Is there anything less appealing than the absolute moral certainty with which some Liverpool fans automatically dismissed Patrice Evra's claim that he was racially abused, and some Manchester United fans automatically wrote off Luis Suárez as a racist, despite neither faction having any way of knowing for sure what actually happened on the pitch on Saturday? Actually, yes. There is something less appealing. It is Her Majesty's Press larding on the hints of the insta‑judgment to which they have come on the matter.
"Malice" just happened to be the first word of the Telegraph's match report, while the Mail claimed Evra had been "left isolated". Both were fairly typical. This newspaper ran a poll in which the question was termed: "Should Evra be banned if his claim proves false?"
Mm. I'm rather sorry we missed the chance to run something similar a few days into the Dominique Strauss-Kahn business. "If the hotel maid's claim is proved false," it might have read, "should she be deported?" Let's hope that in the future, media organisations seeking new revenue streams will explore the possibility of lucrative, X Factor-style phone polling on these hot-button issues. Text the word MARTYR to 80051, or UPPITY to 80052.
Votes will cost 25p from a mobile, but the cost to society may be considerably more. It should go without saying that fostering a culture in which a player – any player – feels able to raise allegations of racism without fear of an instant backlash is of interest to all right-thinking fans, no matter which team they support. It should go without saying, but it unfortunately doesn't, which is why Kick It Out was launching its latest three-week campaign at Saturday's game. As it turned out, the match will function as a curtain-raiser to an FA investigation into Evra's claims.
Ideally, the FA would have come out with an immediate statement along the lines of: "All accusations of racism are taken seriously, but all players are innocent until proven guilty." Instead they muttered something about "making inquiries", which downgrades the principles at stake. Indeed, it's clear many still regard any such official complaints as breaking ranks, as exemplified by the former United player Paul Parker, who wrote this week that Evra shouldn't have caused "a public fuss", but just mentioned it informally to Kenny Dalglish.
Yet the real required reading on the issues raised by this current storm is a 2007 Mail interview with Manchester City's Joleon Lescott, in which the then Everton player recalled his experience of making an allegation of racism to the FA. Lescott submitted that the Newcastle midfielder Emre Belezoglu had called Joseph Yobo a "fucking negro", while his team-mate Tim Howard submitted that he had heard "fucking nigger". It was this disparity that led to the allegation being deemed unproven. Lescott was furious, as he had been all along. On the match day, he felt both clubs were trying to play down the alleged incident. He bridled that the players were advised not to say anything to the media. But the FA hearing disillusioned Lescott most. "It felt like we were on trial as much as Emre was," he said. "I felt hurt by it, having gone to the trouble of making a complaint, attending the hearing, making a stand." He said he had spoken to many black players who had endured "a lot worse", and that he would think twice before wearing a Kick It Out shirt again.
Lescott gave that interview in 2007. What a long way we haven't come since – and those fixating on what they deem to be Evra's character will ensure any progress remains glacial. In football as in wider society, there are far too many people who claim that the real issue isn't racism, but people making false accusations of racism, just as there are plenty of people who prefer to think that false accusations of rape are more of a problem than rape itself. They aren't.
Deliberately or not, too many miss the big picture, which is that any accusation of racism should be dignified, so that the next person who might have cause to make one sees that a fair hearing is at least a possibility. Naturally, the investigating authorities may find it unproven or malicious. But no incident should be blithely and hastily written off by people not in possession of all the evidence and testimony, but who reckon the accuser may be a wrong 'un. The apparent failure to realise this – even among people who would consider themselves intelligent observers of the game – illustrates how very far football and the society it reflects has to go.
