Blame Shifters

It is not very often that I find myself agreeing with a footballers comment about any subject in particular but yesterday’s reportage on the spat that has emerged between Rio Ferdinand and UEFA puts the player in the right and the Governing Body right in the cart.

Ferdinand was speaking in support of a European Parliament motion supporting the introduction of stiffer penalties to be handed out to clubs who fail to control racist elements of their support. The players’ comments were on the subject of the €9k fine handed out to Real Zaragoza after the verbal abuse handed out to Samuel Eto’o during the La Liga match at El Estadio de la Romareda and to the Spanish FA for failing to control their supporters at El Estadio de Santiago Bernabeu during their 2004 friendly with England. The problem with these highlighted incidents is that they both fell outside of UEFA’s auspices, occurring in matches organised by the Spanish FA (RFEF) and FIFA respectively. Which the suits wasted no time in pointing out. William Galliard could be heard panting for breath as he recounted his mantra, “It’s not our fault, it’s the FIFA boys to blame. It’s not our fault, everyone but us is to blame”. In the first instance, he made clear that the Scions of Nyon believe the RFEF should police their own clubs behaviour. This presumably not the same organisation who regularly put their two penneth in when disciplinary problems occur that will galvanise them acres of press coverage, a deft touch they have learnt from Darth Blatter.

What needed to happen was for Lars – Christer Olsson to speak out when the RFEF fined Zaragoza a paltry sum. He should have taken a leaf from his FIFA counterpart and shot from the hip, speaking before thinking properly. He should have instructed the RFEF to review the case or pass the buck onto UEFA to review disciplinary actions. When the RFEF failed to act decisively, he should have arranged for Zaragoza to be banned from European competition for one season, to be effective when they next qualify which could be this weekend if they win the Copa del Rey. He should not have done what he did. Which was precisely nothing. With more than a passing nod in the direction of irony, the recent anti-racism conference was held in Barcelona, shortly before the incident with Eto’o.

What needs to happen is for UEFA to bring in a standard form of punishment for racist chanting within grounds that is applied throughout their member Football Associations. For a first offence, if the supporters of the either home or away team are found guilty then their next respective home match is played behind closed doors. The club should also be fined the equivalent of €100k. For a second offence, the club should be fined €200k, with the stadium closed for the next month with the offending team forced to play all matches away from home during this spell. They will not be allowed to re-arrange fixtures during this time. For example, if Stamford Bridge were closed for this offence, Chelsea would be forced to play the next five matches away. During this time, they were supposed to play Arsenal and Manchester United at home. Both games will now take place at their opponents grounds. They have already played Arsenal at Highbury earlier in the season so this means that they cannot play them again that season so both games have taken place at THOF. Meanwhile, they have yet to play Man Utd so hit on the idea of reversing the fixtures. Sorry Guys, not allowed. You also play them twice away from home.

A third offence means a €500k fine and forfeiting the points for their next five home games and their opponents automatically award a 5 – 0 win, the scoreline ensuring that serious damage is done to their Goal Difference. For a fourth offence, the fine should automatically rise to €1m and a season long closure of the stadium; each match would be away from home, playing their opponents twice at their respective grounds. The offending club would not be entitled to any additional compensation for this period of closure nor would they be allowed to participate in UEFA sponsored competitions. A fifth offence means that's it, club suspended from League and Competitions for one season, resuming their football careers in the lowest level where professional football is played. In the case of England, this would be in the Nationwide Conference.

Perhaps then, the message would get through about how serious football is taking racism.

Todays Tunes mark a momentous occasion as they are the 100 and 101 that I have posted. So we'll go for some old fave raves from the Peel show. Firstly, his favourite band, The Fall, with two cover versions, Lost in Music by The Pointer Sisters taken from the album, The Twenty Seven Points with the second, White Lightning by Big Bopper from the album, Shift-Work. Enjoy.

Lost In Music

White Lightning