The current situation involving John Terry and Anton Ferdinand shows that racism in English football can spring up at any time and still, like it should, attracts a lot of media attention.
We might never know what happened on that pitch at Loftus Road, we might never know what words the England captain said or in what context they were in but given the situation I personally believe that Terry should never wear the captain’s armband again.
It doesn’t matter if he was racist towards Anton Ferdinand or not, the fact of the matter is the England captain should not be getting drawn into that sort of media attention, especially seeming he was lucky to escape long term punishment in the Wayne Bridge ordeal prior to the World Cup last year. Also, it’s unfair that other players behind Terry in the pecking order stay there when they may never step a foot out of line.
However, I can’t see him being dropped from the England squad completely, unless the Met Police investigation or any FA enquiry finds him guilty.
In the current era of football you can’t still be international captain for a country such as England with this cloud above your head. I can’t think of a single team whose squad does not include a coloured player, and since Viv Anderson was the first black player to play for England there has been few, if any, England squads without black players. How do the likes of Theo Walcott, Glen Johnson and any other black squad player feel about this mess?
The provisional England squad for the World Cup last year included 12 players of black origins. 30 years ago this would’ve been unheard of, 1978 was the year that Anderson first got the call up and he has helped pave the way for others to follow. Racism in English football should be a thing of past and when events like the one at Loftus Road do occur, the FA must not hesitate to take action.
The way the FA have reacted, which to be honest they haven’t really, shows that despite their ‘Kick It Out’ campaign we are a long way off the final goal.
It also shows that the FA hasn’t decided what action they will take when events like this occur and don’t want to make an example of such a high profile athlete at a big club. If this happened in League 2 I guarantee the process of events would have be different. Of course it wouldn’t have attracted as much media attention, but the FA would have immediately launched an investigation, if they had found that player guilty they would have given any punishment they felt fit and made example of that player or club.
The FA is scared of the backlash it will receive if it takes any action against Terry but seeing as the Metropolitan Police is involved surely the FA should step forward and launch an enquiry as this is a footballing matter that the governing body should control themselves. If the FA had launched their investigation as soon as the event occurred, then the Met Police would be more unlikely to be involved.
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