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| Tony Baffoe |
Ex-Ghana international Tony Baffoe has praised Fifa's efforts at stamping out discrimination from the game.
Baffoe, a victim of racial abuse during his playing career in Germany says the sport is gradually growing out of the stigma as compared to the past.
The former defender in an interview with Fifa.com shared his personal experiences as a black player in the Bundesliga.
"Discrimination has a lot to do with ignorance and non-acceptance. For me, as a young kid growing up in Germany, I experienced discrimination with my own flesh. Today, in 2011, a lot of things have improved, but there's still a long way to go for us to say there is only one race, and that's the human race. The world is changing step by step, and when we are all equal, then we will be able to talk about one human nature," Baffoe told Fifa.com.
Baffoe recounted the role he and ex-Ghana striker Tony Yeboah played to help change the perception against the black player.
"I was one of the first well-recognised black players. I remember very well, I think it was in 1991, that myself, Tony Yeboah and Souleymane Sane wrote an open letter about racism intentionally to the Bild Zeitung. And from there on, there was some change: there were flags for us and supporters started to come out against racism and things were generally getting better."
Comparing football in the past to now, Baffoe explains that Fifa has done a wonderful job in curbing racist abuse within the game.
"FIFA has done a good job at promoting Anti-Discrimination Days and also making it a major issue at World Cups.
"There are great ideas there, and the number of players as ambassadors are good, and there are other groups, like FARE [Football Against Racism in Europe], Kick-Out Racism and FIFPro, the player's organisation. There are a lot of players with big names, not only black players, but European players, white players, that are also championing the cause against racism, and that is a very positive signal.
"I do think that we do not have enough black managers, so we have to continue to work on making changes," Baffoe said.
Source: Ghanafa.org
Baffoe, a victim of racial abuse during his playing career in Germany says the sport is gradually growing out of the stigma as compared to the past.
The former defender in an interview with Fifa.com shared his personal experiences as a black player in the Bundesliga.
"Discrimination has a lot to do with ignorance and non-acceptance. For me, as a young kid growing up in Germany, I experienced discrimination with my own flesh. Today, in 2011, a lot of things have improved, but there's still a long way to go for us to say there is only one race, and that's the human race. The world is changing step by step, and when we are all equal, then we will be able to talk about one human nature," Baffoe told Fifa.com.
Baffoe recounted the role he and ex-Ghana striker Tony Yeboah played to help change the perception against the black player.
"I was one of the first well-recognised black players. I remember very well, I think it was in 1991, that myself, Tony Yeboah and Souleymane Sane wrote an open letter about racism intentionally to the Bild Zeitung. And from there on, there was some change: there were flags for us and supporters started to come out against racism and things were generally getting better."
Comparing football in the past to now, Baffoe explains that Fifa has done a wonderful job in curbing racist abuse within the game.
"FIFA has done a good job at promoting Anti-Discrimination Days and also making it a major issue at World Cups.
"There are great ideas there, and the number of players as ambassadors are good, and there are other groups, like FARE [Football Against Racism in Europe], Kick-Out Racism and FIFPro, the player's organisation. There are a lot of players with big names, not only black players, but European players, white players, that are also championing the cause against racism, and that is a very positive signal.
"I do think that we do not have enough black managers, so we have to continue to work on making changes," Baffoe said.
Source: Ghanafa.org
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