Football: 5 Reasons Why The Beautiful Game Is In Crisis
The world's game has an immense ability to unite people of all backgrounds and every four years, we gather around the television to partake in the spectacle known simply as the World Cup: rich, poor, young, old, men, women - all flock to the game in a way that surprises many but divides few. However, has this wonderful sport suffered as of late? With all of the negative press, I too must confess that the beautiful game is losing some of its luster. As fans, we must work to salvage and preserve the image of the sport we all love, or else face further negative backlash from external bodies or an implosion within the heart of the game. Because the first step in solving problems is recognizing them, the following list is a compilation of dilemmas facing football today, and let's hope that as passionate followers, we can usher in some reforms that maintain the integrity of the game. 5. Racism
A problem that has been widely reported, racism has invaded the arena of football in a way few predicted and many had feared - racist monkey chants aimed towards black players have been a fixture in stadia throughout Europe for quite some time now. Sky Sports recently conducted an expose that revealed an unprecedented amount of racist terms that had been shouted at black footballers, and while the report focused on Millwall, the abuse is not specific to one club or country. AC Milans Kevin Prince Boateng, walked off the pitch last month after monkey chants were aimed at him during a friendly match with lower division squad Pro Patria, and Jozy Altidore was recently a victim of racist abuse from rival fans during a Dutch Cup match with his team AZ Alkmaar. This is not a Premier League disease.
It is bad enough that the fans in attendance have been so vitriolic, but this horrid trend extends to players and managers as well. John Terry, one the games most high profile players, was caught in the heart of a scandal after allegedly using a racist slur toward Anton Ferdinand, and back in 2005, Spanish national team coach Luis Aragones was videotaped using a derogatory term about French striker Thierry Henry.
The fact is that this problem is so significant that I could dedicate an entire article toward it, but unfortunately, racism is one of only many problems soiling the image of the beautiful game.