Racist commentary about black players comes under scrutiny at World Cup

NEW YORK – Belgium coach Rudi Garcia’s description of Senegal as one of “those teams” that “tend to lose their tactical structure towards the end of the match” has reignited scrutiny of racially coded language at the World Cup.

He made the remarks after Belgium’s last-gasp comeback against Senegal on July 1.

In a statement two days later, Garcia said he had been “referring to teams unaccustomed to managing a lead in high-level World Cup matches” and that his comments could apply to teams from any region.

But critics said his remarks drew on a deeper history of racial stereotypes that have long cast black players and African teams as naturally powerful and instinctive, yet tactically naive, emotionally fragile or unable to withstand pressure.

For scholars and anti-racism advocates, the controversy has exposed a recurring fault line in football coverage: How language presented as tactical analysis can still carry old racial stereotypes.

“(It) is deeply racist in terms of the reproduction of racialised stereotypes about those teams, those African teams who lack the ability to control a game, to control themselves, and that comes from that colonial framework of the kind of animalistic tendencies that are projected onto black people and onto black populations,” said Ben Carrington, professor of journalism and sociology at USC Annenberg, whose research focuses on the intersection of race and sport.

Peter Alegi, a Michigan State University history professor who has written extensively about African football, said Garcia’s comments were “very disconcerting” because they echoed stereotypes African teams have spent decades trying to overcome.

Numerous academic studies show that commentators more often describe black players – both men and women – through athleticism, speed and power, while giving less attention to their tactical intelligence, technique or decision-making.

In one of the more recent studies, which focused on commentary during the 2018 World Cup, researchers at the universities of Leicester and Coventry found that 70 per cent of praise given to black players centred on physical attributes, compared to 18 per cent of praise for white players.

Less than 20 per cent of praise for black players centred on learnt skills, character or cognitive abilities, compared to 73 per cent for white players.

Earlier in this World Cup, German pundit and ex-footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger commented ahead of a Germany v Ivory Coast match that Germany needed to be “prepared for it to be unpredictable at times”, and that Ivorians played “African football”, which he characterised as “a bit unorthodox sometimes, a bit wild, not as tactical”.

Ivory Coast coach Emerse Fae said that the comments could be described as racist – a claim that Schweinsteiger rejected, saying he was merely analysing a playing style.

British sports journalist Leon Mann, founder of the organisation Black Collective Media in Sports, which advises broadcasters and helps young under-represented people enter the industry, said Schweinsteiger’s remarks were “ignorant and based on stereotypes”, but that such moments should open conversations that lead to improvements in coverage and commentary.

FIFA did not comment. The body has launched initiatives in recent years to penalise acts of racism and develop educational initiatives on racism.

Meanwhile, black players at the receiving end of these comments describe the frustration of having their hard work brushed aside by commentators.

Briana Scurry’s penalty save in front of 90,185 fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, helped the United States win the 1999 Women’s World Cup.

But Scurry, who is now part of FIFA’s 16-member players’ voice panel aimed at combating racism, said her conversations with reporters in the 1990s typically revolved around her strength and athleticism rather than her intelligence or technical skill in goal.

“It’s a kind of conversation around black players that does not give them the credit of the fact that they have intelligence and skill. It’s basically demeaning them and saying, “Well, you’re just athletic’,” she said.

Scurry also said she sees parallels between how her style of play was described and how black players’ performance is still depicted in the media today.

Carrington, the USC Annenberg sociologist, said that FIFA has made efforts to combat racism, but that there is still a long way to go in overcoming persistent stereotypes.

“We need to have constant forms of anti-racism education and campaigns to make sure the beautiful game really is beautiful, not just a slogan that FIFA likes to use for marketing purposes,” he said. REUTERS