Surrey soccer team says not enough being done to address racism

A Surrey soccer team says its players faced racism at a game held in Coquitlam this past October. After an investigation didn’t find any evidence, the coach tells CityNews more needs to be done so players feel safe on the field.

The Greater Vancouver United Sports Club alleges supporters and players of the Coquitlam Ford Soccer Club made racist remarks during the game. The head coach of Greater Vancouver United Surrey Knights describes what a player says happened during the game.

“They were calling him the n-word, the brown-n, he should go back to Surrey and go back to his country,” coach Sadiq Abubakar recalled.

‘We were made fun of for our color’

The club’s president, Nischal Ram, says most of the boys, between 15 and 16 years old, came out of the game crying.

“We were made fun of for our color. There were some n-words that came out during the game. And we have two Muslim players on the team — they took it really hard because they were called terrorists during the game, while they were on the field,” Ram said.

Imaraj Khan and Sabrina Sattar, whose children play for the club, say their sons were shaken by what happened.

“It got to a point, by the end of the game, my son was so scared to come off the field because he’d been so harassed by the people around him and he was scared,” Khan said.

Sattar says her 16-year-old son, who’s also a certified official, tried to talk to officials, telling them that the game was getting out of control.

“Following the game, we talked to the kids, they were all clearly very upset and part of the frustration of them being upset was that nothing is going to change. What’s going to happen? Yes, we reported it, we told the refs. We told everybody we should have told and nothing was done to protect us,” Sattar said,

“I was infuriated. I was livid that this is still happening and then to hear it’s been always happening and that the processes that we have here just hide it. It just further victimizes the victims and provides a sense of entitlement to these teams that there’s no recourse ever after.”

Abubakar says he approached the coach of the Coquitlam soccer team after the game to inform him of what happened.

“They actually said they were going to do something about it, talk about it, and nothing has been done. From what I know, nothing has been done. No one reached out to us to see how the boys are doing,” he explained.

The opposing team, the Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club, tells CityNews in a statement that “CMFSC has treated the complaint very seriously and conducted an extensive review, including game video. We have found no evidence to support the allegations and communicated such directly to GVUSC on Oct 21st.”

Video of the game appears to show high tension during the match but it’s too loud to hear what people are yelling. Ram says no apology was given.

“There was no remorse from the other team and we were going back and forth, three months later. They are saying they can’t do nothing after all this because there is no evidence.”

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Ram says what he saw broke his heart, with Abubakar left with similar feelings.

“It happened to me as a player, as a coach. So, for them, at that age, happening to them, I was like this cannot happen to you at this age because it’s going to be a big impact on your life and it’s going to emotionally drain them for a very, very long time,” Abubakar said.

Surrey soccer team calls for accountability

In a statement, BC Soccer says “BC Soccer’s independent judicial management company received, reviewed, and acted upon a formal complaint but cannot comment publicly on any outcomes. However, confirms outcomes have been communicated to the parties involved.”

Members of the Surrey team say they’re speaking out now because they want accountability for what happened — so this doesn’t happen again.

“We want accountability from BC Soccer so they can, as an authority in the province, their responsibility to promote soccer and I think they should bring awareness in the community, through all the soccer districts, that racial discrimination must stop,” Ram said.

Khan also wants to see BC Soccer step up.

“What [I want] is for them to educate themselves and maybe step up and say ‘yeah, we acknowledge it.’ Maybe there’s no evidence but speak to the kids, educate each other on it,” Khan said.