Man City's forward and defender face racist abuse after defeat
Manchester City’s forward Raheem Sterling and defender Kyle Walker face racial abuse from football fans via social media following the team’s 1-0 defeat in the Champions League finals. Reports stated that the pair’s respective Instagram pages were flooded with monkey emojis since the game ended on Saturday, 29 May 2021.
The international news organization, Reuters, wishes to get a comment from the management of Facebook, owner of Instagram. Meanwhile, racial discrimination and other abusive behaviours are punished in these media platforms for the protection of its users.
Not the pair’s first encounter with racism in their career
Any premier football league featured in the PlayOrBet casino and sportsbook review site have their cases of racism. Sterling and Walker have experienced racial discrimination throughout their football career. Some of their most memorable encounters were in 2019 where they discussed the issue with concerned media personalities and other athletes.
Manchester City players were heckled by the audiences during the Championship League Quarter Finals against Tottenham in April 2019. Sterling was among the targets of this behaviour to which he responded by covering his ears after scoring for the team’s 5-1 lead.
Walker also had to endure reading through racial slurs on his direct messages on Instagram. This was after the team’s win against Tottenham Hotspur at the Carabao Cup final. He took a screenshot of the messages and posted them on his story with the caption, ‘When is this going to stop?’.
There are also many racist Manchester City fans as displayed in December 2019 with how they treat Manchester United players, Fred and Jesse Lindgard. On top of the insults, they were pelting them with small objects such as coins and lighters during a corner kick.
Not an isolated case
A football club also experiences mistreatment from its fans while playing on the home field. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) expressed their disappointment with the fans throughout the years.
Some actions proposed is for athletes to walk away from the game but Sterling believes that it is a good response during his interview in April 2019. To him, leaving the pitch is exactly what the abusers want. Their main goal for their hurtful actions is to demoralize the opposing team so winning the game despite their attempts is the best way to humiliate the haters.
UEFA’s responses over the years
UEFA is hands-on when it comes to responding against unwanted fan behaviours to maintain the sanctity of sportsmanship. There were laws put in place to target hecklers and lead them away from the stadium. Some of them are even arrested the day after the match, usually when there is video evidence to support the case.
Football bodies like UEFA aren’t only strict on the fans. They also have punishments against players who show similar behaviour against their fellow athletes. These decisions are questioned by many as unfair treatment but it shows that the associations are taking these matters seriously.
Bottom line
Racial abuse always has effects on the players and many football fans across Europe will try to exploit this. Such behaviour will have a heavy impact on the odds which betting guide websites like PlayOrBet casino have to consider. Ideally, this shouldn’t be the case. Many argue that the spirit of sportsmanship is lost because of racism.
The European league is filled with players from around the world including Latin American, North African, and Arabic nations. All of these players are scouted for their performance in their home and the UEFA Championship League is the best place to showcase their talent.
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