Soccer and racism

It is never a clash for the faint hearted.

Liverpool versus Manchester United in England's Premier League.  Two of the great English soccer teams, where bulging trophy cabinets speak of decades of success and rivalry runs deep. And so it was on Saturday when the two giants met.

But this had even more piquancy than usual. Earlier in the season, Liverpool's Uruguayan striker, Luis Suarez, had racially abused Manchester United's black defender Patrice Evra - which led to Suarez being banned for seven matches. It also led to a lot of soul searching about the extent to which racism had been snuffed out in English soccer.

When I was a youngster going to matches, it was not unusual to see bananas being thrown at black players - and monkey chants coming from some sections of the crowd. Astonishingly, that still happens today in some East European countries.

But back to Saturday's match. It had been prearranged that before the start, Suarez would publicly shake hands with Evra to bring this ugly episode to a close. Except he didn't. He walked straight past the Manchester United defender causing fury and outrage.

The Manchester United coach branded Suarez a disgrace who brought shame to Liverpool. The Liverpool manager initially defended his player. But within 24 hours, the club's American owners, Fenway Sports Group, had insisted that apologies should be forthcoming. And fast. Cue a humiliating climbdown and a grovelling apology.

Two interesting things struck me about this. One is the extent to which English soccer has become totally globalized. TV rights are sold around the world. Manchester United and Liverpool are both owned by American companies. Neither of the players in this incident is English. And if a soccer team is going to be a global brand, it can't suffer serious reputational damage for failing to deal with a racist outburst from one of its players. All good.

But what about a player's sexuality? In English soccer there is not one openly gay soccer player. Not one. The same is true in rugby. Ditto cricket. It is still a taboo. And there have been many incidents of homophobia which go unsanctioned, unreported, uncomplained about. Thank goodness that racism is tackled head on now. But there is still work to be done in other areas. And change here seems glacially slow.