Anti-racism rules: football supporters get ready for the stick

Racism in Maltese football will be a new bone of contention between authorities and supporters, as the Maltese FA gets ready to introduce new measures aimed at targeting racist abuse from the stands.

For known supporters from so called Premiership ‘ultras’ who spoke to MaltaToday, are blunt about the prevalence of – perhaps unchanging – attitudes of a portion of football supporters.

“Racism is not a Maltese issue, and I feel newly introduced regulations will do little to curb the problem,” one supporter, belonging to a top-flight club’s support core, told MaltaToday. “Black players should ignore the noise and act professionally,” he said, on condition of anonymity.

Last week, Santa Luċija goalkeeper Julani Archibald was subjected to racist attacks by a handful of Floriana FC supporters, an attack that was called out on Floriana’s own Facebook page following the game.

The incident led to equality activist and social worker Omar Rababah, the host of MaltaToday’s Maltin Bħalek to submit a set of recommendations to the Malta Football Association, aimed at fighting racism in Malta’s football scene.

The day after, the Malta FA Executive introduced new regulations which among other measures, will allow referees to halt matches when a racist incident occurs in a Maltese stadium.

The proposed regulations are in line with UEFA-approved official guidelines to help match officials handle incidents of racism inside stadiums.

The anonymous supporter MaltaToday spoke to, hailing from one of the country’s ‘ultras’ groups, seemed comfortable justifying racism in football as a phenomenon that is also found outside the football ground.

“I’m reluctant to speak out on the incident because I don’t want this to affect the club. I wouldn’t be comfortable reporting my friends to any authority. Racism should never be accepted, but unfortunately footballing rivalries can lead to such situations.”

Various other supporters clubs and known football supporters refused to comment on the issue with this newspaper.

Malta Football Referees Association (MFRA) President Trustin Farrugia Cann welcomed the newly introduced regulations by the MFA. He thinks they will help in curbing racism. “We fully agree with the regulations, and we believe they will work,” he said.

He said that Premier League referees’ experience in international games will make it easier for them to adopt the regulations locally.

Social worker Andrew Azzopardi, who used to head the English FA’s safeguarding team, welcomed the MFA’s new regulations, saying it was a “bold step”. “Their proposals are excellent and they deserve the credit together with activists like Omar Rababah,” Azzopardi said.

Azzopardi said that unfortunately racism is a reality in Maltese society. “That is why the next step is to work towards a change in culture within Maltese football,” he said. “This can be done by developing an equality strategy through Omar’s proposals, education, regulations and by employing someone to drive forward the agenda and take responsibility for its implementation.”