Line of Scrimmage: Lukaku suspension reignites discussion of racism in soccer
In the first leg of the Coppa Italia fixture between Juventus and Inter Milan that ended 1-1, Inter forward Romelu Lukaku scored a last-minute equalizer via a penalty. Throughout the match, the crowd hurled racist insults at the Belgian who, after scoring, hushed them and told them to “shut up” in Italian during his celebration.
The referee who was officiating the match, Davide Massa, deemed Lukaku’s actions provocative and said he celebrated excessively, brandishing the 29-year-old his second yellow card of the game. The referee received a great deal of criticism for his harsh decision, but the Serie A upheld the decision and closed off a section of Allianz Stadium for one match.
More criticism was thrown at the Italian Football Federation after Lukaku did the same celebration and wasn’t booked in the first leg of Inter’s matchup against S.L. Benfica. Legendary French player Thierry Henry was critical of the decision by the Federation to give Juventus a measly one-game suspension for a section of the stadium, which the Federation later suspended, and talked about his own experiences as a player.
“Every time, it was your reaction that was punished,” Henry said. “I’ve had enough of looking at the ‘No to racism’ logo on our shirts. I’ve had enough of that lousy picture at the beginning of the game … Can we focus on some other places and see what we can do properly about this?”
Racism in soccer has always been an issue in all parts of the world. One of the biggest incidents that stuck out in recent years was after the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy. The game went all the way to penalties, with England losing the shootout 3-2 after Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka all failed to convert their penalties. All three players — who are Black — received a lot of racist comments, especially Saka, as he was the last penalty kick taker and had the opportunity to send the game to sudden death.
More recently, New York Red Bulls forward Dante Vanzeir said a racial slur directed toward San Jose Earthquakes forward Jeremy Ebobisse during their respective team’s matchup earlier this month. Vanzeir issued an apology to the public for his actions later on, as most people who get caught with this action do. The MLS handed Vanzeir a six-game suspension for it, but whether that’s enough of a punishment could be debatable.
These issues need to be addressed in other aspects of the sport. Pundits and players feel that campaigns to fight racism in soccer are performative and add no real conversation or help. Henry’s co-pundit and former defender Micah Richards gave his two cents on the issue during a CBS segment on Lukaku’s suspension.
“For the Italian [Football Federation] or whoever it is dealing with it over there, to uphold the yellow card as well, what sort of message is that sending out? It’s almost like they’re condoning the situation,” Richards said. “Until real change is implemented, we’re gonna be talking about the same things over and over and over, and it’s tiring.”
Initially, I thought the campaign wasn’t for the older generations who hurl these sorts of comments toward the players, because it’s hard to change someone with that kind of mindset at an older age. I viewed it as something for the young fans to show them that they need to support all players regardless of race and that, at the end of the day, it’s just a sport. But not giving these teams and groups of individuals any real punishment, and providing fans with an environment to behave in a derogatory manner, will allow for racist comments to continue.
The suspensions handed out to fans and teams need to carry significant weight and impact them heavily in order for things to change. Not only that, but the overall environment in the sports world needs to go through some sort of change so soccer federations can realize that they’re letting people off very lightly for serious actions. Deciding new punishments will be the hard part, but as long as these discussions are taking place, those who suffer most from it have their voices heard and when the sport implements actual changes, soccer will be headed in the right direction.
Jason Lopez Lopez is a senior writing about the intersection of sports and sociopolitical issues in his column, “Line of Scrimmage.” He is also a sports editor at the Daily Trojan.