John Terry Trial: One Sorry Mess

The trial of John Terry for alleged racial abuse may be over, but it still leaves questions that need to be answered about the acceptability of racism in football and wider society, as well as how footballers are to conduct themselves in future. The revelations unearthed during the week-long trial do as much to order a new change in attitudes within English football as the not guilty verdict for Terry does.

The thing that needs to be examined most in the trial’s aftermath is the culture of casual abuse that was unmasked by it. It was clear from the findings of the trial that Ferdinand and Terry traded insults over the course of the match between Queen’s Park Rangers and Chelsea, which included Ferdinand insulting Terry over his alleged affair with a former team-mate’s ex-girlfriend.

It was revealed in the trial that footballers regularly insult each other on the pitch, and what Terry was accused of, which will not be repeated here, was part of the same sub-culture within English football of put-downs, insults and belittlement. Belittlement seemingly can cover all areas of a player’s personal life, including who they are (allegedly) sleeping with, as well as their race. It does not take much to recognise how this laissez-faire approach to what is acceptable and what is not can enable a culture where racism, misogyny and homophobia is acceptable within football, making behaviour which in other areas would be intolerable become common place.

This is compounded by the not guilty verdict delivered to Terry at the end of the week-long trial. The verdict was based on mere technicality surrounding the context in which the offending words were said, and sends a worrying signal, intentional or otherwise, that racist language can be tolerated within certain contexts, providing a means for those who racially abuse others to hide behind the hurt they cause.

A lot like those who anonymously hurl insults online before hiding behind freedom of speech, those who racially abuse will have the very public precedent set by this case to use as a fig leaf, making it much harder for the victims to stand up for themselves and correct gross wrongs committed against them.

This helps to create a very strong form of negativity surrounding the game, with almost tribal allegiances to clubs making it difficult for common ground to emerge amongst players. Vivid examples of this is the criticism of Ashley Cole’s testimony in the trial defending Terry as well as the criticism Glen Johnson faced when defending his Liverpool team-mate Luis Suarez, who had been found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra.

Such stout defences of accused team-mates may be borne out of club loyalty (and in Johnson’s case the feverish ‘Us Against the World’ culture promoted at Liverpool), but can leave a bitter taste in the mouth for those who feel victimised, leading to recriminations and insults (such as Rio Ferdinand’s ill advised condoning of language against Cole which also won’t be repeated here) that gets no-one anywhere and merely acts as a diversion from how English football can work to eradicate prejudice from our game.

Since the trial there has been talk of Black Footballers getting together to form a Black Footballers Association that would specifically speak out against racism in the interests of footballers of colour, safeguarding their interests and encouraging a public stand against racism in football. Alternatively, the Professional Football Association, which represents ALL professional players in England and Wales, could take a much more assertive role in assisting Black players who face abuse (as well as advising Gay players who feel the need to stay in the closet).

The PFA has a track record of mediating in the Suarez affair, and its Chief Executive, Gordon Taylor has come out attacking racism in football. As a TUC affiliated union, perhaps it is time for the PFA to become more aggressive on the issue, addressing a grievance that many of its members face and feel unable to stand up against alone in order to nip this growing acceptance of intolerance in the bud before we end up back in the 1980’s.

Robert Austin