Do you ever feel like the clowns are running the circus?

I don't know about you lot but I love a good comedy, me. Sometimes I'm partial to an old classic; a bit of Only Fools and Horses or Desmond's. Other days it's all about the noughties; Nighty Night, Gavin and Stacey and the soon-to-be no more, Peep Show.

But right now, most of my laughs (and eye-rolling) seem to be because of football's various governing bodies. The League Managers Association (LMA), the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). The latter being a group that seems to be so far up its own posterior, that it's just in a continual cycle of regurgitating itself.

A Step in the Right Direction

The news that Lazio will be made to play two games behind closed doors suggests that football's top table may finally be catching up with the rest of us, when it comes to dealing with racism.

Following the fourth incident this season of racism by their fans, UEFA have ordered the Italian club to play their next two competitive European games behind closed doors. (As well as a €40,000 fine, which is pretty much irrelevant in this case.) The first game will be their Europa League last-16 tie against Stuttgart on March 14.

As we know, this wasn't the first time or a solitary incident involving a handful of people. There had been three previous occasions where supporters actions had drawn negative attention to the club. There were issues both home and away against Tottenham, as well as when they hosted Maribor in the group stages. The straw that broke the camels back came against Borussia Monchengladbach when around 300 fans were observed making Nazi salutes.

I'm not going to suggest this is a racist club because many clubs - including those in England - have bigots posing as fans. But the fact that there were that many problems in such a short space of time, must raise questions for those at the helm of the club. This is not a new problem or a first offence, which suggests whatever has been tried to stop it and them hasn't worked.

So for Claudio Lotito to call the punishment 'abnormal and absured'; is frankly naive and well, absurd.

UEFA have a responsibility to all of us, not the feelings of any individual club. And for once, they appear to be acting on behalf of the 'us'.

The two lost match day's will lose the club millions, a significant amount for a top flight club in today's economic climate.

As owner/president Lotito told RaiSport: "It will seriously damage the club economically and stop the fans from participating in the event.

"We cannot as a club be penalised for the mistakes of a small minority."

But that where he's wrong, the authorities can and they have too. Because it is the only way the idiots will learn, by being restricted and prevented from doing what they want.

Of course it's unfortunate for the thousands of decent fans. But if it's the only way to ensure a club deals with the scum, then the end will justify the means.

The club already had a suspended sentence hanging over their head, so in their continual fight to regain some credibility UEFA had to act. And rightly did.

Hopefully this will be the precedent for club's being punished. It may take time, but it can only help and encourage club's to rid their stadiums of racists and racist action.

Which is why they've hit Lazio where all businesses feel it most, in their pocket.

The club had already been warned, which means their fans had already been warned. Yet the latter chose to continue with their behaviour, so rightly the club has now been punished for that.

In his interview with RaiSport, the owner adds: "Everyone knows how much we did to prevent this sort of thing from happening."

Well, whatever you did Mr Lotito, it wasn't enough. Maybe now everyone will do a little bit more.

Racism Still Kicking!

Just like most of you I was watching Barcelona v Real Madrid, enjoying the wonders of Messi and hoping there would be less theatrics than last week. Wondering where the hell Jose was and wondering how many fouls Ricardo Carvalho would make before he got a seccond yellow.

Then in the second half, Emmanual Adebayor replaced Higuin up front for Real Madrid. At first, I thought I was hearing things but after turning up the TV and sitting quietly I knew I wasn't. This wasn't my imagination, I really was hearing monkey chants. In the year 2011 when the United States of America has a black President and some of the World biggest stars are people of colour, the ignorance of some people still continues to shock and disgust me.

As an Arsenal fan, I'm not a lover of Adebayor but I would not wish that kind of bile on my worst enemy. No person should ever have to suffer abuse because of their heritage, sexuality or sex. It is not acceptable and it should not be tolerated.

Luckily in England it happens very rarely and if it does the bigot is usually given a lifetime ban from the club. But in other parts of Europe this continues to be a regular occurance. The problem for me is that when it does occur FIFA and UEFA do too little about it. Either it is brushed under the carpet or the club/country is given a paltry fine. An amount so small it wouldn't even cover a weeks wages of the average player.

If they are supposed to be the masters/ the headteachers of all things football; how can they allow such things to continue?

They preach of their commitment to diversity within this beautiful game yet they ignore events such as this. If Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini feel they deserve their seats at football's top table, this is the time for them to prove it. Create a clear set of rules and punishments - should the club/country allow it to continue - to keep this ignorant hatred from spoiling our games.

The Kick Racism out of Football campaign has been going strong in this country and I am proud to say I have not seen or heard any of this filth while watching football. Maybe that is why there are so many foreign players in the UK compared to other countries. Because we welcome everyone with open arms and judge them by their person, not by their colour.

If other countries did the same, imagine how great our wonderful game would be.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7