Matt Hughes: Fabio Capello fails to grasp racism responsibility

Fabio Capello’s rapidly absorbed English lessons have yet to include the works of Edmund Burke. “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,” wrote the Whig philosopher, a trap Capello fell into this week in Minsk when failing to condemn the shocking racism that marred England’s most recent friendly international against Spain in Madrid.

The FA’s attempts to arrange another friendly on Spanish soil at the start of next year have placed Capello in an awkward position, caught between his employer’s principled stand of refusing to play in Madrid and his own ties with a city where he had two successful spells as manager and still keeps a house, but that should not excuse his vacilliation inside Belarus’ People’s Palace on Tuesday evening.

Having cleared up a potential diplomatic problem by confirming that the decision to snub Madrid was taken by the FA, the Italian had the perfect opportunity to denounce racism asked whether he had encountered it in Spain. To his shame, he refused to answer. At best that was a disappointing show of weakness by a man whose office gives him a broader leadership role whether he likes it or not, at worst a total abrogation of responsibility.

If Capello is unsure whether Spanish football has a problem with racism perhaps he should confer with his squad, nine of whom were in the Bernabeu that night four years ago. Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Jermain Defoe and Shaun Wright-Phillips could recount harrowing personal experiences of being abused for no other reason than the colour of their skin, and could be forgiven for feeling let down by their manager.

Ferdinand, who has hardly appeared a candidate for Speaker’s Corner in the past, sounded positively statesman-like by comparison, accurately reflecting the disgraceful behaviour of that evening without damning an entire nation. “The Bernabeu holds a lot of great memories for different players and fans across the world, but those were bad memories for us from that one international,” the Manchester United defender said.

Ferdinand was narrowly passed over for the captaincy in favour of John Terry but given the way he has conducted himself in the past few weeks, eloquently arguing for the docking of points as a punishment for persistent racism in the stands and denouncing the WAG culture that has become prevalent around the England team, many observers are questioning whether it was the right decision. It is hardly down to Ferdinand, but someone at the FA should remind Capello that managing England carries wider responsibilities. No-one is paid £6 million a year just to pick a football team.

Thinking for themselves

It may not have created the headlines of his exposure of England’s celebrity circus, but another of Ferdinand’s comments this week is worth revisiting. Asked if being coached by an Italian had improved his defensive game, Ferdinand prefaced his answer with “I was thinking about that the other day,” suggesting that not all England players spend their considerable free time climbing the walls of their hotel rooms and flying through boxed sets of The Sopranos. If Capello can get his players to think for themselves then he could be really on to something.

Beckham's caps

David Beckham has always polarised opinion, but the vilification of the former captain has reached ludicrous levels, with usually sensible judges muttering into their pints in Minsk last night about how he had managed to hijack a fourth successive England victory by winning his 107th cap for a two-minute appearance.

Comments

[Josh]

I have to say that I can't entirely agree with Bill, but he's closer to the right answer than Pete. What it really comes down to isn't a matter of who considers racism to be a serious offense against common decency - we all do - but of what different cultures consider racist.

It bears pointing out that the English view of the matter is unique. The English are an unusually polite nation, which may have something to do with it, but most other countries don't have the same sensitivity to possible offense that we have.

To take the example of the Lewis Hamilton/blackface incident last year, the men involved were quite clear, when interviewed, that they didn't hate Lewis Hamilton, and didn't have any thought that the colour of his skin affected his eligibility to be a racing driver. What they were doing was making a (bad taste, and not funny by English standards) joke based on the fact that he was black, in the same way that many English people make offensive jokes about gingers. It's not that they didn't know that some people might take it the wrong way and be offended; they just didn't care. In fact, broadly speaking, it's only really the English who do care about the risk of offending a stranger with a joke. Everybody else thinks people ought to have thick skins.

Similarly, the monkey-noises directed at black players are disgusting to us, because we link them directly with people who hate those players because of their appearance. In fact, though, there are plenty of people for whom someone's skin colour affects the manner of the abuse that they direct, rather than causing the abuse in the first place. In other words, if the player is black, they get monkey-noises; if they are ginger, they get ginger chants; if they are short, they are called short-arse, and so on.

