Why the US is So Far Ahead of "Old Europe"

A growing racist hooliganism mars soccer matches in France
By Jerome Pugmire
Associated Press

PARIS - Warming up on the touchline, a black player jogs toward fans at the Parc des Princes soccer stadium. As he gets closer, a barrage of monkey chants explodes - "OOOH! OOOH! OOOH!"- and racist insults fill the air.

Such scenes are increasingly common at the home stadium of Paris Saint-Germain, or PSG, one of France's top soccer teams, and are finding expression in elite soccer leagues across Europe, raising fears that a global sport that calls itself "the Beautiful Game" is getting uglier.

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Soccer, with its many black stars, could be a showcase of multiracial harmony, especially in France, which draws on talent from its former African colonies.

Instead, the brawling soccer fans have emerged as the extreme fringe of a deeply troubled France - one that is grappling with stiffening resistance to immigration, protests linked to youth unemployment and the perceived threat of globalization.

Now, after the riots that engulfed immigrant-filled French suburbs last fall, beer-fueled racism in soccer has taken on an even more menacing tinge.

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PSG, where black players George Weah of Liberia and Ronaldinho of Brazil once displayed their magic, is not alone in suffering from racist outrages.

In Spain, Barcelona's Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o threatened to walk off the field after Zaragoza fans subjected him to monkey chants in February. In Italy, right-wing fans have displayed Nazi and fascist symbols and anti-Semitic banners at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.

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"Denial is a big thing among football administrators," said Piara Power, director of the British-based Kick It Out antiracism campaign. "Unfortunately, turning the other cheek is easier."

Before a PSG game against Sochaux on Jan. 4, two Arab youths were punched and kicked by white fans outside the entrance to the Kop de Boulogne. Ushers, all white, stood chatting and did not intervene.


The TrekMedic muses:

The TrekMedic was honestly shocked at how widespread this is occuring in Europe. Can any of you imagine the hue and cry if these shenanigans occured at an NFL or Major League Baseball game?

Even here in Philadelphia, where the Phillies organization continues to bear the cross of its racist past, we heartily cheer the exploits of Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, both of whom are black.

And Europe, constantly attacking the US for its "racist" views, is supposed to hold itself up as a paragon of society and racial harmony with this going on?

To all of this, I call on BobG for the answer: