FIFA to finally tighten up their rules on racism in stadiums

Racism has been around pretty much since the beginning of time. Racism has played a huge part in the history of football. Finally, FIFA is trying to put an end to it with some very progressive rules.

While racism in football has seemed to be around for ages, it was noticeably worse this past season. Is it because of social media? Or maybe because more Muslim or African-American players are at the forefront of the game. Players like Mo Salah at Liverpool, or Moise Kean at Juventus have experienced the brunt of it. But finally, FIFA is stepping up.

According to their own website, they are putting actions in place to strengthen their disciplinary code for the first time in 15 years. The rules from FIFA.com include the following,

"As a general rule, a match is automatically forfeited if the referee decides to abandon it after having applied the three-step procedure for discriminatory incidents; For reoffenders involved in racist or discriminatory incidents or if the circumstances of the case require it, the disciplinary measures now include the implementation of a prevention plan to foster education on diversity and fight discrimination in football."

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To hear that a match official can now call a game off if the crowd will not stop being racist is a tremendous boost to their plan. It surely would have helped Moise Kean in Cagliari or Mo Salah in Chelsea.

It will also force fans near the touchline to be very careful with their words and gestures as they will be under tight scrutiny in a situation where they themselves could actually force their team to drop points. It almost sounds like a Steve Bartman/Chicago Cubs incident, but it really could happen next year.

Something had to be done. Fans think they can rain down abuse on players, and its no longer acceptable. Putting in a prevention plan for reoffenders is also a great idea by the federation. It is surprising to see this change by FIFA, because usually any policy change is proceeded by a trail of red tape and multiple years of advocating and fighting.

On the bright side, it seems like everyone is on the same page in fighting against racism in football. It should have never been there in the first place, but it is the world’s game and we all must fight to keep it that way. Hats off to FIFA for finally taking a small step in the right direction.