Paris: Racism has been taking a toll on earth since the human race has begun, from Apartheid to Martin Luther King Jr fighting against racism to modern-day #BlackLifematters everything has been on the cards. Sports have always stood against racism but some incidents show the ugly side of the human race and their stereotypes about ‘white supremacy.’
⚽️ PSG v Istanbul Basaksehir has been suspended after an alleged racist incident with the fourth official and the Basakeshir assistant coach.
— Beth Fisher (@BethFisherSport) December 8, 2020
Both teams have walked off.
Here is Demba Ba furiously remonstrating to the fourth official. #EnoughIsEnough
📺 @btsportfootball pic.twitter.com/9n6BitJP05
The Champions League organisers have said, ‘Say No to Racism’ as their main motive in European football, but a sad incident took place during the group stage match between PSG and Istanbul Basaksehir. Reports claim that the fourth official has chanted a racist comment against an official of the Basaksehir side and it resulted in a fall out between the players and the match officials.
It was a group decider as PSG needed a draw to qualify for the next round from Group H. But such an incident made the players walk away from the field as a protest. The match has been suspended till further notice from UFEA.
Similar incidents happened before in football. Mario Balotelli has been a victim of it. Former Barcelona star Dani Alves was thrown a banana from the crowd in a La Liga match. Kevin Prince Boateng has also been a victim of racism when he was an AC Milan player. Didier Zokora had to face a similar thing in the Turkish League. Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez’s incident is still fresh in our memory.
Teams bow down and support #Blacklifematters before the start of any match since July 2020, but these incidents clearly show everyone the ugly side of society and sad to see a global sport like football gets affected by it.
