A Possible Case of Racism At Liverpool F.C.

This weekend was great for any football fan unless of course you are a Chelsea or Liverpool fan. For Arsenal fans at least, it was one of the best weekends to enjoy the games in the premier league. For the first time Arsenal fans celebrated or joined Manchester United fans as they celebrated their win over Tottenham Hotspur. The reason being Arsenal's dream of finishing third can become a reality. 

One can understand Arsenal's jubilation this weekend. They came back from a goal down and near goals to defeating Liverpool at Anfield. How sweet. Both Arsenal goals were scored by Van Persie who is currently in the best of footballing shape. "In RVP we trust" I must echo! Even sweeter was that after Suarez faked that foul and was awarded a penalty, Dirk Kuyt (a player I have so much footballing respect for) failed to tuck it in the goal. The Arsenal goalie made two successive saves to prevent injustice befalling Arsenal at Anfield. 

Another interesting thing I noticed about the game was Liverpool's line-up. Liverpool, in recent times, has been at the middle of racism in football. To be precise, their lead striker, Suarez was suspended for a number of games following a racial encounter with Manchester United's Patrice Evra. On his return to full football duties Suarez refused to give Evra a handshake professionally. This little incident ignited the debate about Liverpool being a racist football club. Liverpool in fact made it easy for the allegation to gain some credibility especially given the history of the club and the city itself. I would have thought Liverpool will take steps to shake off such stigmatization but to date, nothing seems to make Liverpool seem like an ethnic minority friendly club. 

The team fielded against Arsenal (a very racially diverse football club) had no ethnic minority football player with the exception of Suarez, who recently had a racial encounter with Patrice Evra (I am trying not to refer to Suarez as racist even though I dislike him very much for very obvious reasons - I am Ghanaian). This begs the question - is Liverpool really committed to diversity in football? It is indeed very arguable that the Club's attitude towards ethnic minorities was channeled through Suarez's encounter with Evra. Some may argue that that is a very unfair assessment of the Club given the fact that over the year ethnic minorities such as Diouf have played for the Club. That may be a very valid argument but I still say Liverpool should come under the microscope of race relations. 

For now, the Gunners should bask in SWEET REVENGE!!!