Such reports deserve closer scrutiny as they do untold damage to the country’s image as a modern, civilized nation, ready for closer integration into the European Union.
While the barrage of flares was very real, the scandal of “racist chants” that made headlines points to another trend in Ukraine’s image problem – negative, irresponsible reporting and a lack of knowledge about Ukraine.
In Dnipropetrovsk, the atmosphere was largely friendly, with fans from both sides overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers to enjoy a drink and a chat about soccer. I spoke with a number of England supporters, who were almost all positive about their experience.
There can be no excuse for flares being thrown onto the pitch, endangering the safety of players, fans and ground staff. I had a small plastic bottle of water taken from me by a security guard at the entrance; fans sitting close to the pitch got in with several large incendiary devices. Not a great performance by Dnipropetrovsk’s finest; an even more shocking one by so-called fans.
Crowd trouble at soccer games is hardly a uniquely Ukrainian phenomenon – in England there was a pitch invasion at a recent game – but with the decision on whether to give Ukraine a full role in Euro 2012 fast approaching, it’s not a great advertisement.
Accusations of racism sting just as painfully. Primed by warnings from the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, English soccer journalists had clearly decided racism was going to be a story before their planes even touched down in Ukraine. And when some journalists sniff a story, they jump on any scrap of evidence like politically correct savages, devouring any accusation before regurgitating it.
Even before the game, one hungry reporter asked Rio Ferdinand, one of England’s top players whose father is from St. Lucia in the Caribbean, whether he had experienced any racism in Ukraine. Ferdinand appeared confused by the question and said nothing of the sort had occurred.
But the newshounds wanted blood, and on Saturday they got it.
The day after the game, English newspapers from tabloids to broadsheets quoted Carlton Cole, the black, English reserve striker who came on for the final 20 minutes of the game as saying that some players had heard abuse.
“I didn’t hear anything, but in the dressing room a few of the players told me they’d heard some racist chants,” News of the World cited Cole as saying. “I was so focused on the game I didn’t hear anything; but if it’s true, it’s outrageous.”
The same information appeared in the Sunday edition of The Independent, creatively reinterpreted as “racist chants were directed at Carlton Cole.” A comment heard in the dressing room was thus seamlessly transformed into a factual, first-hand experience.
I was seated close to the pitch and heard no racist chants. No fans I spoke to from either side heard such chants. I am not aware of any other players coming forward with claims of racism. Whoever told Cole of the chanting has kept silent.
This is not to say that racism isn’t a problem in Ukraine – it is. Rather, media should be more careful about crying wolf, especially when a country’s reputation is at stake. The “scandal” is in some ways reminiscent of the articles last year in the Western media about Hitler dolls allegedly being made and sold in Ukraine. The story turned out to be a Russian media canard, thoughtlessly re-reported.
The story last month about an apparent plan to build a hotel on the site of the Babyn Yar massacre was also spread far and wide, without any plans for the construction ever being turned up. The plan soon became an international scandal, which, according to one commentator in The Guardian, “exposes the dark side of Ukraine” and threatened to “cast Ukraine’s standing with the West into permanent darkness.”
Why does all this matter? Ukraine doesn’t often make it into Western newspapers, and rarely in a positive light. Much of the criticism, especially of political failures, is fair. Sadly for Ukraine, mud sticks. It’s an easy target as it’s still widely viewed as a strange foreign country in Eastern Europe that’s still a bit Soviet and no one really knows anything about. The easy stories are those that reinforce the image widely held in the West of Ukraine as a backward, violent country full of racist, anti-Semitic thugs and prostitutes.
The blame for Ukraine’s image problems doesn’t just lie with irresponsible reporters, however. The country has major political, economic and social problems that need addressing to generate more positive news flow, or at least stem the negative reports.
Until then, it will remain that distant, uncivilized territory near Russia – the Ukraine.
James Marson is a freelance Kyiv journalist.
