Racism and Anti-Racism in Football

Racism and Anti-Racism in Football Jon Garland and Michael Rowe Racism and Anti-Racism in Football Also by Jon Garland THE FUTURE OF FOOTBALL: Challenges for the Twenty-First Century (co-editor with D. Malcolm and Michael Rowe) Also by Michael Rowe THE FUTURE OF FOOTBALL: Challenges for the Twenty-First Century (co-editor with Jon Garland and D. Malcolm) THE RACIALISATION OF DISORDER IN TWENTIETH CENTURY BRITAIN Racism and Anti-Racism in Football Jon Garland Research Fellow University of Leicester and Michael Rowe Lecturer in Policing University of Leicester © Jon Garland and Michael Rowe 2001 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2001 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 0–333–73079–8 hardback ISBN 0–333–96422–5 paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Garland, Jon, 1967– Racism and anti-racism in football / Jon Garland and Michael Rowe. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–333–73079–8 1. Soccer—social aspects—Great Britain. 2. Discrimination in sports—Great Britain. 3. Athletes, Black—Great Britain—Social conditions. 4. Race discrimination—Great Britain. I. Rowe, Michael, 1967– II. Title. GV943.9.S64 G37 2001 306.4’83—dc21 2001021213 10987654321 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire Contents List of Tables vii Acknowledgements viii 1 Introduction: Contextualising Racism in British Football 1 Introduction 1 Contemporary manifestations of racism within football 4 ‘Race’, racism and anti-racism 8 2 Football, ‘Race’ and the Forging of British Identity 18 Introduction 18 The Empire, football and moral and physical improvement 21 The first black professionals, 1880s–1914 28 Consolidation, 1918–60 34 Expansion, 1960–90 38 Conclusion 48 3 Standing Together? Charting the Development of Football’s Anti-Racism 50 Introduction 50 Anti-racist campaigns 53 National and regional schemes 54 Club-based schemes 62 Loyal supporters: fans and anti-racism 73 Conclusion 81 4 Policing Racism in Football 84 Introduction 84 Fascism and football 88 Policing racism in football 97 Technological interventions against racism in football 98 Private policing 101 Legal provisions against racism in football 103 Local authorities 104 Conclusion 105 v vi Contents 5 A Design for Life: Deconstructing the Game’s National Identities 112 Introduction 112 The European Union and the challenge of the Bosman ruling 115 Fair play and invented tradition: how English football cannot escape the past 116 England at home: Bosman, politics and the globalisation of the game 122 Coming up for air: the submerged nations, football and national identities 130 Conclusion 139 6 Mad Dogs: England, the Media and English Supporters during Euro ’96 and France ’98 142 Introduction 142 Euro ’96 – ‘I know that was then, but it could be again . .’ 146 France ’98 – the quest to ‘win the Cup for Diana’ 159 Conclusion: the press, hooliganism and popular nationalism 172 7 Conclusion: Racisms and the Cultures of Football 176 Introduction 176 Racism, hooliganism and ‘antisocial behaviour’ 179 Racism and the cultures of football 183 Football and social progress 192 Notes 196 Bibliography 202 Index 215 List of Tables 4.1 Far-right involvement in football: a select chronology 90 5.1 The development of British football, 1863–1950, selected milestones 124 vii Acknowledgements There are numerous people and organisations that the authors would like to thank for their help in the preparation of this book, although unfortunately not all can be personally acknowledged since many of those we have spoken to were guaranteed anonymity. Therefore, what follows is by no means an exhaustive list of all of those who have aided and abetted us with the research for this work: Neil Watson at Leyton Orient; Dave Turton and Cyrille Regis at West Bromwich Albion; Brian Lomax and the Anti-Racism Committee at Northampton Town; Yasin Patel and the CARE team at Charlton Athletic; Ben Tegg and Piara Powar at Kick It Out; Ged Grebby of Show Racism the Red Card; Ray Gerlach at Hounslow Borough Council; Football Unites, Racism Divides; Leeds Fans United Against Racism and Fascism; Foxes Against Racism; the Football Supporters’ Association; Richie Moran; the Leicester Asian Sports Initiative; the Metropolitan Police; Brendon Batson of the Professional Footballers’ Association; Leicestershire Constabulary; the Football Trust; and various fans, players, coaches and officials at the following clubs: Arsenal; Tottenham Hotspur; Millwall; Brighton and Hove