Kick It Out’s Troy Townsend reveals reports of racism have risen for six consecutive years, says negative media stories ‘fuel perception’
Kick It Out campaigner Troy Townsend has told talkSPORT that racism has never gone away with reports of discrimination rising in each of the previous six years.Two high profile cases have brought racial abuse of footballers back under the spotlight, with a Chelsea fans alleged abuse of Raheem Sterling, the Manchester City player, coming just a few days after a Tottenham supporter was arrested for throwing a banana at Arsenals Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.Video footage shared on social media showed Chelsea fans hurling abuse at Sterling, which is alleged to have been racist1
Video footage shared on social media showed Chelsea fans hurling abuse at Sterling, which is alleged to have been racist
Chelsea and the Metropolitan Police are investigating the incident which took place at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening, which Sterling reacted to on Instagram.Sterling used the social media platform to call out newspapers for fuelling racism with their coverage of young black players in comparison to their white compatriots, highlighting how the Daily Mail reported on Tosin Adarabioyo and Phil Foden, both of Manchester City, buying multi-million pound homes despite their youth.Foden, born in Stockport, is treated in a more positive light, while Adarabioyo who is of Nigerian descent appears to be criticised for spending money on a house despite never starting a Premier League match; his contract renewal, which came after allegedly threatening to leave the club, is also highlighted early in the story.Both stories were published earlier this year, and the two recent high profile cases suggest racism has returned to football.However, Townsend who works as education manager at equality organisation Kick It Out claims racism has never gone away, with reports of discrimination increasing in each of the previous six years.We just cannot rest on our laurels racism has never gone away, Townsend tells talkSPORT.We released our report only a couple of weeks ago and six years running we have had an increase of reports and an increase of discrimination.

Racism on the rise again

Kick It Out's most recent annual report covers the 2017/18 season, and it showed a 22 per cent rise in reports of racism for the sixth consecutive year
  • Kick It Out received 520 reports for the period, up from 469 on 2016/17
  • 53 per cent of reports concerned racism, a rise of 22 per cent from the previous year
  • The highest rise in reports concerned disability discrimination, which increased from 14 to 29 (107 per cent)
  • Ten per cent of reports concern antisemitism
  • Grassroots discrimation reports rose by 35 per cent across the period, with 71 per cent of reports at this level concerning racism
Racism tops the list again; over 50 per cent of our reports are around racism.When you go into the grassroots area of the game it is over 70 per cent.That identifies as a massive problem to me, and that identifies that we still have massive amounts of work to do.Yes, T-shirts are great I work for Kick It Out and its great to have that visibility on matchday but we very rarely get players talk the way Raheem did, [or] when Rhian Brewster spoke about his experiences.Its very rare that players talk out through their playing days – it is often left until afterwards. Sterling claimed the media fuels racism the day after he was allegedly verbally assaulted, and Townsend echoes the England forwards feelings.He continues: Youve got to remember the media is very similar to the footballing world; when you look at the top echelons of both industries there is no representation there are not people in there who will say hold on a minute, I can tell you the experience of how Raheem feels.We have to take that on board, and we have to use language and terminology within our media that is acceptable in this day and age.The media can fuel perception, and that is what they are doing they are fuelling perception with the stories they are talking about.And Im not just saying the sports media Im not just going to criticise the sports media this is media right across the board; Raheem hits the front pages, the middle pages and the back pages.The back pages are often negative. I dont see Raheem being spoken about in the same breaths as other players, who maybe havent won what hes won or done what hes done in the game, but when you go through the papers the perception is a negative perception about this young man.And the negative perception is entirely based on Sterling being a black man who has done all he can to reach the pinnacle of the field he works in to become successful and wealthy.Townsend adds: I say Raheem has been continuously dug out just for being a young, black, successful, wealthy footballer.This is not the first time Raheem has been targeted by fans the young man has been targeted going into his training ground.

Kick It Out's statement on the Sterling incident

“What happened at Chelsea shows what is still going on in football.“Where is Richard Scudamore? Where is Greg Clarke? Where is Chelsea’s chairman [Bruce Buck]? They should have been talking about [the Sterling incident] last night and it has to be dealt with at the top.“We do not have any leadership at the top of the game to speak out, they rely on Kick It Out. We have already made comments about the way Raheem Sterling has been treated differently by the media. The print media often targets, not just black players, but all footballers.“Raheem Sterling has received bad press over the last few years because of his lifestyle, and clearly, there are issues from potential stories adding to prejudice and I have every sympathy for him.“Players know if they are abused in any way they have to tell the referee. It was awful. All players know the referee is in charge and has a duty of care, and the referee can remove those people. It didn’t appear to me he told the referee in the first place.”I can pick out all the negative stories there have been about this young man that are nothing to do with his footballing ability, but have more to do with his wealth.Because he is now a young man who is earning quite a lot of money, and apparently black players are not supposed to earn a lot of money.Asked whether racism is confined to football or is a problem in Britain as a whole, Townsend made his feelings very clear.Of course there is [a societal problem]. Im not a politician but obviously Brexit has seen a massive change in this country, and it is going to impact this country for a long time.We are now judgemental Britain we judge everything.Of course its a societal problem, but football has a massive say on that problem, and what is put on the front and back pages influences people and their judgements as well.That is why it is so important we support people like Raheem rather than be negative about what he is talking about.
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