Sol Campbell's claims have not helped the real victims of discrimination in sport

 
GETTY
5 March 2014

There is a danger that in the fallout from Sol Campbell’s incendiary comments about the Football Association, the real point will be lost.

Campbell’s assertion that his colour compromised his captaincy credentials have been largely discredited for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the FA may require those wearing the England armband to be morally unimpeachable — hence their decision to demote John Terry — but there is no evidence to support the suggestion their unwritten criterion for the role extends to race.

Secondly, more than one England manager has dismissed the notion of FA interference in selecting a captain. The fact all five of Campbell’s international managers picked black captains at club level — Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren — is strong evidence against any prevailing discriminatory attitude among those individuals.

Furthermore, few could dispute the respective qualities of Tony Adams, Alan Shearer and David Beckham. This trio dominated the position during Campbell’s England career and each was deserving of the accolade.

The growing preference for selecting star players as the England captain during the Noughties perhaps counted against Campbell, whose talents were considerable but his celebrity dwarfed by Shearer and, in particular, the global brand that Beckham had become — perhaps there was some validity in the argument his PR machine was incomparable to that of his more celebrated team-mates.

Things were more difficult for ethnic minority players in Campbell’s day, too. But it is a huge leap from there to claims that the FA marginalised him on reasons of race, revealing an “institutional racism”. Of course, only those closest to the decision-makers during Campbell’s era can ever know for certain but his series of accusations appear more like the frustrations of a bitter man rather than claims substantiated by hard proof.

As Kick It Out chairman Lord Herman Ouseley told this newspaper on Monday, it is hard not to view the timing of Campbell’s outbursts with acute cynicism, given they came in a series of interviews arranged to sell a new book.

Otherwise, why now? It would take a brave man to make such accusations during his playing days but therein lies the potential damage Campbell may have done — by raising such a contentious topic in the course of making money, it only serves to compromise the debate on the wider problem of discrimination. His motive should be to tackle inequality, not bulge the bank balance — this time only Campbell knows which is true.

After all, English football still has a real problem. Equality and inclusion campaigners Kick It Out believe that, as of last year, “only 4.8 per cent of the 1,300 coaches holding a UEFA ‘B’ coaching licence or higher were from a black and minority ethnic background (BME) despite 20 per cent of footballers coming from BME communities.” (In fairness to Campbell, this was an issue he previously raised but, again, his individual case was undermined because he lacked the requisite badges).

There are just two black managers among the 92 professional clubs in England. There is an alarming absence of BME presence at the decision-making level of the game and issues of discrimination are not just confined to race — the lack of female representation and the absence of a sufficiently understanding environment for a homosexual player to come out before their career is over are both stains on the game.

The FA are undoubtedly improving in this respect and, while accusations of institutional racism seem somewhat unfair, it is obvious that more must be done. Players and managers believing themselves to be victims of any such injustice must be able to come forward. Campbell has probably not helped them in this respect but there is plenty he can do.

If the former centre-back feels so strongly about the prejudice he believes he faces, as a respected top international he has plenty to offer the game’s governing bodies either as a spokesman or an ambassador to help change things. As this week has proven, if he talks, people listen.

The inequality issue must not be lost in the Campbell backlash. Roy Hodgson and Steven Gerrard both sidestepped the question when asked about him yesterday; their wish to avoid a thorny subject was understandable in one sense, mindful of creating further headlines.

On the other hand, it was a shame neither took the opportunity to reiterate the wider point about eradicating discrimination which remains too prevalent throughout the sport. That debate must be had and not trivialised — wherever you stand on the merits of Campbell’s specific case, the bigger picture should not be forgotten.

Praise Tony Pulis for tackling ‘disease’

GETTY

The discipline which has underpinned Crystal Palace’s improvement under Tony Pulis received a welcome public airing this week, when the Eagles boss fined two of his players for diving.

Rather than blindly protect Jerome Thomas and Marouane Chamakh after their attempt to cheat a fellow pro — as many other managers are often guilty of — Pulis openly admonished his players before revealing they would face financial punishment.

Pulis’s hardline approach, labelling diving a “disease” that “I just won’t have at any club I manage” should be replicated by other clubs. Only through consistent and firm reprimands will the game eradicate one of its most unappealing elements. Stronger action from the Football Association would be welcome but ultimately clubs can self-regulate.

Managers concerned about upsetting key players should unite for the greater good — diving is cheating and it must be stopped. There is still too much going on — more clubs should follow Pulis’s lead.

FA must raise ban for racism

The Football Association need to increase their five-game minimum ban for racism. That necessity was brought into sharper focus yesterday, when UEFA suspended futsal player Omar Rahou for 10 matches for repeatedly making the ‘quenelle’ gesture.

UEFA and the FA strengthened their powers to discipline such incidents last summer but while the former’s minimum threshold was 10 games, English football’s governing body set the benchmark at half that number.

Consequently, both Rahou and Nicolas Anelka received the minimum punishment and yet one will be sidelined for twice as long as the other.Anelka’s five-game ban for the same offence is an unsatisfactory conclusion. FA chairman Greg Dyke claimed last weekend that the FA may review their guidelines as a stronger deterrent is required.

However unwelcome Alan Pardew’s aggression was in headbutting Hull’s David Meyler, it surely is not worse than discriminating so shamelessly as the quenelle gesture does. Pardew deserves more than a five-game suspension but to give him more would be to undermine the seriousness of racist behaviour.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in