Racism reported by refugees has been seen in Ukrainian football for years

The attempt to flee the war between Russia and Ukraine has produced reports such as that of Nigerian student Alexander Somto Orah, who says there is racism against blacks who seek to leave Ukrainian territory.

“In Kiev train stations, children first, women second, white men third, then the rest of the seats are occupied by Africans,” Alexander posted on his Twitter account.

The governments of Nigeria and Jamaica said they have received similar testimonials from migrants who are struggling to gain access to trains and cross the country’s borders. According to the victims, they are stopped by security forces or even by Ukrainian civilians.

Ukrainian football, which in recent years has seen an increase in the presence of far-right members in organized fan groups, helps to explain what has happened to black citizens during the conflict. It is not a new phenomenon, but it is something that has intensified considerably.

Franklin Foer, in his book “How Football Explains the World” (Zahar, 2004), already reported a hostile scenario to African immigrants from the story of Edward Anyamkyegh, a Nigerian who arrived in the country in 2001 to play for Karpaty Lviv. A year after his arrival, the club signed another Nigerian, Samson Godwin.

It had been a decade since the Soviet Union had disintegrated. Ukraine, in the wake of accelerated globalization, began to open its market to foreigners, including Africans, whose main names were in the main European leagues.

Within Karpaty, however, there was resistance to the Nigerian duo. Yuri Benyo, Ukrainian and captain of the team, said in an interview with Foer that he considered the two arrogant and indifferent. “For Edward’s price, we could have created ten Ukrainian players.”

Once cosmopolitan, Lviv, where Yuri was born, prided itself on its universities and its pluralism. There was a strong presence of Russians, Germans and Poles –many of them Jews– in the city’s cafes and opera houses. However, as the Second World War approached and the echo of nationalist discourses resounding throughout Europe, Lviv underwent a transformation.

“Many Ukrainians found it strange that their people had earned so little in the city’s heyday. They began to harbor deep resentment towards the presence of so many intruders. During World War II, they took the opportunity to reverse this situation. Many Ukrainians in the city acted with the Germans in eliminating the Jews – who once represented 30% of the local population”, wrote the American author.

In his work, Foer reports an attempt at dialogue with two sports journalists from the city. Its objective was to try to understand the reason for the resistance to African athletes from Karpaty.

While talking to them around the corner of the hotel where he was staying, Edward Anyamkyegh passed by in a taxi and, after rolling down his car window, reached out and shook hands with Foer. The two Ukrainians waved at the player. When the car moved out of sight, one of them laughed.

“Monkey”, said the journalist in English, accompanied by his colleague, who replied with “bananas”.

Still, Foer argued that there was no racism in Lviv or Ukrainian football.

“In an atmosphere of nationalism and resentment, however, there is no real racism. Aside from sporadic and gross outbursts of hatred, the situation is nowhere near what it is in Western Europe. At games, fans don’t imitate monkeys when Edward walks in.” on the field or touch the ball.”

If for the author of “How Football Explains the World” there was a lack of racist manifestations in stadiums for racism to be configured in fact, there is no shortage anymore.

In October 2015, during a clash between Dynamo Kiev and Chelsea, for the Champions League, in the Ukrainian capital, a group of Dynamo fans broke into the neighboring sector and attacked four black people, who were also cheering for the home club.

Uefa punished the club in 100 thousand euros. It also determined the holding of two games behind closed doors and the obligation to print on the uniform, until the end of the season, the message “Say no to racism”.

November 2019. In a derby between Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk, Brazilians Taison and Dentinho were victims of racism in a national league game. Annoyed, Taison kicked the ball into the stands and showed the middle finger to the fans. That’s why he was expelled.

Cases like these have been common in Ukrainian football in recent years. In 2017, Dynamo fans went to a team game wearing clothes that alluded to the Ku Klux Klan and masks with swastikas.

Report published by sheet In 2019, he heard from Pavel Klymenko, a member of Fare Network, a European NGO that works to combat racism in football on the continent, that the increase in racist demonstrations at Dinamo games was related to the growth of the far-right movement in the country, especially after conflicts with Russia in 2014 for control of the territory of Crimea, annexed by the Russians.

In 2016, the National Corps was founded in Ukraine, a political party that emerged from a paramilitary group, Azov, operating in eastern Ukraine. Party leaders, according to Klymenko, are also leaders of Dynamo’s neo-Nazi fan groups.

“We cannot pretend that the growth of the extreme right has not been reflected in the stadiums. [de torcedores] are also added to the extreme right ideals. And things could get worse,” the Fare member warned, two years before the desperate attempt by black immigrants to flee the country to flee the war.