Racism in football - this game deserves better

It is why Terry actually had the gall to say he was “disappointed” with the FA’s verdict in the Anton Ferdinand matter, and why Suarez infamously refused to shake Evra’s hand on his return from that eight-match ban.

To footballers who have spent their careers hustling the opposition to find the slightest advantage over the opposition while out on the pitch, racist remarks are just another tool of the trade, one that lets them blow off some steam, while also hopefully riling the victim.

Yes, the one at the receiving end is a victim. I recently saw a beautiful video by a guy called Shane Koyczan. Allow me to put forth a few lines that show a genius borne from pain and neglect:

“…I’m not the only kid

Who grew up this way

Surrounded by people who used to say

That rhyme about sticks and stones

As if broken bones

Hurt more than the names we got called

And we got called them all…”

Imagine a ten year old trying to make sense of the big, bad world that makes him ashamed of the very color of his skin. To find that when he goes outside to play the game he loves, the stigma follows him.

Even out there, where all that matters is the pirouette that evades a stern challenge, or a thunderous drive tears the side netting, kids everywhere have to face challenges that leave them scarred for life.

What is incomprehensible to me is the sheer irrelevance of it all, at least in this game that we all love so very much. Should the game not be a safe haven for these insecure kids, one where they can find the tools that will help them take on a cruel world?

There may come a day, not too far from today, when an irate Balotelli lashes out against an opponent, or someone in the stands, in a way that will define his career far more than anything he will ever do with a ball at his feet.

And what happens then? Will we just reminisce about the unfortunate hot-head who went a little too far? Or will it take something of that sort to finally being about a change?

In fact, it is only when players like Balotelli and Boateng say that they will walk off the pitch if subjected to racist slurs that the world sits up and takes notice. We need their ilk, because for far too long it has been allowed to sit in the shadows, accepted by even those who are subjected to its torture.

In the end, answer me this – has there been a more beautiful sight in football, than when a joyous Ronaldinho, smiling from ear to ear, wheels away in jubilation after netting another one of those sublime goals? I rest my case, Your Honor.