Apparently, it’s okay for soccer fans to make monkey noises at a black player at a match again because, according to FIFA (soccer’s governing body), racism is officially over.
As reported by the Associated Press on Sunday, FIFA wrote members of their racism task force, notifying them that it has “completely fulfilled its temporary mission” and “is hereby dissolved and no longer in operation.”
A former member of the task force, Osasu Obayiuwana, told the AP that he was shocked at all by the decision, saying, “The problem of racism in football remains a burning, very serious and topical one, which need continuous attention.”
“I personally think there remained a lot of very serious work for the task force to have done — the 2018 World Cup in Russia being one such matter,” Obayiuwana continued. “But it is evident the FIFA administration takes a different position.”
The “Say No to Racism” campaign was implemented in 2013 by then-President Sepp Blatter, and was run by Jeffery Webb, a vice president at FIFA, before he was arrested and indicted in 2015 over allegations of corruptions surrounding the Russia and Qatar’s world cup bids in 2018 and 2022.
Russia, as well as many European nations, has been notorious as of late for racist confrontations directed at black players by fans.
Many of the Russian clubs, including Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA Moskow, have developed reputations for its racist fanbase.
In October 2013, Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré received a lot of racist abuse when his club played at CSKA Moscow. Following the incident, Touré suggested that all black players boycott the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia if nothing was done to change the country’s racism problem.
