Blatter’s comments on racism are “appalling,” says Beckham

You can add David Beckham’s voice to the latest chorus of criticism coming the way of Fifa’s gaffe-prone President, Sepp Blatter.

The elderly Swiss bureaucrat recently told a TV interviewer that racial abuse in football was a minor issue, best settled by a quick handshake between perpetrator and victim, rather than any sort of action by the game’s authorities.

At a press conference in Los Angeles this afternoon, Beckham was asked what he thought of those comments. And to everyone’s surprise, he replied that they were “appalling.”

The former England captain wasn’t quite as outspoken on the subject as Mick McCarthy (who today called Blatter “barmy”), or Rio Ferdinand (who described him as “ignorant”). But – bless his cotton socks – he’s hardly the world’s most quotable raconteur.  Anyway, his response bears repetition, and it’s transcribed, in italics, below.

I was at the press conference (pictured above) to get the lowdown Sunday’s MLS Cup final, the biggest game in the US “soccer” calendar, in which Beckham will play in what may be his final ggame for the Los Angeles Galaxy. I hope to preview that fixture, in detail, in tomorrow’s sport pages.

“I think the comments were appalling. A lot of people have said that. I don’t think the comments were very good for this game… There obviously is, and has been racism throughout soccer, and life, over the past few years. I do think especially being around the England team, and being around the FA, the FA do a lot off work about keeping racism out of the game and have made huge strides in the past ten, fifteen years. But it is still there, and it can’t just be swept under the carpet, and it can’t just be sorted out with a handshake. That’s not the way of the world and it’s not how racism should be treated. Its out there and I think we need to work hard to keep it out of the game, and keep it out of life in general. As to the comments, everyone’s had their own opinions and I’m not going to say any more on it, but racism’s something we all want to keep out of not just sport, but life in general.”

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• FreedomAndHypocrisyWatch

  Many people have said he’s dumb. Does that make them “Dumbist”?

• hayneman

  Whatever Beckham and others my say, it doesn’t help their cause when the England soccer captain is currently under investigation for racist comments.

  The nation’s finest? I don’t think so…

• Guest

  I wonder if Beckham would have made this statement prior to the recent World Cup bid?

• Braziliano

  ..
  Blatter is the best example of what a double standard EUROPEDO does.
  ..

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_34HHCFOPYPOWVPZC54ZIJ2R6CA the loonie

  You can always rely on Beckham to say something riveting.

• R Smythe

  The question is, what happens when the majority of the game and even the England team are all black?
  Dare a coach ever select an all black side entirely on talent and form?
  Would the public stand for it?
  Certainly at the rate the game is going these questions must eventually be faced.