English Captain John Terry will be put on trial February 1st, and Liverpool Striker Luis Suarez has an eight-match ban and a $62,000 fine. Terry is charged for racially abusing a black opponent, Anton Fertinand, during a Premier Leauge match. Suarez also directed racial abuse towards Patrice Evra from Manchester United, by calling Evra "Negro" seven times.
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Question: Why do you think racism in this country is starting to show up now all of the sudden? Are the punishments too harsh, or should more have been done?
It is kind of difficult to tell since this happened in the UK and I am unsure of their views on racist punishments but I believe that they should have considered using racial education as well as the fine and ban. Also, it seems like Suarez is not a one-time offender so more definitely should have been done to prevent him from doing this in the future, though the large fine and 8 game ban should send a message, racial education could perhaps benefit him more. I believe racism has always existed and I actually think it has improved slightly here in the US simply because we are educating people from younger ages that racism is wrong. I believe unfortunately that racism will always exist but that more can be done to prevent it, especially in foreign countries. I definitely think that foreign countries should take similar education and awareness efforts that the US adopted in schools and other public places. Since certain sports do seem to have higher percentages of minorities I believe this brings out frustration in people and that frustration transfers to racial discrimination. Though I had previously thought we have gotten away from racism in sports it is evident that it still exists.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest i do not think that racism has just popped up again as Katrina mentioned. I believe that it is been around for a very long time and will never go away because of how we humans are made up and how we see things. As for the punishments, in my opinion i believe that these punishments on John Terry and Luis Suarez were extremely harsh. Knowing about soccer and knowing what can occur on the field because of my knowledge and experience on playing, there are a lot of other things in my opinion that happen on the field than these racist acts that are more harsh. Yes this shouldn't happen but giving a player a 7 game suspension and another a court date to me is strictly preposterous. Everyone gets in the heat of the moment and says stuff they don't mean to say. I to be honest insult players on the field because it benefits me and my team. I think that was what was trying to be done. Getting into each others head in order to win a game. I think that at max a 2 game suspension would suffice for both of these players. In other sports, players don't get this amount of time off and in soccer they do which questions the ability of the front office and their decision. It should be equal. 2 games i think is long enough as talking about a 7 to 15 game suspension is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteLike Dylan, I believe that racism will also be an ongoing thing that is practically unpreventable. I do not know anything about previous racism in the UK so it is hard to differ between the current racist comments and the previous. I do not think that it just popped up suddenly because a $62,000 for a first offender seems unreasonable to me. From the information provided it seems that Captain John Terry has been in negative situations regarding racism prior to this event.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Dylan, I do not know much about soccer but if these are offenders who have been accused for racist comments and actions many times before this I agree that serious action such as what is currently being done needs to take place to ensure change. The punishments to seem high, but we don't know what their society is like and how different Nationalities are treated over there. Extreme action may be necessary to show the rest of the country how serious it is that these comments and actions do not exist. They have to take action to prove to the people being discriminated against that this is not a light subject that will be brushed off.