Very Little Response from League Members on Racism
As online racism has surged since the 2020 Euro, English Soccer has teamed up with local police forces, PFA, and Kick It Out to help spot and report acts of racism in soccer. However, after all 92 English league clubs were contacted in July, only three teams, all from the top division, have agreed to have representatives come and talk to the players.
That is embarrassingly low for a region of soccer that has an obvious issue with racist fans, as noted after two players of color missed penalty kicks for England in the Euro and were subject to grotesque online abuse afterward.
Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs Council's football lead, told Sky News (2021), "Only 49 have come back with a positive response to saying they wish to engage… so far only eight clubs have facilitated us getting the officers, PFA and Kick It Out in to speak to the players," (para. 2) Of the 8, only three have made a hard commitment.
Premier League should intervene and show some backbone here. For some odd reason, the Chief Constable did not want to name the three clubs because it could shame the non-participants. I say they SHOULD be shamed.
~Michael Patrick Day, Irish Proud & 12oz Sports Writer
Photo Credit: https://unsplash.com/@bradenh13
Reference
Parmenter, T (2021). Just three Premier League clubs accept police invitation to help tackle online racism, top officer reveals. Sky News. Retrieved HERE
