The building of World Cup venues has, by some estimates, cost thousands of lives. Should we be sitting in these arenas watching football? Or tipping them into the harbour?If you want to be picky, you could say Raheem Sterling chose an ill-targeted metaphor in his statement this week on racial prejudice and the need for a step-change in football’s power structures.Comparing the spread of racism to the spread of Covid-19 is probably not the best way to change those minds most in need of changing. Let’s face it, a global Venn diagram of virus-deniers and bigotry-sceptics is likely to feature a fairly dense overlap, a concentration of people who don’t really think either of these things exist. You hear that?...
The Wasps forward says rugby union is behind other sports on race problems and needs to be bolderLast November, as Siya Kolisi hoisted the World Cup into the Yokohama sky, it felt like rugby union had finally shaken itself free. An inspirational black captain, clad in a Springbok jersey, proving to the world his sport did not discriminate. For all those who believe in racial equality and yearn for a more enlightened, harmonious future it was an iconic image.And now? The sickening death of George Floyd, the subsequent global outrage and the increasingly stark evidence of white privilege has caused everyone to do a mental stocktake. How many of us have railed loudly enough against racism and deep-rooted injustice, as...
The US president’s racism is so blatant he may be an unwitting catalyst for overdue cultural change all over the worldDear President Trump, I realise this is an extremely busy time for you between games of golf and tweeting but I hope you may be boosted by a rare and welcome thank you letter from a black man at such an inconvenient moment in the history of the United States of America. Related: Brees sorry after LeBron James leads backlash to QB's criticism of anthem protests Related: George Floyd's killing matters too much for corporate sport's on-brand insincerity | Jonathan Liew Continue reading...
Fifa’s and Uefa’s response to the solidarity shown by players with George Floyd needs to be more than platitudesTalk is famously cheap and out of the mouths of international football administrators tumble platitudes that are not worth the paper they will soon be written on. While encouraging, the apparent freedom granted by Fifa to players who wish to throw their collective shoulder to the wheel of protest against the sickening death of George Floyd at the knee of a Minnesota policeman should perhaps be greeted with scepticism.“For the avoidance of doubt, in a Fifa competition the recent demonstration of players in Bundesliga matches would deserve an applause and not a punishment,” said Gianni Infantino after on-field gestures made by the...
It was not that long ago Raheem Sterling was being vilified by sections of English press and supporters, and hypocrisy has been rife since Monday’s debacle in SofiaThere has scarcely been a more breakneck reverse ferret than the support now shown by some sections of Her Majesty’s press for Raheem Sterling. You love to see it. Certain papers who cheerily trashed Sterling for so long, for reasons they could never quite put their finger on – but he could – recently seem to have become dimly sentient about the existence of racism.The truly hideous scenes during England’s twice‑halted 6-0 win over Bulgaria on Monday apparently marked a coming of age, with various outlets and pundits now turning on Uefa for...