Jade Gagné

Sports Editor

Photo Via Instagram @Kickitout

I remember last October, I was watching my favorite French streamer, Aminematue, play in a football game, called the Eleven All-Star. It was my first time watching a livestream like this. I eventually stopped closely following the game (football isn’t really my favorite sport), but I could hear the players getting agitated. That’s when I saw the Spanish supporters making monkey-like gestures toward a French player, him being a person of color. Of course, the fans got kicked out, but this temporarily stopped the game. Brawks, the player who’s the victim of those racist actions, then took the microphone to say (in French): “We came here just to play football […] we’ll continue the play, we’ll put our everything into it. We’ll fight against racism.” From this moment, it wasn’t about who will win, but about who stays true to themselves, and the others. It is worth mentioning that there has always been a rivalry between the two countries since the Eleven All-Star game in 2022, where Amine created the intro song for Spain, in Spanish (which was purely made to make fun of them).

 During this intense altercation between the Spanish fans and the French players, Amine expected the Spanish creator in charge of this event, DjMaRiiO, to at least speak out on the racist action, but he didn’t. Amine spoke on one of his live-stream on Twitch and said (In French): “This little bitch takes the mic, acts all shy…but when it’s to celebrate, to act funny, to do some shit, now he’s here. But when it comes to giving a moral lesson on racism, he’s terrified. Are you kidding me? This guy is not a good person. I’ll never work with him again.” What a great moment to remember, right? Let’s look at it this way: multiple famous streamers, YouTubers, and even rappers (e.g. SDM) all come together to build a football team of 22 players. In total, we have 44 players, half from France and the other from Spain. The fans have been waiting two years for the game to happen. The players train just like official players. Why aren’t they all treating each other equally and respectfully?

Those ridiculous mannerisms aren’t just things that happen on Twitch – they happen in real life too. Remember, back in 2020, in the Euro finals, when Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashfors, and Jaden Sancho missed their penalty kicks for England? These three young black men had to play in England’s first major final in 55 years, with huge pressure coming from the team and the fans. After the loss of the team, the three players were targeted with racial abuse in person and online. Saka later said: “I don’t want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that me, Marcus, and Jadon have received this week.[…] I knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive and that is a sad reality that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages.” In 2020, Saka was only 19. He had just started his adult life, and he was receiving death threats. How crazy is that? 

The live stream just made me realize just how much of a huge problem racism is in football. Even on a special event, made for fans to enjoy and for streamers to play a sport they love, some people still find a place for racism. Every year, there’s at least one big act of racism against a black player. 

When researching the percentage of racism in football, I found this website called Kick it Out (https://www.kickitout.org/ ). It started as a campaign in 1993: the “Let’s Kick Racism Out Of Football” movement was a response to the widespread calls from clubs, players, and fans to tackle racist attitudes that existed within the game. In 1997, they decided to tackle all forms of discrimination, not only racism. Overall, in the 2023-2024 season, they received 1,332 reports, which is a 32.3% increase since last season. 54.9% of the reports received were racist, and 49.42% of those reports were directed towards black players.

“We all know Kick It Out shouldn’t have to exist. Our biggest hope is that one day football no longer needs us. 

But right now we’re here to put an end to every form of discrimination. We won’t stop until it stops,” states the website.