I'm not saying that I like it, but if chanting is about race rather than because of it, the issue is not black and white (sorry) in its clarity. Capello can hardly be blamed for failing to speak on the subject.

[RJ]

You're absolutely right of course. And I hope the players don't fear losing their place so much that they don't make sure their manager understands.

I am, however, hopeful that maybe due to injuries and his decision to play younger players in friendlies we see him either forced or choses to play a team that looks something like this:

James
Brown, Ferdinand, King, A. Cole
Walcott, Reo-Cocker, Jenas, Young
Agbonlahor Defoe

Then we'll see if the Spanish fans are racist and so must Capello and FIFA.

[Peter...]

It is pointless you doing another round tour of history, Bill, as if hubris from superior knowledge is the issue. If you're an expert on the Slave Trade and don't want it to be relevant, then don't mention it in the first place. No-one else did, just you.
And please, none of this nonsense of over-sensitivity or over-sentimentality. It is about principle in the here and now - what we as a nation represent ethically. I think that counts.
Finally, who said you had a monopoly on what the British notion of "tolerance" represents? I don't have that and neither do you. Now that's tolerance.

[Nogbad T. Bad]

And of course then you would have been able to write your "Capello Slams Spanish Fans" headlines as you were obviously desparate to do. Why don't you just find a wasp's nest and waggle a stick in it? Mr Capello always seems keen to answer any directly football related questions, which is what his remitt surely is.

[BILL]

Peter your reaction is the typical over the top, over sensitive sort that fuels these discussions and morphs perspectives. It is by no means constructive to be bringing up the slave trade in a disscussion about spanish football fans. It is similarly not constructive to expect cappello to make it a priority issue of his. How many other coaches do you think are responsible for race issues in countries they do not live or work in!!! How often do you hear Benitez comment on issues of racism in his sport in his home country. Is it his responsibilty?... No.

[Malc]

Already the knocking starts, the media should shut up and leave him to do his job.

Report on the game and keep you negaative opinions to yourself

[Bill]

I'll try and cut through your hysteria Peter and respond rationally without resorting to capitalisation - I like to think my handle on English is adequate to convey emphasis without resorting to that annoying little habit.

Firstly, anachronism. You say: 'On both it is what WE (sic) did that counts,’ Sorry, we? I was under the impression that the triangular trade in West African slaves came to end in 1833 when my ancestors abolished it and the Royal Navy policed it. Now I wasn't born until 1966 so, if indeed you were involved, please say I rather then 'WE' (sic). It had nothing to do with me pal.

Following your logic Capello and his fellow Italians should be wracked with guilt concerning the enslavement of my ancestors 2063 years ago, shouldn't they? See how ridiculous anachronism gets once you start indulging in it? The truth is slavery was the dominant economic system all over the world for thousands of years until the British put an end to it where they had the influence and power to do so – although you’ll not read that in any school text books these days. Where the British didn’t have the power and influence to put an end to it, it continued for centuries and incidentally still does – in West Africa of all places where Amnesty International have recorded child slavery as being endemic.

Secondly, no where, as the general tenor of your post seems to suggest, do I condone racist chanting, at football matches or anywhere else for that matter. It is abhorrent to any right minded person and the authorities have a moral responsibility to act; one which they utterly fail to live up to most of the time. I just think that it should be a matter of one’s own personal choice and conscience whether one chooses to comment on it or denounce it publicly and a failure to do so should not be used a stick to beat someone with, even if that someone is the England coach. I think we should be more tolerant than that.

There you go; tolerance, another British tradition you know nothing about.

[Paul]

Give Capello a break. I mean in a few months he has changed England from a footballing joke into a fairly efficient winning side. Thats his job spec and he is doing it.
Yes £6 million a year is a lot and yes i'm sure he should have other responsibilities, but if thats the going rate for a manager, then let him manage the team.

Also its hardly his fault that there is a minority in Spain who are racist. He managed Real and had black players, such as Robinhio, that the crowd cheered for. So his experience will be different than that of Ashley Coles.

