Another week of racist abuse shames Fifa and the abandonment of their anti-racism task force

Fifa dissolved its anti-racism task force in September, claiming it has "completely fulfilled" its mission. Ed Malyon looks back on a week that showed how far we still have to go

"And for my next trick, I will solve the Middle East crisis" (AFP/Getty)

I've been very tired recently, which probably explains some hallucinations I've been having.

Last weekend I could have sworn I watched footage of an irate Sulley Muntari walking over to the officials and complaining about racist chanting aimed at him by opposition fans while playing for Pescara. The game in this mirage should have been stopped by the officials, but instead Muntari was booked and, to use his own words, "treated like a criminal."

As Cagliari fans abused Muntari with 'monkey' chants - the sort of terrace fodder so lacking in wit and decency that it only serves to make the perpetrators look primitive - I must have rolled over and gone back to sleep.

Muntari reported the racial abuse but walked off the pitch after being booked for dissent (Getty)

The next vision was oddly similar though.

As Boca Juniors played out a goalless draw at Estudiantes de La Plata on Sunday, Colombian defender Frank Fabra looked most upset. More racist chanting it would seem.

But how curious that so many of these instances of hate and discrimination could play out when, less than a year ago, Fifa solved racism.

I remember it like it was yesterday, Gianni Infantino and chums packing up their anti-racism task force, "job done" they would say, slapping each other politely on the backs and walking off into the Swiss sunset.

Members of that task force might have expected a somewhat increased workload heading towards the 2018 World Cup in Russia, given the past issues there.

But no, in September 2016 those involved received notification that the task force had “completely fulfilled its temporary mission” and was “hereby dissolved and no longer in operation.”

Bravo, everyone. Next stop: famine and world peace!

One of those members who wasn't a pleased-with-themself-white-man-in-a-suit, Osasu Obayiuwana, immediately criticised the decision, however.

Frank Fabra (r) was this week subjected to racial abuse while playing for Boca (Getty)

“The problem of racism in football remains a burning, very serious and topical one, which need continuous attention," he would say. Silly Osasu. So stuck in the past.

Perhaps what Osasu needs to realise is that there is no issue too big to be swept under the carpet in sport. Or that racism and discrimination just doesn't matter as much to some white people (unrelated note: every elected Fifa president ever has been white) as it does to the people who suffer the sharp end of it.

For victims of racist chanting somehow still occurring in 2017, this is all too real.

Rather than sleepy mirages, these people are just tired of the inaction on racism. We all are, but Fifa continue to doze while footballers weep at the hands of discrimination.