No colour bias in EPL, asserts UK minister

In the recent past, the English has been marred by some serious racism slur. First it was Luis Suarez and John Terry followed by another bitter fued between Liverpool and Manchester United stars Suarez and Patrice Evra. Since then, Man U manager Sir Alex Ferguson has branded Luis Suarez as a ‘disgrace’ as the slur exploded once more during the EPL at Old Trafford. Sadly, even as majority of society is moving on from the dark ages of racial hate, it still seems that many of those involved with European soccer simply can’t look beyond the colour of one’s skin.

Rightfully so, when a sports scribe in Bangalore asked the British minister for Foreign Affairs Jeremy Browne, who is on a cultural and promotional visit to India ahead of the London Olympics, about the racial discrimination in English football he expressed regret but at the same time defended his stand and stated that the British Football Association is determined to eradicate racism in the sports.

“ EPL is less affected by racism than probably any other major league in the world. I feel there is no racism in EPL at all. Where there have been incidents of racism, the British Football Association is as determined as I believe as any other football association in the world to eradicate it and deal with it seriously. If you look at EPL, you probably couldn’t get a better example of a league that has embraced people from all nationalities, from different races. We should be proud of the EPL being an example of racial integration and racial harmony,” stated Browne.

When asked about two of the two of the world’s best left-wingers – Ryan Giggs and Gareth Bale playing for Wales, he said: It’s a bit unfortunate that both of them are from Wales. There are some Britons who would like to see a United Kingdom team but there may be concerns from people in Wales and Scotland and maybe, individual football associations. The first international match played was between England and Scotland so people certainly don’t want to lose rivalry. In the olympics, UK competes as a single team. And I’m sure people will be rooting for their players irrespective of which country they are from.”