Racism, xenophobia and football in the Mediterranean context

Abstract

The purpose of this study aims to highlight and bring to light the driving forces of racism, as well as, theories which will help to understand the reason for the manifestation of racism in football. In this regard, the work within this dissertation identifies the problem of football racism which is still a global concern. The main focus of the study is the Mediterranean region, particularly countries such as Spain, Italy, France and Malta. Desk research helped to set the study into context, apart from, enabling familiarization with the problem under investigation. Field research via the interview sessions carried out with black and dark skinned footballers who play football in Malta, helped to determine the situation of football racism in Malta. Interview results indicate that the majority of the interview respondents admitted that they do not personally experience football racism in Malta. On the other hand, their replies indicate that in Malta, the problem of football racism is unfortunately a reality as well. However, this is present to a lesser extent when compared to other Mediterranean and also non-European countries in which the respondents had the opportunity to play. Overall results indicate that ‘Mediterranean football’ in reality does not exist, thus one cannot take the Mediterranean as a heuristic simply for the reason that regionalist arguments are misleading in this study’s context. As a result, the main concluding outcome that I was able to determine through this study is the reality that in football, the national context is more important than the regional context.