Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand has criticized soccer’s world governing body FIFA for being all talk and little action when it comes to clamping down on racism. He said that the $26,000 fine imposed on Croatia after its fans hurled racist abuse at England striker Emile Heskey during a World Cup qualifier in Zagreb last month would in no way act as a deterrent, and that points should be docked instead.
“The football authorities need to look at themselves,” Ferdinand told BBC Radio. “They make a lot of comments and say they are going to do this or that but they never back up the words with actions. Croatia were fined a few thousand quid [pounds]. What good is that going to do? If they keep doing things like this you have to take points off them.”
The Croatian Football Federation was also fined a smaller amount following racist chants from supporters during a Euro 2008 quarterfinal against Turkey. FIFA accompanied its latest fine with a statement that read: “Racism has no place in football. FIFA is determined to continue broadcasting this message around the globe and deploying all of the means at its disposal to eliminate this form of discrimination.” It warned Croatia of “more severe sanctions” if their fans transgressed again.
But Ferdinand said not enough is being done. “These people at FIFA and UEFA seem to like talking about a lot of stuff that is fashionable at the time,” he said. “They don’t deal with the important things in the right manner. I would love to see them stand up and dish out the right punishments for these incidents. [FIFA president] Sepp Blatter likes to speak up about things that are good for FIFA’s image. It would be nice to see him do the same about racism.”