Monday, July 15, 2013

Italian Soccer: Racism Persists On and Off the Pitch

File:Calderoli1.jpg
Roberto Calderoli

Italian politician Roberto Calderoli has incited controversy in Italy for calling Italy’s first black minister Cecile Kyenge an orangutan. Kyenge, a Congolese immigrant, is supporting an initiative to make a path to Italian citizenship more accessible to immigrants[1]. However, Calderoli’s racist remarks allude to similar remarks after Italy’s win against France in the 2006 FIFA World Cup where he remarked that France sacrificed their national identity to field blacks, Muslims, and communists[2]. Italy’s inclusion of Ghanian-Italian forward Mario Balotelli and Egyptian-Italian winger Stephan El Shaarawy into the national side could serve as a step forward to the overwhelmingly homogenous Italian population. Yet, racism on the pitch persists and it seems that intolerance in Italian politics and soccer shows little sign of subsiding.

Despite awesome showings at EURO 2012 and the 2013 Confederations Cup, Mario Balotelli has been galvanized by racist chants and remarks. In early May, visiting Roma fans were caught repeating racist chants to Balotelli at the San Siro. In response, Balotelli faced the supporter group inciting the chants in order to quiet them[3]. Although president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter condemned the remarks in an address the next day, many feel that the Italian Soccer Federation is not approaching the problem in the correct manner[4]. Opting to fine the soccer clubs themselves, the federation misses the root of the problem, the nationalist supporter groups who promulgate racism in the stadiums. Moreover, fines seem to have very little effect on clubs considering that the thousands in fines do not compare to the millions in revenue.  Nonetheless, the problem stems from the nationalist approach that many of the “ultra” supporter groups uphold although they also provide much club support.

File:Ashley Cole and Mario Balotelli England-Italy Euro 2012.JPG
(Right) Mario Balotelli playing for Italy [Attribution: Football.ua]

Should Italy seek to make progressive change, it must combat arcane nationalist sentiments. Although the introduction of diverse soccer players, such as Mario Balotelli, seems to show a step in the right direction, such progress is hampered through racist responses on the pitch. In turn, the racist sentiments mimic the same audacious dialogue upheld in the government system, particularly for reformists that want to break the old nationalist guard. It was in both the 1934 and 1938 that Mussolini attributed the great success of Italian soccer to the resilience of ethnic Italians. It was in 2006 that Roberto Calderoli praised Italy for the same reason. It is in 2013, that politicians, immigrants, and even soccer players of color cannot escape this fallacy, on or off the pitch.
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)