Sepp Blatter faces clamour to quit over racism row

Fifa president urged to step down after saying footballers suffering abuse on the pitch should 'shake hands' afterwards

Fifa president Sepp Blatter is facing a chorus of criticism as players, managers, politicians and anti-racism campaigners called on him to step down over his suggestion that racist abuse on the pitch could be settled with a handshake.

The sports minister, Hugh Robertson, and the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, Gordon Taylor, urged Blatter to resign after he suggested there was no racism in football and that players subjected to abuse should say "this is a game" and shake hands afterwards. David Cameron backed Robertson's call for Blatter to resign, describing Blatter's claims that racism on the pitch is not a problem as "appalling", adding that there was "no time for complacency" when it came to stamping it out.

Rio Ferdinand launched a scathing attack on the Fifa boss via Twitter. The Manchester United defender said Blatter's comments were "so condescending it's almost laughable", and he criticised the world football governing body for trying to "clear up the Blatter comments with a pic of him posing with a black man".

Blatter's remarks in interviews with CNN and al-Jazeera this week were particularly incendiary given two high-profile ongoing Football Association inquiries into allegations of racism.

Liverpool's Luis Suárez was charged on Wednesday with racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra. He denies it. England captain John Terry is the subject of an FA investigation and police inquiries into whether he racially abused Queens Park Rangers' Anton Ferdinand, Rio's brother. Terry denies the allegations.

Robertson called on Blatter to resign immediately. "This is the latest episode that calls into question whether this man should be the head of world football. For the sake of the game, he should go. We have been consistent in calls for improved governance at Fifa and this underlines the need for that once more. We must never be complacent in our efforts to tackle racism."

Ed Miliband, said: "I think Sepp Blatter's comments are a disgrace, frankly, and I think football needs new leadership. I don't think he has shown in the remarks he has made recently, or indeed his record, that he can provide that leadership for world football."

Blatter, Fifa president since 1998, has made various gaffes and has faced a serious crisis with corruption claims levelled at the organisation amid calls for wholesale reform.

Lord Herman Ouseley, chairman of the anti-racist campaign group Kick It Out, said: "To say Sepp Blatter's comments are unhelpful is an understatement. He has no understanding of what racism is, the ideology behind it, the damage it causes and how it subjugates one group of people as inferior."

But with only limited reporting of Blatter's comments in other countries, Fifa insiders said the furore was only likely to feed the president's belief that the British media was out to get him. This belief intensified in the runup to last year's World Cup vote, when Fifa was rocked by corruption claims, and again prior to his re-election in June.

Guardian

The BNP may have been elected to Europe but on football they founder

The BNP does not accept black members even if they are wearing
an England shirt like Ashley Cole, right, seen here with David Beckham

Although it is too late to drive the British National Party out of politics, or to turn the clock back to a time when a pair of posturing fascists had not been elected to the European Parliament, we may, however, kick some sense into the debate using football.

Your starter for ten: what do Glenn Johnson, Joleon Lescott, Ashley Cole, Theo Walcott, Jermain Defoe and Ashley Young have in common? Correct, they were all part of the England team who beat Andorra 6-0 on Wednesday night; but what else? Give up? None of them can be members of the British National Party. Nor could Rio Ferdinand, David James and Emile Heskey, who all would have played had they not been injured, or Shaun Wright-Phillips and Carlton Cole, who were in the squad but not selected.

Indeed, it could work out that when the England squad depart for the World Cup in South Africa next summer, half the plane will be filled with Englishmen who would not be welcome within the ranks of a political party that claims to speak for us all.

The BNP does not accept black members, even if they were born in England, even if they are wearing an England shirt and scoring the winning goal in a World Cup final.

Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, is enraged by the presence of a black Friar Tuck in the BBC TV series Robin Hood, because he claims this is not historically accurate. Yet what could be more quintessentially English than a black international footballer, of which there have been 58, or a black Olympian, or black Englishmen in the cricket team? Without them, there would be no Ravi Bopara, Dimitri Mascarenhas or Adil Rashid in our cricket team, nor Christine Ohuruogu winning Olympic gold.

These people can play for England, run for Britain, bring distinction and glory to our country; but cannot gain entry into the BNP. The same goes for Shirley Bassey and most of Diversity, the dance troupe that won Britain's Got Talent.

I'm not saying that any of these people would want BNP membership; more that there are better and more civilised ways to dismantle the logic of these preposterous racists than hurling eggs and turning Griffin's jacket into an omelette preparation each time he stands to speak.

One of the most patriotic sportsmen I have met is Ian Wright (whose adopted son is Shaun Wright-Phillips), who scored nine goals in 33 games for England. In retirement, as a television analyst, he was worthless because he could not separate his professional persona from his fan-like desire to see England win. If the team played badly, while others in the studio would dispassionately rip the performance to shreds on tactical and technical issues, Wright would sit there with the raving hump, sulking his way through the broadcast like a miffed supporter resenting the price of his ticket.

And the BNP would wish to play patriot games with this guy? Or with a young man like Walcott, who is risking the wrath of his club employers at Arsenal because he is determined to represent his country at senior level and at an Under-21 competition this summer, rather than taking time off?

The squad members from England's World Cup victory in 1966 received belated medals on the pitch at Wembley on Wednesday night, and there was not a black face among them. Yet there were seven black players in the squad Sven Goran Eriksson took to the World Cup in 2006. Are they somehow less English?

All that needs to be known about the values of the BNP is that they do not permit blacks, but raise money through their website with the sale of gollywog souvenirs. It is a warped view of England and Englishness that permeates their culture and finds no room for the way the country has evolved.

If you intend putting a flag out for the football team next year, or are keeping your fingers crossed for an Ashes win this summer, or a British and Irish Lions victory in South Africa, you are casting a vote for a country more inclusive than Griffin's little band of inbreeds.

Daily Mail

Keep brave Gurkhas out of Britain says BNP

Nick Griffin yesterday branded Gurkhas "mercenaries" who should not be allowed to stay in Britain.

The leader of the far-right British National Party said: "We don't think the most overcrowded country in Europe, can realistically say, 'Look, you can all come and all your relatives.' When the Gurkhas signed up - frankly as mercenaries - they expected a pension which would allow them to live well in their own country.

"Because of economic development in Nepal, the British Army pension isn't now enough for them to be able to do that. It would be cheaper for us and probably far better for the Gurkhas to say, 'Why don't we just increase your pension so that more of you can live in Nepal rather than coming to Britain?'"

Griffin made the comments on Nicky Campbell's BBC Radio 5 Live breakfast show.

Martin Howe, solicitor to the Gurkhas, said: "Nick Griffin is wrong. He does not recognise the depth of feeling around the country that this is a debt of moral honour and gratitude."

Griffin also claimed football stars Rio Ferdinand, Theo Walcott and David James are not English. And when Campbell asked if he would let his daughter bring a black man home, he said: "I would be disappointed."

Mirror