‘There are shocking levels of racism in Spanish football’

How reassuring to know that the Nyon lights of UEFA are shining directly in Arsene Wenger’s face following the Arsenal manager’s flouting of the terms of a touchline ban during his team’s Champions League qualifier against Udinese at the Emirates last Tuesday. Wenger relayed messages to the Arsenal bench by way of a third party, something he was not allowed to do, although he disputes that. The protectors of the game have charged him with “not abiding by the decisions of the UEFA control and disciplinary body” and will discuss his case tomorrow. For his role in the making of a phone call, Wenger can expect a sanction.

Good ol’ UEFA, clamping down on the game’s ills. Wenger communicating indirectly with Pat Rice was obviously something they couldn’t tolerate. On the other hand, they have had nothing to say about what happened at the Nou Camp the other night, not so much the brawling of the players and Jose Mourinho’s cowardly gouging of an opposing coach during the latest poisonous episode of El Clasico, but the sustained racist abuse of Marcelo, the Madrid player, by the Barcelona fans, a form of retaliation, we surmise, for the abuse directed at Barça’s Dani Alves by Real fans at the Bernabeu the week before.

At the top of football there is double-speak on so many matters, the supposed war against the bigots being one of them. In the past, Sepp Blatter has rambled on about the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over any nation whose supporters engage in racism, but all too often when some unreconstructed animals in the grandstands have targeted black players Blatter’s sword has turned out to be a cocktail stick and none of the zero tolerance he warbles on about is ever administered.

UEFA are little better. Two years ago, Michel Platini announced that the governing body of European football would call for play to be stopped for ten minutes when black players were being abused. He told a news conference in Rome: “If it continues the match will be stopped. Courage is needed when there is racism in the stands. That’s UEFA’s mission.”

Forgive me, but that is UEFA’s hypocrisy.

Platini doesn’t think he should get involved in Spain’s (or anybody else’s) domestic strife, not when the subject is so incendiary. Broad brush strokes is what Platini does. Platitudes. He reckons that, since El Clasico is not a game that falls under his jurisdiction, then it’s not his place to meddle.

Of course, he has no problem talking at great length about the Premiership and about the immorality of all the money washing about the place but there has not been a squeak out of Switzerland on the business of the monkey chanting at the Nou Camp and the Bernabeu. Instead, it’s been a full-on investigation into Wenger and the great scandal of the Emirates.

In February, Alves spoke about the racism in Spanish football. “At first I was quite shocked, but now I don’t give it any importance,” he said. “I have learned to live with it in all the matches but I don’t feel offended. They insult me, they call me monkey. My family are unhappy, they complain but I try to distance myself from it.”

Alves said the abuse was uncontrollable. “It will not go away.” His resignation was understandable but disturbing. It’s just the way it is, he said. Well, it shouldn’t be. It should never be this way. If UEFA had a backbone they’d have acknowledged Alves’ comments, taken them to the Spanish FA and said: ‘Unless you clamp down on racism in your football and start closing stadiums, docking points and suspending teams from competitions then you’re going to pay a heavy price’.

They didn’t do it but then they were never likely to. In recent years there’s been countless examples of shocking levels of racism in Spanish football and nothing of substance is ever done.

Here’s a potted history over the last seven years: The Ivory Coast striker, Felix Ettien, talks about how his club, Levante, treated him like a leper, how they used to make him get changed in a different dressing room to the white players, how when he got ill they used to think he had AIDS. National team coach Luis Aragones describes Thierry Henry as “black shit” and says “I shit on his prostitute mother.” Aragones is fined £2,000, which is later cancelled. Angel Torres, president of Levante, denies allegations of racism among the club’s support. “We reject racism and xenophobia and we will show it. I will propose that my players paint their faces black for our next home match.” Atletico Madrid fined £420 for racial abuse of Roberto Carlos. Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright Phillips hit with monkey chants during an international match in Madrid.

Osasuna’s black striker, Pierre Webo, taunted at Espanyol. Carlos Kameni, of Espanyol and Cameroon, has bananas thrown at him at Malaga. Samuel Eto’o targeted at Albacete. Eto’o threatens to walk off the pitch after suffering racism at Real Zaragoza, who are fined about £7,000. Real Madrid fined £7,000 for Nazi banners. Deportivo fined £411 for “sustained racist abuse” while Atletico are fined £530 after fans hurled snowballs at players. Marseille’s Nigerian full-back Taye Taiwo abused at Atletico. Kameni the subject of racism at Barcelona while stewards stood close to the perpetrators and did nothing. La Liga react to criticism by anti-racism body, Coalition Against Racism, by cancelling their grants. Eto’o says there could never be a black referee in La Liga – “they’d kill him”.

There are, no doubt, many more incidents that have never been reported. Everybody talks about the pushing and shoving in El Clasico but the real poison is the racism. The Spanish FA are quite obviously not up to this fight and quite clearly neither are UEFA despite their battling talk of zero tolerance.

Zero tolerance for Wenger, perhaps. But not for the racists.

What kind of twisted morality is that?