The Ugly Face of Football

Football can be a very exciting and fun experience to watch as a fan or play as one of the top players and a sport that brings everyone together. On the other hand, this sport can be a very dark and dull place at times and it does affect people physically and mentally.

Racism

Racism is something that has been headlining the news a lot in recent years. But it all started to get very serious back in May 2020 when African-American man George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis by police officer Derek Chauvin. This news was headlined globally and protests began all around the world. In football, Premier League tried to make a stand to all this news happening in the world because about 3 weeks after George Floyd was murdered Aston Villa played against Sheffield United behind closed doors in the first Premier League game after the Covid outbreak. As the whistle was blown to kick off the game, all 22 players on the pitch took the knee for 8 seconds for the Black Lives Matter campaign. This was a very powerful moment and definitely sent out a message to everyone to say that Racism is not a joke. To this day, in every Premier League game since this happened, the players will take the knee before kick off for the BLM campaign. However, despite all of these protests and movements, Racism is still a very common thing in the world and especially football.

In recent times, the worst racist incident that has happened occured in July 2021, in the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy, the match went all the way and had to be decided on penalties and three young England players Marcus Rashord, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all got chosen to take a penalty but despite not being on the pitch very long, they all missed their penalties which resulted in Italy winning the European Championships. The three England players were subjected to online racial abuse by hundreds of “keyboard warriors”. Racism is seriously not okay and needs to stop immediately to make the world and also the sport of football a better and happier place.

Violence

If there is one thing that all football fans can agree on, it is that there are a disgusting number of disorder at football matches, rules being ignored, safety measures being overwhelmed and arrests being made on a regular basis. The violence in football mostly comes from football hooligans. Football hooliganism or more commonly known as football riot is a form of civil disobedience involving violent behaviours by fans at football events. This can involve conflicts between gangs supporting two opposing teams. In England these are known as ‘football firms’. Some things that football hooligans are renowned for is unarmed fighting, throwing objects onto the pitch to aim at opposition players like coins and bottle caps, and one that is previously mentioned which is taunting with racial slurs or hate speeches. These types of people give the sport of football a bad name and a very negative recognition.

Disasters

Sometimes Football is seen as a part of life, but in the grand scheme of things it is just a game, many tragedies and disasters have happened over the years. It can be a very scary time for everyone and can affect people's lives. On November 28th 2016, a plane carrying Brazilian football team Chapecoense crashed on approach to Medellin in Colombia. This crash killed 71 out of 77 people on board and shocked the world. About 28 years before the Chapecoense crash happened, a 1988-89 FA Cup semi final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest had to be abandoned as a result of a human crush in two stands of the Hillsborough Stadium. Poor organisation by police assigned to the match resulted in excess fans filling into the standing-only central pens causing the death of 96 people. This just shows that the smallest little thing in football can turn into a disaster and shows that football is just a game.

Health

Footballers' health and fitness is a very serious part of the game and it is vital that the players feel 100% for an upcoming match. But sometimes one second you can feel 100% and the next you can feel the complete opposite. Many players in this sport have collapsed during a football match and it is a very scary moment for the players, fans and everyone.

During EURO 2020, just the third game of the tournament and a very scary and disturbing moment happened during the Denmark vs Finland, Danish attacking midfielder suddenly collapsed. The response for the medics was instant and they had to resuscitate him and use a defibrillator on the pitch. Soon after, Eriksen was taken away on a stretcher, and the match was suspended. However, UEFA insisted the two teams resume the game later that evening, despite all of the players, especially Eriksens Danish teammates were clearly traumatised by what they had just witnessed. This resulted in Denmark losing the game 1-0 to Finland. Although Eriksen fortunately survived, According to team doctor Morten Boesen he “was gone” and was miraculously brought back to life. A personal experience of mine was back in December 2021 when I was at a Premier League game between Southampton vs Leicester. It was half time and I looked across the pitch to the opposite side of the stadium and I could see several medics crowded in the stands. This is because a Southampton fan collapsed in the stands. As soon as everyone in the stadium realised what had happened, all of the fans were very concerned and hoped that the fan that collapsed was okay. The match was temporarily suspended as the fan needed medical treatment in the stands. Luckily the fan was stabilised as he was being taken out of the stadium by paramedics and all of the fans clapped as the fan who collapsed was making his way out of the stadium. Not only players' health has to be important during a football game but also the fans and it is a very scary and serious situation and a concern for everyone.

As Well as players physical health but also their mental health is very important too. Something that sticks out when it comes to footballers' mental health is the tragic story of former German goalkeeper Robert Enke. Robert suffered from depression for 6 years and was treated by a psychiatrist. After the death of his daughter Lara in 2006. She was born with a heart birth defect (hypoplastic left heart syndrome). She was rendered deaf by the drugs used to treat her heart problems and she unfortunately died due to complications of her heart defects. After the loss of his daughter, Enke really struggled to cope. 3 years later, on the night of 10 November 2009, at the age of 32, Enke died by suicide, standing in front of a regional express train at a level crossing in Eilvese, Neustadt am Rübenberge. Depression and mental health is very serious and it just shows that no matter what people are like on the outside, you may never know how they are feeling on the inside.

These are some reasons why football is not always fun and enjoyable and it does have a lot of sad and emotional as well as scary and disturbing moments.