Show Racism the Red Card
Finnish footballers and football clubs condemn all forms of racism and discrimination. Racism is criminal and reprehensible—both on and off the pitch. Everyone in Finnish football condemns all racism and signs of it—unanimously. Football connects people around the world, also here in Finland. The Players Union appeals to everyone to offer all people, regardless of race, ethnic background of skin colour, equal opportunities to engage in this part of Finnish everyday life. Let’s show racism the red card together!
The entire international world of football has been combatting intolerance and racism for a long time. In March 2013, the Professional Football Strategy Council (PFSC), comprised of representatives of national federations (UEFA), clubs (ECA), leagues (EPFL) and players (FIFPro), unanimously approved a resolution approving strict measures to eradicate all racism from football. All of the above-mentioned parties have unanimously approved an even stricter programme to achieve a zero-tolerance policy.
The Finnish Multicultural Sports Federation (FIMU ry) has done groundbreaking work on behalf of multiculturalism and opposing racism through sports. FIMU represents the international Show Racism the Red Card system in Finland, and football has been particularly active in this respect. Racism has been shown the red card at Finnish football matches in different divisions concretely since 2006, with players at the forefront. FIMU’s am is to connect the representatives of different sports, clubs and federations under the same commonly acknowledged banner.
“In Finland, there is still far too much racism and discrimination of minorities. It’s everyone’s job to intervene. It doesn’t make sense to reinvent the wheel. Show Racism the Red Card is an international system through which we can speak directly. We, too, hope that Finnish sports people could find their way under a single banner across sports,” says Markus Juhola, Executive Director of the FPA.
