2012. Unless you’re the sort who has already jumped the gun and buried your head in the ground to combat one of the other ‘end of the world’ days, you’ll be fully aware that this is the year the Earth finally pops its clogs. Having reached the grand old age of around 4.5 billion years, it seems rather fitting that 2012 is set to see the world out the same way in which it came in; with a bang.
Featuring the widely-publicised Diamond Jubilee, continental festivity via the London Olympics, and the added inclusion of a Euro year, it seems that this summer is destined to be the one that the barbecue fanatics have been waiting for.
However, it’s not all sunshine and daisies. Concerning Euro 2012, the BBC’s Panorama programme recently raised the very real fear of racist and anti-Semitic attacks dominating the tournament; potentially souring it as a whole.
In what will be their inaugural hosting event, both Poland and Ukraine have been frantically attempting to repair their image since the BBC’s detrimental depiction. Despite their best efforts, both current and former footballers alike have openly criticised the decision to allow the countries the opportunity to host such an event, meaning that Euro 2012 is already an international catastrophe for them.
Nevertheless, how exactly did this cataclysmic fall from grace occur? Well, primarily through the sector of Polish and Ukrainian football supporters labelling themselves as the ‘ultras’. These self-styled groups are similar to the firms that are apparent throughout English football, though their Eastern European counterparts prefer to focus their violent acts on ethnic minorities and Jews, rather than on rival supporters.
The ultras have even been known to attack black or Asian fans of their own team, stating that the sight of them intensifies their bloodlust. With their fascist salutes commonplace at matches and their anti-Semitic propaganda littered across many Polish and Ukrainian cities, it is little wonder that high-profile footballers are dissuading the public from attending.
Indeed, their words appear to be taking their toll on Euro 2012’s credibility, as only 9,000 of the 24,000 allocated tickets for England’s group games are yet to have been sold. This will amount to a very quiet English presence in Poland and Ukraine – the lowest attendance for a major tournament in years.
On the other hand, is this necessarily representative of England supporters’ fears for safety at the tournament? The tickets went on sale months ago, with the Panorama revelations being aired only recently. If the supporters were already aware of the trouble in Poland and Ukraine, then they hid their knowledge well. In these economically challenging times, it is more likely that the cost of travel, accommodation and tickets were all too much for many.
However, let us not forget that Panorama have been criticised in the past for over-dramatising a situation. Other, more established European countries have also been at fault for racism not so long ago. Cast your minds back to 2004 and you’ll remember a game between England and Spain at the Santiago Bernabeu, in which Spanish supporters goaded both Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips by directing monkey chants towards them. In Portugal, Mario Balotelli was the target of racial abuse in a game against Porto, while closer to home, John Terry is accused of verbal racism towards a fellow Englishman, for which he will stand trial in July.
The moral of the story is, don’t judge a book by its cover. Although rapidly improving, football has a global issue with racism. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, it was also feared that people would be racially targeted – it has since been praised as one of the more vibrant and atmospheric tournaments of recent years.
All countries have their draw backs, and although I do not mean to make light of the situation in Poland and Ukraine, it would be best that, for now, the football does the talking; here’s to a tournament we remember for the right reasons.