EN / J'accuse

In response to the BBC’s Dan Roan’s TV material “The challenges of Euro 2012 for Poland & Ukraine”

Over the last few days, England has been shocked by emerging videos that show first-hand experience of deeply-rooted racism in the English society. “A lot of black people and a lot of f--- Polish”, said 34-year-old Emma West as she started her rant in a Youtube video known as “My Tram Experience”. Suddenly, in a matter of hours, more videos of similar content have been published online. It all comes on the top of other major controversies as England captain’s racist remarks have now been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, to name just the most pressing one.

Yet, a BBC reporter “warns” English fans what they may face when they travel to Poland and Ukraine for the next year’s European Championships in football. However, do you really need to go as far as Warsaw or Kiev to suffer from racist or, often undermined, xenophobic abuse? Isn’t it as simple as taking a tube or an Overground in South or East London?

Let me put the record straight. Racism and xenophobia are important problems that every modern society, not only football, has to deal with. But to finger-point one or two countries when the issue escalates in your own country is purely hypocritical and misleading.

Focusing on my native Poland, Dan Roan could have focused his concerns on a number of more pressing issues. As it is still emerging as I am writing it, the new wave of corruption allegations within the Polish FA are rapidly unfolding. All football fans going to watch the Euros are likely to suffer from awful public communication links and ridiculous costs of accommodation. Things are not and won’t be perfect on time, that’s for certain. But playing a racist card, at least in Poland as my knowledge about Ukraine is limited, is cheap and shows a worrying trend of adopting a tabloid journalism by the BBC. If you had to name one brand that Britain should be proud of and enjoys the highest reputation in Poland, it’s the British Broadcasting Corporation. Impartial, reliable, solid and always fact-checking. None of it can be said about the material broadcasted on the eve of the groups’ draw on Friday, December 2^nd.

Back in 2008, I received a “Show Racism the Red Card” T-shirt from Paul Canoville, a former Chelsea player who nowadays commits all his efforts to tackle the problems he had suffered from so much during his playing days. I wore that T-shirt for Tottenham-Chelsea match at White Hart Lane. I should have remembered the game for a high 4-4 draw, but instead I remember it for a constant abuse I heard from both sets of fans as I had been walking down the road from Seven Sisters tube station.

The issue of racism in Poland is no greater than in Italy, Spain, France or England. It’s a universal problem. Not Italian, Spanish, French, English or Polish – not even European. Yet, when in mentioned countries the problem worsened over the last few years – with Britain declining the most – since joining the EU in 2004 Poland has made tremendous steps forward. It’s still far from perfect but not to recognise this improvement and instead point it out as a “warning” for the English fans; it’s nothing else but hypocrisy.

I am sure that time will show, just like in an infamous trial of Alfred Dreyfus, that these accusations are far from reality, but the damage has already been done.

Oh and by the way, although I do not want to ridicule the discussed TV material second by second, the “riot” presented in the film had no football but political – or even historical – background. Still, it was nothing comparable to the scale of events in the warm August nights in London, Birmingham and Manchester. Then, Roan goes on by claiming that "English footballers tried hard to eradicated racism from the sport”. Their captain would certainly confirm it.

With the Olympic Games coming to London a month after the Euros, I dare the BBC and Dan Roan to prepare a similar material about his own backyard and explain to the international views what is the current situation with racism, violence, poverty, public transport, strikes and accommodation.