KUALA LUMPUR – The beautiful game of football can take a turn for the worse when racism rears its ugly head. This issue has not been put to bed even with widespread anti-racism campaigns and initiatives in existence to tackle this global problem.
Often enough, players and officials of African ethnicity are the victims of racist remarks from opposing supporters, and sometimes, they even get belittled by their own.
It’s true that racism also happens in Malaysian football, but in some cases, it’s blowing up something out of nothing for the sake of storytelling.
Regardless, the FA of Malaysia (FAM) Secretary General, Stuart Ramalingam, told The Vibes that the football body never takes allegations of racism lightly as it is a serious issue.
However, Stuart added that hard evidence is required for the FAM to severely reprimand culprits who use racial slurs on players or anyone else involved in Malaysian football.
“Firstly, we need the player or the respective club to lodge a report to FAM and then we need evidence to prove that a racial slur was made or racial abuse had taken place. Without lodging a report or the existence of evidence, it will be difficult for FAM to act,” Stuart told The Vibes when contacted.
Stuart was referring to the latest issue involving Selangor’s Nigerian import, Ifedayo Omosuyi, as it was reported that the player fell victim to a racial slur when Selangor FC took on Kuala Lumpur United in last week’s Caring Cup match at the KLFA Stadium.
“I got to know about it from the media, and immediately contacted the match officials, clubs, and even reporters, who attended the match, but no one was aware of such an incident having taken place.
“Neither Selangor nor Omosuyi lodged a report with FAM. Everyone must understand that FAM is ready to combat racial abuse on footballers, but we would need sufficient evidence to act.”
At the same time, a source in the football fraternity said that Omosuyi was disappointed with the media report, which made waves over the Internet.
“The media needs to be responsible when they report. If they don’t get the facts right, the wrong message will be conveyed,” the source told The Vibes.
It was reported that some Kuala Lumpur supporters had chanted ‘monkey’ at Selangor, during, and after the match, which Kuala Lumpur won 4-2 in a penalty shootout. ─ The Vibes, 2 March, 2021.
