Race storm by race storm, the comfortable fallacy that English football is immune to racism is being eroded. First Suarez and Terry, now Nicolas Anelka. The controversy surrounding the West Brom striker centres on his performing the ‘quenelle’ during a match in December.

This gesture, resembling an inverted Nazi salute, was popularised by the French ‘comedian’ Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a man whose tasteful comic repertoire includes such classic gags as the ‘Shoananas’ song, a charming little number whose title is a portmanteau of ‘Shoah’ (the Hebrew word for the Holocaust) and ‘Ananas’ (French for pineapple). Other highlights of this visionary’s oeuvre include dancing onstage dressed as an orthodox Jew whilst throwing out Nazi salutes and shouting ‘Israheil’, and referring to Holocaust remembrance ceremonies as “memorial pornography”. He has been convicted of anti-Semitism eight times. Anelka claims the gesture was nothing more than a show of solidarity with Dieudonné, a close friend. In other news, Paolo di Canio is not actually a fascist; he just really likes Mussolini.

Apologists claim the quenelle is anti-establishment, not anti-Semitic. Photos depicting the performance of the gesture at Auschwitz, the Berlin holocaust memorial and the Jewish school in Toulouse where three children and a rabbi were murdered in 2012, suggest otherwise.

Moreover, insofar as the gesture is anti-establishment, that ‘establishment’, for Dieudonné and his following, is synonymous with the sinister ‘Jewish lobby’ that runs the world. Dieudonné’s subscription to this ‘Protocols’-esque view is clear enough in his stand-up routine. Thus, here, ‘antiestablishment’ is inseparable from ‘anti-Semitic’. The quenelle, then, is an anti-Semitic gesture.

There has been considerable frustration at the time it has taken for the FA to conclude its investigation into Anelka’s actions. However, this outrage seems misdirected; there are aspects of the controversy which are worse than mere bureaucratic inefficiency. Take, for example, the frankly pathetic response of ‘Kick It Out’, the anti-racism campaign part-funded by the FA. For weeks, the organisation stayed silent, until heroically breaking ranks on 15th January to proclaim that it was “very frustrated” at the investigation’s slow pace. ‘Kick It Out’ did not condemn Anelka’s actions; this, we are told, is protocol. What, then, is the point of a campaign that aims to change people’s perceptions, but whose only public role is re-affirming the decisions of the organisation that funds it? ‘Kick It Out’ needs to be as bold as its name suggests.

Far more worrying, however, is West Brom’s reaction. Even after the implications of Anelka’s actions had become clear – following caretaker manager Downing’s initial claim that complaints were “absolute rubbish” – the club remained unmoved. In a statement, they merely “acknowledge[d] that Nicolas’ goal celebration has caused offence… and has asked Nicolas not to perform the gesture again”, offering no apology. The same lack of contrition, indeed, applies to Anelka himself. If, as he implies, he is not an anti-Semite, why has he not displayed the common human sensitivity to apologise for the offence caused by what he, surely, considers to be one great big misunderstanding? The silence, in this case, is offensive in itself.

Football, it seems, will never learn. No matter how many games he is banned for, Terry will still be ‘captain, leader, legend’ to the Chelsea faithful; Suarez will remain the hero of the Kop. In continuing to support and play Anelka, and refusing to express disapproval until their hand is, inevitably, forced, West Brom seem bent on perpetuating this twisted tradition – a tradition in which footballing ability trumps all

The onslaught started innocuously enough. After eight minutes of largely uninspired football between Oxford University Women’s 1st team and their cross-city rivals from Brookes 1sts, the latter were awarded a free kick just over the halfway line. The ensuing restart was mis-hit, however, and fell straight to the feet of Lucie Bowden. Capitalizing on the error, Bowden sent a clever ball down the middle to Tina Gough, who was through on goal only to be abruptly halted by an impressive tackle from a backtracking Brookes defender.

The Oxford side built on this show of intent, and soon enough the Blues were ahead, with Gough latching onto a mistake made by the Brookes goalkeeper and putting them into a 1-0 lead.

A 1-0 win would have been sufficient enough. However, much to the joy of the hearty hundreds who came out to Iffley to watch the renewal of a crosstown rivalry on Saturday evening, the Oxford women continued to play on top form. By the time the full-time whistle blew, the Blues had run roughshod over their opponents, to the tune of an easy 6-0 victory that marked their fourth straight win in a run going back to last term.

The Blues seemed energized by their opening goal and firmly stamped their authority on the game in the proceeding moments, reeling off a five-minute stretch of possession in which Brookes failed to clear the ball out of their own end. That stretch was finally ended in the 15th minute, when Brookes’ attacking midfielder threaded a neat pass through three defenders to an on-rushing striker. But her path to the goal was stopped by an aggressive Anna Green, who sprinted to the edge of the box and easily smothered the attack – and Brookes’ only real chance of equalizing.

Two minutes later, the Blues doubled their advantage, with Gough again finishing the job. This time, she ran down a looping ball over the top of the defence on the right side and coolly slotted a left-footed shot just inside the far post.

