I KNOW violence and racism in sports is nothing new. I detest both, but even in this time of pandemic, it continues to rear its ugly head. And a lot happened in these past week.
Has all the stress and depression from the pandemic caused sorter tempers and frustration?
Dutch cyclist Dylan Groenewegen bared that he received death threats after a horrific crash during the Tour of Poland in August of 2020 where he swerved onto the path of compatriots Fabio Jakobsen.
Groenewegen was served a nine-month ban by UCI, the world’s governing body for the sport, after he deliberately swerved and elbowed Jakobsen into the railings that caused massive injuries and sent him into a coma. The crash also took out several cyclists.
While I do not condone what Groenewegen did and I think that he should have been suspended longer than the nine-month ban handed to him, death threats are wrong. I do get the anger towards him, but to even threaten his child is wrong.
What happened outside the training center of French football club, Marseille, is just plain ugly.
After three successive defeats that have seen Marseille drop to seventh in the French Ligue 1, some 300 fans assaulted the team’s training facility and in doing so, injured seven policemen. Twenty-five fans were arrested following the assault.
As a result, Marseille’s match against Rennes has been called off.
I can get frustration and anger. I too have felt that on many an occasion towards the sports teams I root for. But I have never ever thought of attacking a player or a coach.
Even when a team wins in a championship, I have never felt this urge for destruction which is why when violence occurs, it baffles me.
As a journalist and a columnist, I have called out wrong deeds and even people of ill repute in my writings. But never have I hurled racist epithets such as what Manchester United player Marcus Rashford received after his side’s scoreless draw with Arsenal this past Saturday night.
Rashford wasn’t the only one racially abused after the match. His teammate Anthony Martial also received the same.
Said Rashford, it was “humanity and social media at its worst.”
In a recent survey conducted by the Professional Cricketers’ Association has found than more than half of those who responded have declared that they have witnessed racism in their sport.
That survey was answered by 174 of the 575 cricketers. If you do the match, that’s 87 who have experienced it and did not report it.
Some of the respondents said that the slurs have been disguised as “banter” which is not an excuse.
It has been reported that the PCA will roll out its new anti-racism program this March.
There are good and points to everything in this world. Just as social media can be a force of good, it can also be negative. Just reading all the work of trolls on sites is annoying. A decent conversation is at times difficult to hold.
Authorities should really clamp down on these louts. Longer jail sentences and stiffer fines especially if it hurts one’s wallet is a start would do nicely.
For all the advances in science and technology, the human race is still lagging behind in a lot of aspects with regards to relationships and respect (especially to this planet).
I have often read in many articles or videos about how this pandemic has caused us to think and reflect about life. Looks like some people haven’t done that. Or maybe, engaging in violence and racism is a reflection on their sad and troubling lives. Mental issues even.
Now that needs some looking into.
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