We are about to enter the 20th season of the Premiership next season and it has been 120 years since City, then as Ardwick, first played in the Alliance League and yet we still today deal with racism in football. Thankfully attitudes have changed somewhat over the years and the recent incidents under investigation from the FA were met with condemnation or at least a frank and honest discussion. Minorities have been part of the English game pretty much since the beginning and yet are still not fully accepted.
In 1885 a young man from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) became the first Black Professional Footballer and signed for Darlington at the age of 20. Arthur Wharton died in 1930 but it wasn't until 1997 when his grave was given a headstone after an anti racism group campaigned for it and then in 2003 he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame. Wharton never was capped Internationally and never won any major honours during his career but currently has a petition online, the Arthur Wharton Foundation (www.arthurwharton.com) to erect a statue at his first club, Darlington in his honour.
Moving on through history, you had Dixie Dean who most famously played for Everton. There is a story where at halftime as the players left the field racist abuse was hurled at him. Dean apparently punched the offender and continued down the tunnel. No charges were brought. Strangely enough it would be fifty years later that Everton fans would hurl abuse at Liverpool player John Barnes. Fans chanted 'Everton are white' forgetting the player that had scored just under 350 goals for their club in 400 appearances and part of the League winning team, twice and FA Cup winning side all those years ago.
But is it not just the fans that players have received abuse from. Unfortunately famous managers and key figures within football have also been the source for some controversial comments. Steve Mokone while playing for Coventry says he was told by his manager, 'We brought you over here and you are not satisfied. That's the trouble with you people'. I do not know the background or setting for the comments but the South African interpreted this as being racist and left.
Viv Anderson was another player who had to deal with abuse, regularly getting pelted with bananas and other fruit was a target of racist chants. On one occasion he informed then Manager Brian Clough of the abuse and Cloughie just responded with Anderson to go back out and fetch him two pears and a banana. Something that would not be tolerated in todays game.
This was all leading up to the 1980's though when black players were becoming higher profile and the country as a whole was feeling more violated with immigrants and a Tory leadership that saw British troops sent to the Falklands. Racism was arguably at its highest and most volatile at this point and players such as Cyrille Regis and Garth Crooks were probably two of the many high profile non-white players to deal with such levels of abuse. Regis, once called up to the England team, was sent a bullet in the post.
It has always been bubbling under the surface through the 1990's but in 2004 it reached the television. Ron Atkinson, a pundit for ITV at the time and ex manager and player resigned after a racist comment. Atkinson, believing his microphone had been switched off made a comment involving the 'N' word about Chelsea player Marcel Desailly. Although it wasn't broadcast on English TV the comment was still being broadcast to other countries. At about the same time as his resignation from ITV he also left his columnist job at a big national paper by 'mutual agreement'.
Racism in football continues to be an issue, but not to the extent as it had been thanks in part to campaigns such as the 'Kick It Out' campaign. The repercussions of racist chants in grounds now can be a lifetime bans from Stadiums and criminal proceedings. Despite this it still continues to occasionally raise its head whether it is from the crowd or from players themselves.
However the last taboo in Football is the homophobia that exists. The most famous examples of this are of course the Justin Fashanu tragedy but also the Graeme LeSaux incidents. Taking the latter one first Graeme Le Saux was always the subject of homosexual chants and rumours, despite being married with two children. Many of you, I am sure, remember the incident between him and Robbie Fowler who in a game between Liverpool (Fowler) and Chelsea (LeSaux) when Fowler would repeatedly bend over and point his backside toward LeSaux, delaying the Chelsea mans taking of a freekick. Seen as a joke by Fowler it offended LeSaux. It was criticised at the time but not as much as if LeSaux was black and Fowler had been directing monkey noises or movements at him.
Groups like Stonewall and the Justin Campaign are bringing attention to the problem and want the sport to take more decisive action on homophobic abuse. The Gay Football Supporters Network was formed in 1989 and promotes the support and participation of gay men and women in football, but it continues to be an issue that doesn't take a backseat to racism as it isn't even currently in the same car, that despite already claiming a life.
Justin Fashanu
He was brought up by foster parents in Attleborough in Norfolk and was signed by Norwich City at the age of fourteen. The Norwich City scout, Ronnie Brooks, was the first to spot the Fashanu brothers and said that they both had a lot of ability but it was Justin whom he viewed as the more talented of the two and expected great things, including representation at the International level when in fact in the end he would only make it to the England B team. In fact it was the 1981 move that would signal the downward spiral of the young Fashanu, nine years before his coming out to the media.
His move to Forest saw him appear for only one season before being loaned out and then eventually moved on to rivals, County. He also sustained a knee injury which didn't help and in the last half of the 1980's would move from County to Brighton, LA, Edmonton, Manchester City and West Ham as he desperately tried to regain his form. At our beloved City he only made two substitute appearances before playing his last game for City on this day in 1989. In the 1990's he was hitting the front page of newspapers more often than the back and as a result, before retiring as a player in 1997, he would pull on the shirt of another thirteen sides, including teams in Canada, Scotland, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia!
After his playing career he moved back to the USA and Ellicott City, Maryland. There he would coach the second division side, Maryland Mania. In March of 1998 he was accused of sexual assault. Fashanu was questioned and released before the media played their final part in the Fashanu saga. It was reported that the police had later arrived with a warrant to arrest him. However this was untrue as Fashanu had already left the country and headed back to England.
The Morning of May 3rd that year Fashanus body was found hanged in a lock up garage. He had left a suicide note which read that he had already been presumed guilty and did not want to give any more embarrassment to friends and family. Four months later and inquest established there had been no arrest warrant and in fact due to a lack of evidence the case was no longer being pursued.
Written By:PACityboy (www.facebook.com/pacityboy)
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