In the global game of football there are currently only two black managers in the English game, three black managers across Europe and a tradition in which African national teams employ white European managers. In the last World Cup in 2006 in Germany, out of the thirty-two National Teams, only two countries had a manager of African or Caribbean origins. Throughout the infra-structure of the sport, in organisations like FIFA and UEFA, positions of influence in governance: marketing and administration, the sports management culture is predominantly white, male and European. Whilst at the playing and performance level, players of African and Caribbean origins represent twenty-five percent of the labour. This polarisation of management and playing along racial lines represents a legacy of the global colonial structures of slavery and the neo-colonial age.

England take the field in this months Women’s World Cup, having qualified for the second time.

The Finals - kicked off in Shanghai on September 10, with the opener between Germany and Argentina. England face Japan the following day. They then move on to compete against Germany and Argentina in two subsequent group matches. If they can finish in either of the top two places they would then have a quarter final place and the chance to compete for the last four. Good luck to them; and all the other teams in the competition, which is being broadcast from China by the BBC – football is the biggest female sport in the country, but even the women travelling to play for their country have to combine playing with other jobs to make ends meet. And it’s not as if women haven’t being playing for football for sometime – as we shall see.

Few would argue that baseball has become America's national sport, especially from spring time through to the World Series October climax.

Although the exact origin of baseball is still in doubt, the first time it was mentioned in print was in the English author, John Newbery's 1744 tome, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book. Less than half a century later the game leapt from the pages to the field of play. In 1791 a decree banning the playing of the game within eight yards of the town hall was passed. Thanks to the contribution of Alexander Joy Cartwright (1820-1892), the game developed structure. An early New Yorker, he went on to invent the modern baseball field in 1845. Cartwright and the members of his New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club, devised the first rules and regulations for the modern game of baseball.

“ ... racism in football is obviously not as old as the scourge of racism in society in general, but neither is it as recent as the current worrying situation may lead some to believe,” says a spokesperson for FIFA. “FIFA has been actively fighting the problem for a long time, but recent events have given the need for concerted action an added urgency.”

“If any player, assoc' or club official or spectator perpetrates any kind of discriminatory or contemptuous act as described by par. 1 and/or 2 of this article, three points will automatically be deducted from the team concerned, if identifiable, after the first offence. In the case of a second offence, six points will automatically be deducted, and for a further offence, the team will be relegated. In the case of matches without points, the team concerned, if identifiable, will be disqualified.” : Paragraph 4 of Article 55 of FIFA’s amended Disciplinary Code.

“Marc Zoro’s decision to stop the game and protest against racism signalled a new confidence black players had found in challenging racism. Enough was enough,” said Kick It Out spokesperson Leon Mann. “His actions were also extremely timely, because, at the time he was being abused, racism in football was being discussed at very senior levels in the European Parliament and by FIFA ahead of the World Cup.”

“I don’t think – certainly within the SFA – that there are any grounds for punishing Motherwell Football Club, because there is nothing that they could have done to avoid this incident taking place and when it did, by all accounts it was dealt with very swiftly,” says Andy Mitchell, Head of Communications of the SFA. “How it was dealt with is still open to dispute. I wasn’t there so I can’t really give you too much background, but there are issues like should the perpetrators have been arrested, or ejected from the stadium immediately, so in that respect procedures must be improved in dealing with the individuals concerned and calling them to account.”

“Racism is a problem that is and was present in society, not only in football, and that must be tackled first and foremost at national and local level,” says a FIFA spokesperson.

“Sicily does not have a problem with racism,” says Evelyn Trochidis – Media and Communications Officer of Calcio Catania. “There is no racism here.”

“Fans of Palermo, Catania and Messina like to fight each other,” says Palermo resident and teacher Sonia, “but don’t fight fans of other teams.”