Racism in football: A virus we have to kill

Photo Credit: bbc.co.uk

Football is universally and deservedly known as the ‘beautiful game,’ but even the most beautiful of things have ugly defects, and football has racism. There was the Buenos Aires Resolution, which was passed by the Extraordinary Congress of FIFA during a monumental meeting in the Argentinian capital on 7th July, 2001. After more than a decade, does it look like football has done enough to eliminate this virus? Football is rife with a shocking level of “institutional discrimination.”

Figures published by the International Federation of Football history and statistics  earlier this month showed that black people or the minority, as they are known,  currently fill just under four per cent of backroom staff positions in the five top European football  Football Leagues.

Ambush Marketing

2014 is here with us; bringing in its wake the FIFA World Cup tournament. This is possibly the biggest sporting event in the world. Everyone is talking about the World Cup; who made the list, who is tipped to win, etc. Even me, a sworn anti-football fan is writing about it now. 

Well, while some people (very few), like me, want to run away from this event, others are over the moon about the opportunities that come with it; footballers are eager to show what they are made of, countries are doing all it takes to make sure their teams have the right preparation that will help them win their matches, fans are excited to travel to Brazil and cheer on… In the background are marketers and advertisers, who will be taking advantage of this global interest to advertise and market their brands.