Albion; Bristol Rovers; Wolverhampton Wanderers; Aston Villa; Birmingham City; Celtic; Southend United; Everton; Leicester City; Derby County; Manchester City; Nottingham Forest; Leeds United; Norwich City; Luton Town; Highfield Rangers and many others who helped with aspects of the research. Much gratitude also to Dominic Malcolm, Adrian Beck, Ken Livingstone and Ivan Waddington for their helpful comments on the drafts of the book; John Benyon and Martin Gill for their advice and assistance, and Mark Carver for conducting some of the early research. Thanks also to Alison Cousens and Keris Howard for many excellent late-night football debates, and also to our parents for passing on the passion for football. JON GARLAND MICHAEL ROWE To Karen – thanks for all your love and support, Jon To Anna – who supported me when she could have been supporting Spurs, thanks, Mike viii 1 Introduction: Contextualising Racism in British Football Introduction Racism came in the form of letters, chanting from the crowds, banana throwing, monkey chanting, songs, and not just one or two but thousands singing racial abuse, chants, that kind of stuff, and letters through the post. I remember one time I got picked to play for England for the first time, and I got a letter saying that if I actu- ally stepped onto Wembley park I would get a bullet through the knees, and there was a bullet in the letter as well, wrapped up in cotton wool. (Cyrille Regis, ex-West Bromwich Albion and England striker, 1998) Overt forms of racism in football, like those described in the quote above, have been the focus of sustained challenges during the last decade. Indeed, combating racism within football was a key development within the sport in the 1990s. Since the inception of the Commission for Racial Equality’s ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football’ campaign at the start of the 1993/94 football season, the issue of racism has had a high profile within the game. There have been a number of conferences and seminars on the topic, as well as numerous articles in the press and on television and radio, which have highlighted the problem and attempted to assess its levels and effects. In 1998, the government-appointed Football Task Force published the results of its examination of racism in the game (Football Task Force, 1998), a report that contained almost 30 recommendations for action. The development of anti-racist programmes has been but one feature of football in the last ten years, during which time the sport 1 2 Racism and Anti-Racism in Football has undergone profound changes. Following the publication of the Taylor Report into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster (Taylor, 1989), which, among other things, recommended that clubs introduce all- seater stadia and place an increased emphasis on the comfort and safety of spectators, the football industry has enjoyed something of a renaissance. Attendances have increased throughout the four professional divisions, and media interest has rarely been so high. Since the formation of the FA Premier League for the 1992/93 season, the game, at least at the top level, has become big business, with some clubs such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle United having an annual turnover of over £40m, with Manchester United’s exceeding £80m (Boon, Phillips and Hann, 2000). In 2000 considerable media coverage was aroused when the share value of Manchester United exceeded £1bn. Although no other club comes near it has become increasingly appar- ent that top-level football in Britain now offers very substantial rewards indeed. The transformation of football fan ‘cultures’ has been especially evidenced during this period (see, for example, Armstrong, 1998; Brown, 1998), with a change in the demographic make-up of football crowds characterised by an increase in the numbers of female football fans (Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, 2000).1 This rise has been coupled with a reduction in the perceptions of the prob- lems of football-related disorder, especially inside grounds (Garland and Rowe, 1999). Although some of the violence may have been displaced to locations away from grounds, the perception that the ‘English disease’ has been cured caused the French Director of Security at the 1998 World Cup to claim that: ‘The English may have invented the poison of hooliganism, but they have also invented the remedy for this poison’ (Le Monde, 1997).

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