If the game where played and the racism is still there then he of course should come out against it.
But i dont think a game against the Euro champions should be called of due to this. As a manager it is a good test for your team.
also not tacling this head on will let the racists win. If they dont paly Spain that will be the reason. And what happens if they draw them in qualification next time round. You dont think there will be an even bigger problem?

[Paolo]

Capello is not a politician, he's a football coach. Just let him do his job and stop this ludicrous argument

[Rich]

I, for one, fail to see how Capello is obliged to comment on racism in Spain. Does anyone who has managed/played in Spain have a responsibility to act on this? I agree, Capello should stick to footballing matters as he has so professionaly done. Although it is fair to say that just because it is played elsewhere in Spain, does not mean racist fans won't follow. If Arsenal V Tottenham was played in say, Manchester, i'm fairly certain the fans who turned up at that game, would be Arsenal and Tottenham fans.

[Peter...]

Typical. Bill of denial-land washes over this evil (that's what it is) and does so by entering either/or country. "Anachronistic guilt" if that it be, isn't the point. Even less is the easy-pickings cop-out of Africans being "complicit" in the Slave Trade (exactly how "black-and-white" do you wish to make it, Bill?). On both it is what WE did that counts, if anything relative to this trade does matter in the here and now.
Well said, Matt Hughes.
But it isn't that, either. It is about OUR footballers in contemporary times being subjected to the hideous suggestion they are less human than others simply because of their skin-colour. There are NO excuses for that, past, present or future. It is just plain unthinking and indecent. Being decent isn't difficult so why don't these abusers try to be? Because people like you, Bill, and the other joker who says it isn't for Capello to condemn racism (even, for God's sake, if only in this instance), provide these mindless twerps with succour.
It IS right to expect Fabio Capello to speak up and irrelevant to excuse this with past-to-present cultural differences. "Other" football nations need to learn - they say they accept responsibility, don't they? - that racist abuse of an, in this case, anti-Black nature must be stamped. They are Capello's players, playing for OUR country.

[jonas]

Speaking out against racism is not a political issue but a moral one. Capello is meant to be a leader and a role model, ducking the issue demonstrates neither quality.

[Miguel]

I understand the feelings of the English players that were there that day, but I find the position of the FA disproportionate.
For instance, I recently read that a portion of Everton supporters call Benitez "Fat Spanish Waiter". That doesn't sound like a compliment to me, but should Liverpool's Spanish players refuse to play at Goodison Park just because a bunch of supporters are unable to behave in a football stadium?
If the FA considers that the Spanish are racist (all of them?), would it make any difference playing in Valencia or Seville instead of in the Bernabeu?
I'm sure that Capello, as well as Beckham, Owen, MacManaman, Woodgate or any other British player who had lived in Madrid would not qualify Spanish supporters as racist (or at least, more racist than in the UK).

[BILL]

Well said Bill, this article is a perfect example of that. Making a racism issue out of very little. Cappello is clearly a football man who didnt sign up to be a politician or spokesperson. He sees that his job is football. Its up to the spanish and arguably uefa/fifa to deal with racism in the game, not the Italian England manager. Write more articles on football and less trying to character assasinate eminent figures on the game. Thats half of the problem with the England team in the first place. If they dont "X" theyre attacked and if they do do "Y" then they are attacked and thus theyre all trying to do as little as possible!!

[NaNo]

Dear Matt, Capello is being paid to coach and get back to the positive results. He is not being paid to support the FA 's political campaign against Spanish football. "Double standards" comes straight to my mind when reading your article.

[Bill]

What do you expect he's Italian? The simple fact is that our continental cousins don't take the issue of racism as seriously as we do. Both Italy and Spain were run by Fascist dictators for long periods of the last century and that sort of thing leaves a cultural legacy that is not easily overcome or forgotten. I think it is also true to say that we are a little anal about racism and look for it sometimes where it probably doesn't exist. Largely because our definition of what constitutes racism has become so wide and all-encompassing that it is in danger of losing any meaning at all. Also, of course, because we are burdened by anachronistic guilt for our part in the slave trade. Something which doesn't really seem to bother the rest of Europe, or indeed the many black Africans who were complicit in it.