Just one year after France’s first World Cup victory in 1998, the commission that advises the Government on human rights since 1947 introduced a new question in its annual survey on racism: “Are there too many players of foreign origin in the football team?” The French still had to remember the explosion of joy from the previous year thanks to a team that was defined as a multicultural example of a country that had been one for a long time, but preferred not to be reminded of it.
The choice of that question was debatable. Recently, a similar issue has caused controversy in Germany. In France, 31% then said that they strongly or somewhat agreed with the message of the question. Which means that almost one in three French people thought there were too many black Africans representing the national team. Obviously, they were all French, but the problem was the color of their skin or the place of birth of their parents. Presumably, these respondents would furiously deny being called racist.
Add Comment