With Bowden and Gough wreaking havoc down the right with a series of neat exchanges, it seemed only a matter of time before the latter would pick up a hat-trick. Sure enough, she did so, tapping home an easy rebound in the 68th minute to open the second half’s scoring.

Further goals, courtesy of Laura Jennings and Mandy Rojek, made it 5-0. Yet this still was not enough for the Blues, who continued to send numbers forward and scored a sixth goal with under ten minutes to play when a glorious Gough pass Jennings through on goal with a glorious pass, where Jennings tucked away her second of the evening.

In the end, it was such a thorough performance from the Blues that head coach Sarah Queralt found little to criticize. “It was all plusses today, there’s very little we can work from the negative point of view,” said Queralt. She also singled out the performance of Bowden and newcomer Katharine Nutman for their cohesion in the central midfield for praise.

Despite the Blues’ convincing victory, their inner-city rivals remain two points clear in their BUCS division with three fixtures to go. The Blues and Brookes are not done with each other just yet either, as the two sides will meet once again on 12th February in the Last 16 of the BUCS Midlands Conference Cup

The Men’s Hockey Blues started the second half of the season with a friendly double header against Oxford Brookes and Reading University. In the first game against Brookes, the Blues began the game dominating possession but without much success when it came to chances: by halftime, the score was at 1-1. In a frustrating second half, Brookes took the lead with an early goal, but a Stobbart penalty flick brought the Blues back to level, ending the game 2-2.

Against Reading, the Blues maintained their possession-style hockey, creating some extremely good chances, and though they only won the game 2-1, the team looked promising going into their first league game the following weekend in Lewes.

In the Lewes match, the first half brought a multitude of opportunities, two of which were put away early in the game, asserting the Blues’ grasp on the game, going into the half at 3-0. The team put in an extremely solid defensive performance, only allowing one short corner and very few shots on goal, earning a rare clean sheet.

Continuing to pile on the pressure in the second half, the team lost some of their precision around the attacking D. Despite missing some chances, the Blues added one more to the score sheet, closing out a convincing 4-0 win.

They restart their BUCS campaign on Wednesday 22nd away to Exeter.

The Blues football tour to Dublin proved successful, with the team securing an impressive two wins out of two over their Irish opponents.

The first came against University College Dublin (UCD), regarded as the best university side in Ireland, who feed into a club side which competes in the top tier of Irish football. It was always going to be a tough game for the Blues, especially given that kick-off was only a few hours after the team touched down in Ireland. The match was played on an artificial pitch due to the wet weather, and it began with the opposition dominating possession under the floodlights.

However, the Blues worked hard to maintain their shape and defensive discipline, restricting their opponents to shots from distances that were comfortably fielded by Belfast-born keeper Blaine Scott. The Oxford team slowly grew into the game, creating chances themselves and eventually breaking the deadlock after half an hour, with a perfectly-timed through-ball from the Blues’ Kiwi midfielder Brook Tozer finding winger Ezra Rubenstein, who took advantage of some poor positioning to beat the UCD keeper at his near post. The tourists were clearly energised by this confidence boost and continued to frustrate their opponents, looking more likely to extend their lead than concede it. Despite a slightly nervy finish, which was delayed by floodlight failure, the Blues held onto the win to begin their tour in perfect fashion.

It was a performance built on intensity – typified by the all-action performance of prodigious Pembroke midfielder Alex Tsaptsinos – and defensive solidity, led by outstanding centre-back Michael Moneke and vice-captain Benedict May, in the absence of new recruit from Harvard, Rich Smith.

Despite making five changes to the team, the Blues managed to reproduce that solidity and intensity just two days later in an emphatic 3-1 victory over UCD’s cross-town rivals Trinity College Dublin – a university built in the mould of Oxbridge in 1592. The game was played right in the middle of Trinity’s beautiful campus, and attracted a crowd, many of whom were seen peering from the windows of the library that overlooks the pitch.

The Oxford team dominated the first period, with the majority of action taking place inside the Trinity half, and were very unlucky to find themselves a goal down at the break. A perfectly-placed header from the Trinity forward in what was their only meaningful attack gave them a surprise lead fifteen minutes in, with the Blues squandering several good chances to equalise. Indeed, there were just twenty minutes of the match left when they finally got the goal their play deserved. Trinity were a matter of inches away from doubling their lead just seconds before, as keeper Scott could only watch a majestic volleyed lob fortunately bounce back off the bar. This close call seemed to spur the visitors into action, and they put together a flowing passing move that culminated in striker Matt Smith finding a well-timed run from midfield by Dan Ginger, making his first start for the Blues, who hammered the ball into the bottom corner with the confidence of an old-timer.

That passage of play proved the decisive turning-point, with the Blues going on to take the lead soon after – an accurate cross from right-back Hugo Sever, another debutant, was met by Smith’s equally accurate header. Confidence was now flowing and despite the pitch beginning to cut up in the wet conditions the tourists continued to play some attractive attacking football, with Tozer unfortunate to see a brilliant curling free-kick come back off the post, before Rubenstein was teed up by Smith to add a third. All in all, it was a satisfying and well-deserved victory.

