Neymar: Storms, Teacups and German Tourists

I said I would try and get a lot more posts up, but obviously that hasn't happened so far. The problem is that I picked a bad week to start my pledge; there wasn't really that much sport to write about. Formula One started I suppose, but I have no interest in motor sports.

Helpfully though, sometimes a story comes out of the blue. And so the racism row following the Scotland Brazil game came to pass. To give a bit of background information, Scotland had arranged this game to be played at the Emirates Stadium in London, partly for economic reasons but mainly I suspect because Brazil couldn't be bothered travelling anywhere outside of the capital for a meaningless game. In spite of the location, a significant group of Scotland supporters was present, including a lot of our famed Tartan Army.

The atmosphere was widely reported to be friendly and 'like a party'. But according to whizz kid Neymar, starting up front for Brazil, things weren't so cheery. He complained that a banana had been thrown onto the pitch and that he had been subjected to racial abuse. Neymar combined the banana incident with the fact that "They were jeering me a lot, even when I was about to kick the penalty the entire stadium was jeering." to come to the conclusion that the Tartan Army and all the other Scotland fans were all a bunch of racists. Teammate Lucas, whose presence in the Brazil team can rightly be questioned by anyone not named Rafa Benitez, took things even further and suggested that the entire "First World" was still intrinsically racist.

Where to begin with responding to these claims? Firstly, it has transpired that the banana was thrown by a German tourist who admitted this to the Metropolitan Police. They are happy that there was no racial motive. So take away the banana, which admittedly has had racist connotations in the past at British football grounds, and all that Neymar is left with to support his racism allegation is the fact that the crowd booed him. I'll tell you why they booed you Neymar. It was because you are a diver and a cheat. Every contact, accidental or not, fair or not caused you to hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Honestly, you lay there screaming so loudly and so often that a 3 month old baby would blush. I have absolutely no time for players like you, and it seems the rest of the stadium agreed with me. You have extreme talent but still choose to try and con the referee at every opportunity.

I noticed that none of the other coloured players in the Brazil team were booed at any stage. So unless Scottish people are very specific racists, I can't quite see where Neymar got the racism idea from. He has essentially confused hostility with racism. Whether he brings the hostility on himself due to his 'gamesmanship', or whether it is just a hostile stadium in general, Neymar is going to have to live with it. He is only 19, but he needs to mature quickly if he plans on improving at the high level he finds himself playing at. And to do that, he needs to stop bleating about people being nasty to him; it's part of his job to play in front of a crowd. Yes, if there actually was racism of any kind then he should not have to tolerate any of it, and it should be harshly dealt with. But on occasions such as this, where it was pretty obvious that the crowd were singling out him for abuse due to his on-field antics and not making monkey noises, or indiscriminately booing all the black players, then he cannot come out and cry 'Racism!' every time people boo him.

For one thing, crying wolf doesn't help when the wolf actually turns up. Neymar may well end up playing football somewhere where racism is a fact of life. Indeed, some of his teammates will have played in Russia and other countries where they have had to put up with these issues; it is demeaning to them for a 19 year old to belittle the problem by using it for his own means because he cannot accept the fact that some people do not like him.

Also, these allegations are slanderous to those accused, in this case the Scottish fans. I admit bias here, as I am a member of the Tartan Army myself, but for a fanbase and a group like the Army who have been highly praised by FIFA and UEFA for their committed work combatting racism, sectarianism and bigotry to be universally accused of these things is not helpful. Certainly, I have never witnessed or heard of any incident of racism involving a Scotland fan at any game, home or away, in my 14 years of supporting them. We have a earned a reputation for being respectful and friendly fans, and perhaps if a footballer such as Neymar were to take a step back and think about things before he made such serious allegations then it would be easier to identify any real issues if and when they arise.

GM