Once again there has been lots of media focus on Raheem Sterling this week, though after scoring a hat-trick against the Czech Republic and another goal in Montenegro, assisting two others and standing up once again to racist abuse, the most recent articles have been entirely positive. I think this is brilliant and totally deserved but while the media are busy praising his skills it is the journalists who have performed a 180-degree turn.
Everybody is taking this opportunity to praise Sterling but I think it’s an opportunity to learn from the way he has been spoken and written about in the past, and to say we need to be less quick to judge people in football, particularly black players. Paul Pogba is another good example. People have been very quick to judge young black players on their lifestyles and then when they go on to win the World Cup, to take league titles or score goals they’re all of a sudden changed men. They haven’t changed, people are just choosing to see them in a different way. Perception is a big thing in football and people need to be more careful about how they choose to perceive young players in the first instance.
Related: European football bosses should take Raheem Sterling’s lead on fighting racism | Dario Brentin
Related: England’s Sterling and Southgate call for action on racist abuse in Montenegro
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