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| Manchester United facing F.C. Copenhagen in a Champions League match on October 17, 2006. Attribution: Christianvinter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Christianvinter) used under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License |
FC Copenhagen caused a stir when
they recently decided to cancel tickets to upcoming Champions League[1]
matches based on the purchasers’ “foreign” sounding names. The club responded
that the measure has been undertaken for security measures in an effort to
prevent non-Danish supporters from attending their first Champions League clash
against Turkish club Galatasaray S.K.[2]
However, what constitutes a non-Dane and a Dane bleeds into the larger
controversies surrounding Denmark’s growing Muslim and Middle-Eastern
population. One of the affected, Masoud Barid, a Dane of Afghani-descent
expressed his desire to merely support his club although the club’s recent
exclusions have left a bad taste in his mouth[3].
The event in the end brings into question the integration of immigrants of Non-Scandinavian
descent into Denmark.
Immigration is not something new
in Denmark. The welfare state has lent itself to some vague interpretations of
who deserves social services and who doesn’t. Recently, a growing Muslim
population has catalyzed feelings of nationalist backlashes. 95% of all Danes
are Evangelical Lutherans which has left the hyper-minority Muslims (2% of the
population) with very little help and much less support in their search for
integration in the overwhelmingly homogenous Danish society[4].
August 2013 also introduced controversy in Denmark over Copenhagen’s first
purpose built mosque. When Danes found out that the Mosque was partly funded by
the Qatari royal family, political parties protested to have finances for the
mosque hindered. However, the controversy only mirrors the various other
complaints ethnic Scandinavians have against increasing immigrants,
particularly those from the Middle East[5].
The complaints can at times seem
trivial and at points outlandish. One of the biggest being against the use of
Halal meat in schools and hospitals[6].
Another can be the popular belief that Islam is incompatible with democracy and
women’s rights. In a blog, one of Denmark’s leading public intellectuals,
Henrik Dahl tells of Muslims banning pork in local city councils and banning
Christmas trees in public spaces although he adds the disclaimer that “some
Muslim immigrants and refugees are fitting in quietly to Denmark’s generous
welfare system”[7].
Exclusion is often times easier
than inclusion as integration requires the process of systemizing who deserves
political representation and social benefits and who doesn’t. The process
becomes murky in a homogenous state because it also brings about the question
of what makes a Dane. Nevertheless, the process of denying fans tickets because
of their “foreign” names reflects the generalizing view that some Danes take on
a population. Only because a very small minority commits violent acts or finds
difficulty conforming to social mores, does not mean that the overwhelming
majority of immigrants, Muslims or not, can be bottlenecked into such a broad
stroke. The game of football (soccer) should be used as a force of integration,
a chance to find common ground within a common passion, instead the club is
using the Champions League games as yet another outlet in which to prevent
access to an already marginalized group. Hopefully FC Copenhagen can learn to
embrace its diverse fan base instead of excluding them.
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