Matt Maher: May not happen often but Fifa got it spot on
Given football authorities have previously fined players more for wearing the wrong branded underwear than they have clubs found guilty of racism, credit where it is due to Fifa for their response to the protests which have taken place this week following the death of George Floyd.
“For the avoidance of doubt, in a Fifa competition the recent demonstrations of players in Bundesliga matches would deserve an applause and not a punishment,” said Fifa president Gianni Infantino. “We all must say no to racism and any form of discrimination.”
Infantino was making particular reference to the protests carried out by four players in Germany last weekend, including England forward Jadon Sancho, who lifted his shirt to reveal the message ‘Justice for George Floyd’ after scoring for Borussia Dortmund against Paderborn.
Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes. Chauvin has since been sacked and charged with murder.
Sancho was booked for revealing his T-shirt and the German FA announced it was investigating both his actions and those of Achraf Hakimi, Marcus Thuram and Weston McKennie, who also paid tribute to Floyd.
Hakimi, Sancho’s Dortmund team-mate, revealed his own T-shirt, while Thuram took a knee after scoring for Monchengladbach and Schalke’s McKennie wore a Justice for George Floyd armband.
The German FA’s investigation centred on whether the gestures broke rules designed to keep political messages out of the game.
“Part of these examinations is to ascertain whether during matches and on the pitch are the right place for these actions,” DFB vice-president Rainer Koch said. “As is the case internationally, the game should remain free of political statements or messages of any kind.”
Yesterday it was decided the four players would face no action. “The committee also intends to maintain this line in new anti-racism campaigns to mark the death of George Floyd on the coming match days,” read a statement. Common sense, thankfully, prevailed.
That is not to say football’s policy with regard to political messaging isn’t founded in some sense, bearing in mind how divisive the subject can be.
But it was always difficult to see how it has any bearing on this particular case. The messages displayed by Sancho, Hakimi, Thuram and McKennie were not political but instead a simple plea for justice, one which is continuing to echo around the world.
Wolves, Newcastle and Liverpool were among the teams who all took a knee before training this week, while players and clubs have added their voices to the protests. In every case, they were simply making a stand for what is right.
“If anti-racism is ‘political’, that implies that pro-racism is a valid political ideology,” the chair of Kick It Out, Sanjay Bhandari, tweeted earlier this week. “This is not about politics. It’s about shared fundamental human values.”
Such values, of course, extend far beyond sport but while the gestures of athletes alone will not bring about social change, they do send a powerful message.
Players should not be sanctioned but instead encouraged when they express belief in the values we all should share.
Infantino was right, Sancho deserved applause for his actions, not punishment.
