There is quite a furor over the shambolic behavior from few Chelsea supporters in Paris. The racism in football reached new ebbs when a African-French man named Souleymane was barred by Chelsea fans to enter into the train.
Chelsea football club was quick into action as they condemned the behavior of their fans. They suspended the individuals involved in the incident with immediate effect. The statement read as follows,
“On behalf of the owner, the board and everybody at Chelsea Football Club, we would like to make it clear our disgust with regard to the incident that took place on the Paris Metro on Tuesday evening.
We were appalled by what we saw. The club would also like to apologise unreservedly to Souleymane for the behaviour of a small number of individuals and their unforgivable actions towards him.
We announced last night we have suspended three individuals from Stamford Bridge pending the conclusion of our investigation. Should evidence show that they are guilty in that incident then the club will ban them for life.”
Even Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho didn’t hold it back as he was blunt as he could be.
‘This is not Chelsea,’ the manager said. ‘They are not Chelsea.
‘Chelsea is the owner, the manager, the players, the people that work here and the true Chelsea supporters.
‘We feel ashamed but maybe we shouldn’t because I refuse to be connected with these people. I am connected with Chelsea and the many good things Chelsea defend and represent. I left Chelsea in 2007 and I couldn’t wait for the moment to be back, and it’s not because of people like this that I wanted to be back.’
‘I felt ashamed when I knew what happened but I repeat: I am a proud Chelsea Football Club manager because I know what the club is and these people don’t represent it.
‘The dressing room reacted the same way I reacted: with disappointment, condemning the situation and supporting the gentleman involved, but always with the feeling that we feel ashamed but maybe we shouldn’t because we don’t belong to these people, and these people don’t belong to us.
‘All these years, even without me, I am sure this dressing room was always a dressing room with big principles of equality. We had everything, absolutely everything - not just [different] races but also [different] religions.
‘Chelsea since minute one after the incident are doing absolutely everything because [we have] zero tolerance. Apart from that we have to keep feeling that our club is a great club and our club has no space for these kinds of people.
‘We feel very sorry about it, we want to fight it and we apologise to the gentleman.’
The club confirmed Souleymane, the gentleman involved in the incident in the Paris Metro, will, along with his family, be invited to the return leg against PSG at Stamford Bridge next month.
‘I would support the idea even not knowing that the gentleman likes football,’ Mourinho said.
‘He would feel what Chelsea is. At this moment maybe he has the wrong idea of what Chelsea Football Club is. I don’t know if the gentleman loves football but for sure he would love to feel that the people [that were involved] in the incident are not Chelsea Football Club.’
Jose is maybe right in his comments but even he is helpless. The societal structure in Europe is such that the multi ethnicity has always been an issue since ages.
This kind of behavior is extremely shameful and is against the spirit of the game. FIFA and UEFA are constantly running an anti-racism campaign for quite a period but it seems with incident like this that the campaign is yet to inspire the fans.
There have been numerous instances of racist behavior by fans of various clubs. Chelsea fans are not the first ones to commit such a crime and be punished and they surely won't be the last one’s either. But this has to stop somewhere. Campaigns worth billions of euros won’t do anything if the psyche of fans isn't worked upon. The system of society has to be worked upon if we're to observe any change in this regressive trend.
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