Football: Abdirahman was the victim of a heinous act – Stronger measures are required from the Football Association

Football referee Abdirahman Sugulle shared an X update on Wednesday in which he takes a stand on the racism he’s faced at sporting events.

Sugulle has attached a video of the men’s Ykkönen match to the publication, where he is the victim of racist abuse from the stands. Along with the video, he shares his thoughts on discrimination in Finnish sports. Among other things, Sugulle states that racist shouting is becoming normalized.

In his career as a referee, which he started in 2013, Sugulle has faced discriminatory shouting for the first time only in 2023. He says that the video of the Men’s Ykkönen match is already the third such incident.

According to the judge, racist insults on the football field are the result of a wider social phenomenon.

“If you follow the media and current events, you can notice that during the last year, racism has been on the surface even in the actions of the people leading our country.”

“When it has become normalized in society, unfortunately it has also moved to our beloved sport.”

According to Sugulle, the sports federations’ current actions to eradicate racism in match events are not sufficient. The problem is that discrimination is addressed only after it has already had time to manifest itself.

So far, the anti-discrimination processes have mainly consisted of announcements, game suspensions and, in the worst case, premature termination of the match.

The family is calling for clearer and more concrete sanctions than at present, which would be generally known even before the match events.

“It is not enough that we only have an advertising campaign in force. Racism should be tackled seriously.”

“Many have suggested to me such measures as removing a racist behaving spectator from the stands or issuing a gate ban. This would send a clear message to society as a whole that racism will not be tolerated and that there will be clear sanctions.”

Discrimination known for his work in football Mohammad Al-Emara shares Sugulle’s view on the normalization of racism. Al-Emara, who has been selected as Veikkausliiga’s referee of the year five times, says that as the number of referees with an immigrant background has increased at the highest league levels in Finland, racist incidents have also started to appear almost every year.

Al-Emara is satisfied that the shortage of referees, which caused concern in sports circles in recent years, has been overcome. At the same time, however, he is worried about young judges with an immigrant background.

“It feels great when the guys talk that we, who have been involved in refereeing for a long time, have inspired them in some way. At the same time, however, I’m worried because I can’t promise with all my heart that they will be in a safe environment doing what they want.”

Al-Emara is disappointed with how racism has been tried to be prevented in Finnish football. He also emphasizes the importance of preventive work in match events.

“Perhaps the solution in all events could be some kind of responsible person whose task is to ensure that the situation is safe and encouraging for everyone. At the moment, there is a requirement for orderlies and other things, but my experience is that they are not helpful in preventing racism.”

“The guy is there for a ten-hour salary for a three-hour gig. Having done those jobs myself, I know what that world is like. Everything is fine on paper, but it is not an effective way to eradicate racism.”

Football Association multiculturalism expert Maurizio Pratesin according to the reports, there is no evidence that racist behavior in the stands has become more common in recent years.

However, he agrees that the various anti-discrimination campaigns in which the union has been a partner are insufficient without actual concrete measures. The Swedish Football Association aims to prevent racism by raising awareness of different forms of discrimination, for example by training coaches and club managers.

However, according to Prates, the control and sanctioning of spectators who behave racistly at matches is not the responsibility of the association.

“Clubs are responsible for their own home matches. They have the responsibility to organize the events so that these things are taken into account.”

“If there are clear flaws in the arrangements and offensive behavior is observed in the stands”, the clubs can receive sanctions.

Palloliitto has started disciplinary proceedings regarding the situation of the video shared by Sugulle.