The Issue of Racism In Soccer
By: Ramadhany Jalil & Christopher Jemiri
November 20, 2023
Miguel Delrosaria (Number 3) dribbling through the midfield
The day is May 21, 2023, at the Mestalla stadium, the home ground of Valencia CF. What seemingly is just another regular Sunday La Liga match quickly turns for the worst. A crowd of Valencia fans start shouting racist remarks toward a player on the pitch. “Mono! Mono!”, which means monkey in Spanish, they yell towards none other than global superstar Vinicius J.
Daniel Rivera, a teacher at George W. Carver High School of Engineering & Science and junior varsity boys soccer coach, has seen many cases of racism throughout his experiences in soccer.
“I’ve seen racism as a coach and a player. Although I’ve never like, really experienced it myself, I’ve had students and teammates go through it, and it’s never good to see. It’s really sad to see when my players on the field are experiencing racism while also having to keep their head on the game. Their only kids and it’s really hard to see.”
E&S Boys Varsity Soccer Player Rayane Naciri
Throughout the many cases of racism he’s experienced on the pitch, Rivera has seen the many ways people have dealt with it. From learning from these occurrences, he feels like there are two best ways to handle it.
“If I today had to go through racism if I was playing today, I would talk to the ref and talk to the opposing team’s coach. And if the issue isn’t resolved, I would just stop playing," Rivera said.
According to Kick It Out, an organization that fights to remove racism from soccer, claims that racism accounts for 49.3% of discrimination in soccer, the most out of any other form of discrimination.
“I remember when I was on the field, one of the opposing players was just saying racist things to me all game trying to get in my head. But as a captain you know, I kept my cool.” said Jayden Colson, a grassroots soccer player and captain of the boy varsity soccer team at Carver HSES.
Some of Jayden’s other friends have suffered through racism as well. Teammate of Jayden Colson, Miguel Delsario, another student at Carver HSES has also had similar experiences.
E&S Boys Varsity Captain Jayden Colson
“During games, I would hear racial slurs and discriminatory remarks from opposing players and even some spectators. I was called harsh names targeting my Hispanic heritage, and sometimes I faced aggressive and unfair tackles on the field that went unnoticed or overlooked by referees.” Said Miguel Densinerno.
E&S Boys Varsity soccer player Sheikh Sharaf-Uddin chasing down the opposing player
Racism doesn’t only occur on the pitch, it can also happen through different social medias. Different apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, X, and more have a plethora of racism being said on these apps towards players. People use social media as a way to express their feelings in a way where they are unlikely to get in trouble. They send a text or post something racist as they don’t fear any consequences.
“There was this one time when one of my teammates received a racist text from one of our opponents after a game,” Jayden stated. “We were all just confused and weirded out by it.”
Racism is an issue far too common within sports. Many players who suffer from it describe how is not only affects them on the field, but affects their day-to-day life, and affects their mental health.
“Sometimes I don’t even wanna go into the game against opponents who in the past have been racist towards me. The abuse can get to your head very easily. You start to question things,” described Miguel.
Despite the amount of racism he’s gone through, Miguel thinks the issue regarding players who face racism on and off the field could get better as the world starts to identify the concerning issue of racism and how it really affects the players mentally. He thinks if we use the social media platforms that they use to express racisms. We could start to promote non-racism.
“I think racism won’t always be an issue. I think as we start punishing the abusers and the more people begin to call it out, we can hopefully one day eliminate it within not just this sport but all sports,” says Miguel.
Miguel Delrosario pictured with his E&S Boys Varsity Soccer teammates.