20 12 8 0 584 469 61
Bath 20 13 7 0 472 420 60
Sale 20 12 8 0 512 341 59
Bristol 20 12 7 0 485 447 59
Harlequins 20 9 10 1 462 502 46
Northampton20 8 12 0 424 493 42
Gloucester 20 7 13 0 475 482 41Results Fixtures