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LOS ANGELES, California - “Discrimination of any kind against a country, private person or groups of people on account of ethnic origin, gender, language, religion, politics or any other reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion.” Thus reads the text of Article 3 of the FIFA Statutes, entitled, Non-discrimination and Stance on Racism.
You would have to be living under a rock not to have noticed in recent years how racism, at least in the stands, has reared its ugly head in football. One celebrated incident in 2006 involved FC Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o refusing to return to the field after incessant racist abuse hurled at him by home fans of Real Zaragoza. Only after pleadings from manager Rijkaard and his teammates did he return. On the same grounds a year earlier, Eto’o was similarly attacked. His response was a goal and a celebration mocking his racist detractors by mimicking the monkey gestures they had aimed at him. The 2006 incident gained a lot of media attention then. It was not, however, the only case of a player walking out. Mark Zoro, an Ivorian playing for Messina in the Italian Serie A, was in a similar incident after being subject to abuse by fans of Inter Milan. He returned only after pleas from Inter players.
Despite all the attention at Real Zaragoza, they were fined a measly 9,000 euros (approximately US$12,000). For the earlier incident the season before, Zaragoza was fined only 600 euros (approximately US$800). Were fines enough? Eto’o and anti-racist football groups didn’t think so. Are these fines enough to curb this behavior at football stadia around Europe? This season the number of incidents has dropped significantly. This is not the result of the fines alone. Thanks to the efforts by groups such as FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe), Kick It Out and a more proactive approach by FIFA, racist incidents continue to decline. FIFPro, the representative organization for all professional players worldwide, has taken their own initiatives to stamp out racism. Given that there is hardly a team in the major leagues of European football that does not have players from Africa or who are of African descent, the usual targets of racist abuse, it would seem obvious that teammates who speak out against racism would have an enormous influence on their supporters.
What about off the field? Is there racism in the administration of football? Is there a need for change? The Commission for Racial Equality in the United Kingdom thinks so. In a report written in 2004, the commission states that despite the fact that players come from all ethnic backgrounds, non-whites “make up less than 1% of positions off the field, whether in boardrooms, management or the coaching staff – and less than 2% of supporters on the terraces.” We have no statistical information for other UEFA members.
In the Philippines these problems are largely absent. Yet the Philippine football community is conscious of race and national origin. In doing some background work for this article I spoke to several people with connections to Pinoy footy; some whose connections were in the past and others who are still active in the community. It was very interesting to gather perspectives from others on a subject that I had pretty much taken for granted growing up.
Having been born overseas, my experience in Philippine football was a little different than most of my teammates. As much as I felt a welcome part of my team and school, there was always a part of me that was aware that I was different. My early introduction to teams of expatriate Indonesians sealed the deal, so to speak. When you are an “outsider” you become more sensitive to the nuances in social interactions outside the football field. From the earliest time I was made aware that there were two groups in the school’s football teams. There was the group of Filipino mestizos of Spanish ancestry and the group of Filipinos who did not identify as much or at all with a Spanish heritage. In the vernacular, it was the “tisoys” and the “pinoys.” Later on we had a couple of Koreans join our teams. Throw in a Filipino who spent more years in my home country than I did and we were a veritable United Nations team of ethnicity. Together we won and lost titles. What we never accomplished was the kind of camaraderie that one expects from teams. On game day, on the field we went out as a team. Off the field, with exceptions, we went out more along ethnic lines. Why was this so?
Writing this reminds me of a photo of the Dutch national team taken in the1990’s. Gathered around a picnic bench in their orange training suits were two sets of players, some sitting, some standing, all seeming to have a good time chatting. An unremarkable photo if not for the fact that all the players on one side were white players. On the other end were Seedorf, Davids and the other black players. Some in the media tried to use this photo to bolster their claim that there was a rift within the team that ran along racial lines. This continued despite denials by both black and white players of the Oranje.
Does this have anything to do with Philippine football, in general? Yes. Not too much has changed since the days of my youth. Kids tend to join groups of others with similar backgrounds. Adults have the same tendencies. Sometimes, it’s a case of learning biases from their elders. The former is neutral, the latter negative. What is sad is that grown people still cannot get beyond race and nationality to do what is right for football. While it is accepted that the Philippines is a multi-ethnic nation, the tensions and the resentments continue. In the time that I’ve been away from the country, new words seem to have taken prominence: Chinoy and Castilaloy. What is the purpose for using these terms? In an article that appeared in a Philippine newspaper a few years back the writer described the victory in an election of someone of Spanish descent - a Castilaloy - as a lost opportunity to unite Philippine football, simply because he was of Spanish descent. That this article appeared in a national daily proves that there is resentment at the highest levels. I found it rather ironic that despite the writer’s professed sentiment, the article’s tone belied any desire to foster a spirit of unity.
The bottom line is that regardless of ethnicity, national origin, or even citizenship, anyone who is committed to the development of Philippine football should be considered worthy of honor and recognition. That includes the school kid who plays with made-up balls, the parent or expatriate who volunteers to coach, organize or officiate a local tournament, the fan who faithfully supports his school or club team, and the volunteer football journalist who spends his or her time and effort to disseminate match information when the mainstream media would rather practice press-release journalism. What we don’t need are political mercenaries chasing and clinging to office like tin pot dictators. Philippine football certainly does not need any more insecure leaders more interested in lining their pockets than carrying out the mandate of their office.
Is race a major problem in Philippine football? Despite the way race and national origin is sometimes used as a means to attack personalities in subtle and not so subtle ways and despite the fact that players and coaches are often aware of ethnicity to an unhealthy degree, we are fortunate that we do not have the problems that plague European football. But it would be foolish to say that we do not have issues to deal with in the Philippines. Race and national origin is one thing. Class is another. Administrators have yet to find an effective way to bring football to the masses. To this day, many in the Philippines still view football as the sport of the elite and the well to do. An irony given that the world sees football as the people’s game. Football, with all the biases and preconceived notions, in a way, mirrors Philippine society: economics play a major role in the development of the sport as it does the nation and corruption and ineptitude plagues national government in the same way corruption and ineptitude plagues Philippine football. In every way, this is an even greater problem for Philippine football than racism in the sport is to Europe. Until we the footballing community and the sports media, face up to this reality, our football will continue to be held hostage to pettiness, avarice and self-aggrandizing forces. Perhaps we should paraphrase the motto of one prominent U.K. anti-racist group for the Philippine situation to “Let’s Kick Corruption and Pettiness Out of Football.” Come to think of it, that might be an appropriate call to FIFA as well. But that would be a subject for another column.
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