Chelsea Balls: Calling Jose Mourinho A ‘Racist’ Is Stupid
RACISM is such a big issue, you wouldn’t think a national newspaper who use it as a cheap way to score hits, would you? So. When we read in the Daily Express of a Jose ‘Mourinho Race Row”, we’re intrigued. Can the Chelsea boss have erred?
Football is used as a cipher for all society’s ill, so maybe he’s it is just a lot of shouting about very little.
The Express‘ story is a link to a story in the Daily Star, it’s sister publication that once supported the EDL.
Paul Brown writes beneath a big headline:
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho SLAMMED as ‘unwise and out of touch’ for racism comments – JOSE MOURINHO has been told he is out of touch on racism in football.
The story is:
Chelsea boss Mourinho stunned listeners last week by saying “there is no racism in football”, despite the fact there are only two black managers currently in a job.
If a lack of black faces in top jobs is a sign of an industry’s racism, then the nation’s newspapers must be racist (see many black faces at the Leveson Inquiry?); so too the board of the Express‘ parent company Northern & Shell, which features no black faces from five; the ECB, which oversees cricket, and is all white; British tennis’ LTA is led by an all white crew; the RFU, operators of English Rugby Union, is an all-white team; and ddo you really need reminding about the Ryder Cup’s black, Asian, Muslim, female or Jewish contingent?
Any black faces in the Royal Family?
As ever, though, football gets the beating.
It’s clear that black managers are notably missing from the professional game, but to use it o label the entire sport racist is mad. Football is pretty much the one area of life where a black professional can compete on an equal level with a white, and is seen to every weekend. England’s national side features many black footballers. Only a numbskull would see it as odd.
The Star adds:
…the head of FIFA’s anti-discrimination task force hit back angrily at those comments last night at the Leaders Sport Business Summit at Stamford Bridge. Jeffrey Webb, who is also president of CONCACAF and a FIFA vice-president, said: “Mourinho said that? Incredible. I think that was unwise. I think it’s out of touch.”
That’s FIFA which has never had a non-white, male President.
This is a photo of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which discusses and decided upon proposed alterations to the Laws of the Game:
So… About that racism in English football…
The Guardian notes:
The Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor recently said that racism was a “hidden problem” in English football, making his own call for the Rooney Rule to be introduced.
Webb responded: “I don’t know how it could be hidden. You have 92 clubs, you have two coaches of colour. How many board members or executives are in various club positions or at the FA, in Uefa? So, it’s not hidden. It’s hidden from a discussion standpoint. No-one wants to deal with it. No-one wants to deal with it from a commercial standpoint.”
Webb said that he had recently spoken to Eddie Newton, the Chelsea youth coach who has been linked with a move to Schalke 04 with Roberto Di Matteo, who had described his frustration at being unable to secure an interview.
“I hosted a dinner a few months ago, last time I was here. I met a young guy coaching at Chelsea, assistant coach, won a Champions League final, doing well,” said Webb.
“Can’t even get an interview. Eddie Newton. I’m not talking about getting a job, getting an interview. That’s not hidden. That’s right in front of your face.”
But that’s not the Star’s point. Their point is about Mourinho:
Mourinho had said: “There is no racism in football. If you are good, you get the job. Football is not stupid to close the doors to top people.”
That’s not triggering a “race row” is it. That’s saying something wholly sane about a sport that is just about the least racist thing out there.
Posted: 9th, October 2014 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
