Racism in Australian Soccer

"Hiddink...finally reaped what he had sown! They should go home. They don't need to go as far as Australia as most of them are living in Europe. Farewell!" Huang Jianxing commentating on China's CCTV

"Who gives a STUFF what some ranting spider monkey from China thinks of Australians!!! He lives in CHINA which means he has no life and faces that woeful countries(sic) persecutions and communist rules. Sucked in, you twit!!! He is just another number in the 1.35 Billion(sic) of them that we Western(sic) do not care about in any way, shape or form!" A soccer fan's response. * Interesting to note that the soccer fan defines himself as ‘Western’, instead of ‘Australian.’

Unlike Australia's traditional sports, which have colour to represent Australia’s multi-racial society, Australia's representative soccer team has always been 100 per cent white. At the 2006 World Cup, Australia's mono-racial soccer team must have given the world the impression that the White Australia Policy was still in force. The team was solely composed of Caucasians.

The production of a solely white team reflects the ability of the code too bring out the racism in its fans. In Europe, this racism frequently results in Italian and Spanish fans throwing bananas at black players, and making monkey noises. Likewsie, racism in in Australia led to a creation of a national league with teams defined along racial lines. In 1977, the National Soccer League (NSL) was established with teams representing European racial identities rather than inclusive Australian identities. These racial identities, and the racial conflicts associated with them, naturally alienated anyone that didn't want to identify with Europe or its problems.

Aside from alienating mainstream Australia, the racial identities made it very difficult for soccer's administration to co-operate as a unit. Board meetings were inevitably characterised by racist comments, and threats of violence. In the absence of productive decision-making, the code just stagnated.

Soccer's desire for teams defined along racial lines could be partly explained in sociological terms. Studies of immigrant identities find that the initial immigrant is quite open-minded, but their children become very right-wing in the defence of the "mother-land." It is the third generation that starts being more inclusive. This was seen when immigrants flooded into Australia after the gold rush in the 1850s, and subsequently their children created a White Australia Policy with a strong pride in British heritage. When migrants came to Australia after World War II, their children likewise became right-wing devotees of the mother land, and expressed their devotion the only way they knew how - by creating racially defined soccer teams.

Given the migrant history of the soccer players, it is understandable that the national team is still an all-white brotherhood, and devoid of the Tuqiris, Chans, Hopoates, Bells, Wings, Wanganeens, and Wirrapundas that prevail in the traditional codes. Furthermore, the station that broadcasts soccer, the SBS, has a white only commentary team that consistently shows a desire to broadcast European soccer, but never a desire to show Asian or South American soccer.

Despite Australian soccer's dubious history, there are some optimistic signs that it is serious about addressing the racism in its ranks.  In 2005, a new national league was launched with teams forbidden to have a racial association. The new league has also tried to import foreign players in order to address the lack of colour in Australian ranks. Thus far; however, there seems to be a glass ceiling on non-whites as the national team is still for whites only.

Although Australian soccer has taken some steps to deal its racism, it is probably inevitable that the rise in popularity of the national team will cause harm to Australia's international relations. Due to the referee having the ability to decide who wins and who loses, soccer is a sport that always breeds a sense of injustice that manifests itself with violence and hatred. Soccer is also a code in which dishonestly staging for free kicks is rewarded, but good sportsmanship is not. The natural outcome is an erosion of respect for opponents.

These negative consequences were seen at the 2006 World Cup. After a dubious decision eliminated Australia, a lot of angry Australians fans accused their Italian opponents of cheating. Police were called to break up scuffles at numerous Australian drinking establishments, and message boards became clogged with "jokes" such as:

Q) "What do you call a moral man in Italy?"
A) "A tourist."

Mainstream journalist Wayne Smith wrote:

"It's funny, in the days leading up the game, Australians had chuckled over the email that came flooding in from all their mates, the one labelled Secret Italian Training Video. It purported to show the Italians practising their match-winning tactics, flopping to the ground and writhing in pretended pain. Good for a laugh, except now the laugh is on us and on the game."

Another journalist, Mathew Hall, used the opportunity to say that milking the penality was a reflection upon Italian culture:

"THE wife of an Australian player with significant time spent living in Italy recently provided an intriguing insight into Italian life.
"It is accepted to lie and cheat if the result is that you get what you want in life," she said.

Aside from the happenings on the field, more tensions are being caused by Australia's grouping in Asia. In the 2006 World Cup, many Chinese were firmly supporting the Italians over the Australians out of fear that Australia is now a competitor for a World Cup spot. After Italy defeated Australia, influential Chinese commentator Huang Jianxiang, could not hide his elation:

The average Japanese person is also like the average Chinese person in that they don't believe Australia should be in the Asian grouping. They see an all white national team, with players that play in Europe, and their natural conclusion is that if Australians want to see themselves as Europeans, then that is where they should have to qualify.

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