After the match, the team enjoyed the hospitality of their opposition in the college bar, discussing the game over beers and displaying a range of singing abilities late into the evening. Other off-the-pitch highlights included tours of a Guinness factory and the awe-inspiring Croke Park – the largest amateur sports stadium in the world with a capacity of over 80,000 – as well as the squad trying their hand at some of the famous Gaelic games which take place there. Unsurprisingly, the Blues proved more adept at Gaelic football than hurling, with the latter descending into a slightly farcical game of field hockey.

The event was perhaps hampered by some squad members having enjoyed the sights and sounds of Dublin’s notorious Temple Bar a little too much the night before. 

Results on the pitch were made all the more encouraging by the return from injury of captain Jack Fletcher, who managed an hour of football in all having faced a frustratingly lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Michael Moneke was rightly voted Man of the Tour for his excellent defensive displays, but with every member of the squad impressing on the pitch Fletcher will now face some thorny selection dilemmas when the team returns to competitive BUCS action.

The Blues host league-leaders Nottingham Trent at Iffley Road on Wednesday of 2nd week

The perpetual sporting soap opera of modern football can always serve up a smörgåsbord of big-name signings, dressing room bust-ups and ruthless sackings in the course of a season. The past week has been especially fruitful. Clarence Seedorf’s appointment as head coach of AC Milan, taking over from the embattled Massimiliano Allegri, came as a surprise: though change was clearly needed at the San Siro with the Rossoneri languishing in 11th place in Serie A, Seedorf, with no prior managerial experience and having just ended his playing career with Portuguese side Botafogo, represents a significant gamble.

However, Seedorf’s unexpected promotion to the role has attracted more attention amongst the media, the fans and anyone who follows the game than usual. This increase in interest has nothing to do with the sport itself. In an ideal world, it ought not matter and would not be noteworthy, yet the sad reality is that a managerial appointment such as Seedorf’s is such a rarity in football, even in the 21st Century, that attention is inevitably going to be drawn towards one thing: Clarence Seedorf is black.

Football has always had unsavoury flirtations with racism. In Italy, however, these are more pronounced, less disputed and regrettably more frequent. Dutch player Ruud Gullit – who was playing for AC Milan at the time – complained of being subjected to racial abuse in the 92/93 season, which prompted an act of defiance as players from both Serie A and Serie B brandished banners emblazoned with the slogan No al razzimo! before matches. Though this was arguably the first instance of Italian football’s problems with racism being brought to light internationally, the situation has hardly improved, even to the present day.

Mario Balotelli – who now finds himself under the tutelage of Seedorf at the San Siro – received constant racist taunts as he was playing for Milan’s arch-rivals and stadium cohabitants Internazionale in a game against Juventus in 2009. More recently, Kevin Prince-Boateng left the pitch in protest at the racial abuse directed towards him and his teammates from the crowd, in a friendly match between AC Milan and Pro Patria last year.

Seedorf himself became the victim of racism in a match against Lazio in 2010, for which the club was only 15,000 euros by the Italian football federation (FIGC). Lazio, incidentally, are a club whose connections with fascism and the far-right are well-documented – fascist salutes amongst the ‘ultras’ of its fanbase are not rare at the Stadio Olimpico.

Getting to the root of the problem is complex given the myriad of socioeconomic, political and historical factors that must be considered. According to the 2011 census, around 3% of the British population describe themselves as Black or Black British, whilst the figures taken from the Italian Institute of National Statistics tell us that in 2010 around 650,000 Italian citizens of African origin were living in Italy, approximately 1% of the population. Not a glaring discrepancy. However, the first black player on the England senior side was Viv Anderson in 1978, it wasn’t until 2001 that a black player, the Italo-Somalian Fabio Liverani, represented the Italian national team for the first time.

As of November 2013, 74 black players have appeared for England; just 18 months ago, Balotelli became the first black player to play for Italy at a major tournament.

So a greater emphasis on improving the inclusivity of the national side could be part of the solution to the country’s problems with racism. But the FIGC is not solely responsible. The leniency of the fine handed out by the Federation to Lazio for the racial abuse of Seedorf was shameful, yet the accountability ultimately lies with FIFA.

Far more draconian measures than the pathetic ones currently being used to ‘punish’ clubs for racism need to be authorised by FIFA, and imposed on every league in world football. And while FIFA are at it, it might also be a good idea to reconsider Sepp Blatter’s suitability to the role of its president: the man who claimed that incidents of racial abuse on the football pitch can be resolved with a simple handshake.

Seedorf’s appointment therefore represents a significant chapter in both the history of AC Milan and of race relations in Italian football. It has the potential to pave the way for other black managers to be given the chance to man-age at the highest level; black players frequently represent England but there is a lamentable lack of black managers in the British game.

It may also be the kick up the backside the FIGC desperately needs; greater inclusivity amongst the managers of its premier league competition could prompt greater inclusivity amongst the playing staff of its national side. 

While Seedorf’s tenure is still in its embryonic stage, its undoubted significance may prove to be the sign of a brighter future ahead for Italian football