BERLIN, May 23 -- Nigerian Adebowale Ogungbure's dream of a professional
soccer career in Germany has turned into a nightmare.
Since he joined his club FC Sachsen Leipzig early this year, the 24-year-old
has been greeted with loud monkey chants when he steps on to the pitch, had to
dodge bananas thrown at him and been physically attacked by fans from opposing
clubs.
Now Ogungbure, who has won two caps for Nigeria and plays in Germany's fourth
division, has joined other players appealing to World Cup top officials to use
the tournament starting on June 9 to crack down on racist fans.
"I am human, I am not an animal or a bimbo. I like my job, I want to play
football but that's just got nothing to do with the game any more," Ogungbure
told Reuters.
"Now all these nations are coming to Germany to play together as one. This is
the time to make clear that humanity and respect for others are part of the
game," added Ogungbure, whose own national team failed to make the finals.
In March, world soccer body FIFA announced draconian punishments against
racism on the pitch and in the stands during the World Cup. FIFA president Sepp
Blatter said sanctions could range from match suspensions to point deductions.
FIFA earned praise for the initiative against racism, which remains a problem
in Spain and in Italy and as well some eastern European countries. In Germany,
there have been racist incidents in some second division venues and lower
leagues.
Weeks later, however, Blatter backtracked, saying teams would not be docked
points for fans' racist behaviour during the tournament as policing the rules
could prove too complicated at short notice.
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Experts and officials have accused FIFA of backing down and losing
credibility.
Some, though, supported FIFA, saying it should be given more time to think
over how to police the new rules, which could open the door for manipulation if
implemented in haste.
"What if a team were losing and its fans started chanting racists songs to
get the match cancelled?" said Lucy Faulkner from England's FA at a recent
conference on racism sponsored by the British embassy in Berlin.
"They definitely need to look at the fine-tuning first."
Gunter Pilz, a sport and violence researcher at Hanover University, said
there was no excuse for not taking a tougher stance at the World Cup because
every ticket holder had been registered.
"For international matches we also have strict separation of fans in sections
and every seat is assigned to a name," said Pilz, who is also an advisor to
UEFA. "If you take that a little bit seriously then you can easily track down
the offenders."
