Visiting the away end of the Amex Stadium on the ninth of February as Burnley recorded an emphatic 3-1 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion left a lasting impression, and not for the reason you might expect.
While it was a fantastic evening for all those associated with the Clarets, one chord struck particularly out of tune, some away fans treatment of Brighton defender Gaetan Bong. The relentless bombardment of boos, jeers and unsavoury slurs provided an unsubtle reminder of football’s archaic attitude to discrimination.
The explanation for these fans’ behaviour is tenuous. On 13th January 2018, Gaetan Bong accused Jay Rodriguez of racially abusing him by directing the comment “You’re black, and you stink” towards the Cameroon international, during a 2-0 victory to West Bromwich Albion.
The Football Association charged Rodriguez, but the charges were eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. Both parties were left disgruntled as the striker remained adamant that he had merely told Bong that his breath smelt; while Brighton manager Chris Hughton said he felt “disappointed” by the outcome of the FA’s investigation.
To my mind, the incident was long forgotten, though sadly to Burnley fans it was not. In fact, the tribalistic nature of their support for one of their former favourites went as far as to obscure the findings of the FA’s investigation altogether.
In the away fans’ mind’s Bong had fabricated the accusation, despite a contradictory statement from English football’s governing body that claimed they were “completely satisfied” Bong’s claim was made in “good faith” and was not “malicious”. Therefore the travelling fans took it upon themselves to lambast the left back for the duration of the 90 minutes.
As the game went on the chorus of boos rang louder every time the Brighton man took control of possession, a classic example of mob mentality taking effect. Here lies the problem, as part of a crowd if people instigate a certain of behaviour, no matter what the negative connotations are, others are likely to join, the individual’s sense of personal identity diminishes as they become part of a group. Couple this with the fact that many fans view football matches as their opportunity to vent their weekly frustrations and the culmination, in this case, was systematically antagonising an opponent who was potentially discriminated by one of your teams’ ex-players.
Despite the prevalence of Bong’s treatment both in the stadium and broadcast on television, the only repercussions came in the form of father and son Stewart and Nathan Higgins being ejected from the ground and being charged with harassment related offences. This should rightfully be treated as a positive in combating abuse; however, if English football’s mentality is to change, further actions ought to be taken.
Banning individuals may highlight the worst offenders, though there were likely hundreds of people who left the Amex stadium blissfully unaware of what they had contributed to by booing. The current system prioritises tackling discrimination once it is already in practice, but what is required to solve the issue is initiatives to educate fans on the implications of their behaviour at grounds. One such example is a recent campaign by the French FA in which fans scream at Butchers, Bakers and other members of their everyday existence, with the underlying message, you wouldn’t behave this way usually so why do it at the football.
If the English FA is genuinely serious about ridding the game of discrimination or at the very least improving the situation further, then more must be done than merely handing out sanctions in the form of bans or fines. Education is critical to change, whether that comes in the form of ad campaigns to a mass audience or small-scale courses for known offenders.
Think of it this way, if there was a risk that Burnley fans, or any others across the country, might be held back after a fixture due to poor conduct, and forced to attend a seminar on how to behave appropriately at a football game, they might think twice about their choice of words.
