The big scandal in France these past weeks has been the erupting racism scandal in the French Soccer Federation. A paid online journal has in a seemingly ambitious and thorough report has revealed of a sanctioned and flagrantly racist future model in the French national soccer team.
Academies, those who built the whole of French football wonder, they were behind the titles which was the supposed integration of multi ethnical team that showed the world that different cultures working together can achieve wonders.
The French soccer academies were ordered to cut down the number of players with Arabic or African backgrounds. This order was in action towards kids at the age of twelve or thirteen year olds.
Laurent Blanc is accused of statements made at the intersection of prejudice and racism, it reveals the various forms of discrimination suffered by Muslims in the national teams (prayer rugs confiscated, halal has been banned), François Blaquart (the man who took over from Houllier as technical director of the Alliance) is attributed to a key role in a new system in which in principle was to make French Soccer “white” again-
The quote Laurent Blanc supposedly has said is: “The Spaniards have no problem. They say “we have no black”.
It is difficult to understand what extent of this scandal if it is true, there is a current investigation on this scandal.
The only thing I can think of to compare with the Calciopoli, that is how it feels. It feels like the first days of the scandal, in which the experience of “what if it really is like this, what if everything has been said is true.”
The racism in French football is a huge topic of debate. It has been for a long time.
During the 2006 World Cup could both Le Figaro and the major television channels provide space for a pseudo-racist provocateur as Eric Zemmour, who called the Togo-France for “the only African derby in the World Cup” and talked about how difficult it was for (white) fans to identify with (the black) national team players.
A few years ago put the National Front and cheered when France went out of World Cup because the team still was not theirs. Then came Knysna, player revolt and shame in the World Cup last summer. And now this. This is something else. In les banlieus burning cars, where we talk about a basic problem which consists of a whole generation of young men who feel discriminated against and hated by the center of France, by the (predominantly white) power and the powerful.
The only thing that remains certain is that there seems to be some truth to the allegations since the President of the French Soccer Federation have been let go from his position.
This scandal makes you wonder where the French soccer team would have been without the players who have backgrounds from other countries. Imagine France without Zidane, Djorkaeff, Trezeguet, Henry, Thuram, Gallas, Desailly and many more players.
