Raheem Sterling kickstarted a welcome debate on racism this week and while the game should not shoulder all the blame perhaps everyone in football has learned somethingTo be fair to the more risque element of Chelsea’s matchday support, they have been very thorough this week in representing the full political spectrum. On the one hand an ad hoc hostile environment for Anglo-Jamaican British citizens. On the other a little throwaway antisemitism on Thursday night in Hungary. This is exemplary political balance and frankly the BBC for one could learn a great deal from it.All that remains to complete the circle is for Sterling’s alleged Stamford Bridge abuser to resign from the East Stand and then turn up six months later...
In times of stress, like the period we’re living through, people look for ways to communicate their superiority over othersI wasn’t surprised to see white people allegedly shouting racist abuse at Raheem Sterling and I don’t blame racists for holding those beliefs. We all discriminate, consciously or subconsciously. To be angry at a few people is a distraction. When it happens, the problem is not that people shout racist abuse, it is that they want to shout racist abuse. If every racist who came to football was silenced, football stadiums would still be full of racists. Racism is everywhere in our society, it is inside every one of us.The next day Sterling turned the spotlight on to how the media...
The England forward’s Instagram post has got people, journalists especially, talking about racism but nothing will change – it never doesWith one early-morning Instagram post Raheem Sterling has got everyone talking about racism. Racism in football, racism in the media, racism in society as a whole and from certain high-up quarters the response has been to show sympathy and support for Sterling and call for change. But here’s the thing: nothing will change. It never does when it comes to racism in this country.Britain now is as it was in the 1970s, when I was growing up in Cannock, a mixed-raced child within a community that was, and remains, 99.9% white. In this post-Brexit vote environment, people again feel free...