Given the relentless allegations and discoveries at Fifa HQ over the past two months, we hardly need a reminder of the contempt in which football’s governing body should be held.
Nevertheless, the current predicament of Emmanuel Frimpong serves as a sharp jab in the ribs, just in case you were beginning to relax your opinion of Sepp Blatter and his cronies.
On Friday, Frimpong was sent off in the first Russian Premier League match of the season after giving the finger to a group of Spartak Moscow fans he alleges racially abused him.
“When the match was stopped, the fans started shouting “monkey” at me,” said Frimpong after the game. “Then the monkey chants started.
“I don’t have any problems with the Spartak fans in general. I just did not keep my cool, I showed my emotions and it was my mistake. I want to say sorry for what I did.”
Also in other news been banned for two games acceptable on my part for the gesture no problems with that
— EMMANUEL YAW FRIMPONG (@IAMFRIMPONG26) July 22, 2015
But for the Russian FA to say they didn't hear or see any evidence of racism is beyond a Joke …Glad it's all over dough thanks for support
— EMMANUEL YAW FRIMPONG (@IAMFRIMPONG26) July 22, 2015
It is both heartbreaking and enraging that Frimpong felt the need to apologise for his reaction, but even more maddening is the news that the former Arsenal midfielder will now serve a two-match ban.
Spartak, meanwhile, have reportedly been fined just €323 for throwing objects on to the field, with no mention of the alleged racism – coming as a surprise to no-one.
This is the bleak status quo Fifa has cultivated by not only failing to act on racism in Russian football, but also showing complete disregard for players’ welfare by awarding the country the 2018 World Cup.
The loathsome treatment of Frimpong is not in any way unfamiliar, as former West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie – and many others – can attest.
A group of Lokomotiv Moscow fans made this banner when Peter Odemwingie left the club and moved to West Bromwich. pic.twitter.com/oSBXi3hcr2
— Toke Theilade (@TokeTheilade) June 30, 2014
Shortly after moving to the Hawthorns in 2010, fans at Odemwingie’s previous club, Lokomotiv Moscow, unveiled a banner bearing a banana with the message: “Thanks West Brom”.
Fifa’s response to the incident? “Only the competition organiser can issue sanctions. If it was a League match, the Russian FA would be responsible, and if it was a Uefa competition match, Uefa would be responsible.”
Presumably they had more pressing issues to address as they washed their hands of the issue and awarded Russia the World Cup just three months later.
Following the Odemwingie banner, the director general of the Russian Football Union, Alexei Sorokin, insisted that “in Russia ‘to get a banana’ means ‘to fail a test somewhere’.”
It is curious, however, that it only appears to be black players who fail these ‘tests’.
During his spell at Anzhi Makhachkala, Roberto Carlos was offered and thrown bananas on a number of occasions, while Chris Samba was also tossed the fruit by Lokomotiv Moscow supporters in 2012.
“I’m very upset that such misconduct took place in view of children who were sitting on those very stands,” said the former Blackburn defender. “It can serve as a bad example for them.”
It is a bad example that Fifa are also responsible for by failing to meet racial abuse with the punitive sanctions it deserves.
The issue now is whether the governing body has lost so much of its influence that it can even think about clawing back some of its credibility by adopting a tougher stance on racism.
The likelihood is that Frimpong’s plight will fall on more deaf ears – at least in the corridors of power.
With Fifa’s mandate at its weakest point since the organisation’s inception, and the English FA also showing a regrettable lack of backbone in its handling of the Malky Mackay investigation, it is left to the fans to combat a serious and complicated issue.
The biggest question is where to start, with a game that is rapidly modernising in almost every way still stuck in the Dark Ages on an issue of utmost importance.
