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| Will football finally kick racism out this season? | Will football finally kick racism out this season? |
| (2 months later) | |
| Football is back in the papers. Players bought, friendlies played, top clubs strategising. And it's not just them. Lord Ouseley (friends call him Herman) is plotting his campaign involving all the clubs in the Premier and the Football League. Whether Man U or Macclesfield, what he seeks is much the same – an end to racism in the game. | Football is back in the papers. Players bought, friendlies played, top clubs strategising. And it's not just them. Lord Ouseley (friends call him Herman) is plotting his campaign involving all the clubs in the Premier and the Football League. Whether Man U or Macclesfield, what he seeks is much the same – an end to racism in the game. |
| Last season was a busy one for Ouseley and the Kick It Out project. Too busy. Hard to know why; I think there's a scratchy intolerance in the air just now and it wafts into football stadiums just as anywhere else, but Herman also says that after a lot of campaigning by Kick it Out, abused players felt more able to report sorry incidents. Either way, it was uncomfortable. Think the long-running John Terry saga. Think Bolton striker Marvin Sordell being abused from the terraces at Millwall, for example. It seemed as if the spectre we thought had been exorcised was making a lamented return. | Last season was a busy one for Ouseley and the Kick It Out project. Too busy. Hard to know why; I think there's a scratchy intolerance in the air just now and it wafts into football stadiums just as anywhere else, but Herman also says that after a lot of campaigning by Kick it Out, abused players felt more able to report sorry incidents. Either way, it was uncomfortable. Think the long-running John Terry saga. Think Bolton striker Marvin Sordell being abused from the terraces at Millwall, for example. It seemed as if the spectre we thought had been exorcised was making a lamented return. |
| For all that, says Ouseley, there is an opportunity this season, which happily coincides with Kick It Out's 20th anniversary and a series of associated events; the season of action starts on 30 July. There were so many incidents last season, he says, so many occasions in which clubs and the authorities were tested and found wanting: they must have learned something. Never waste a good crisis. | For all that, says Ouseley, there is an opportunity this season, which happily coincides with Kick It Out's 20th anniversary and a series of associated events; the season of action starts on 30 July. There were so many incidents last season, he says, so many occasions in which clubs and the authorities were tested and found wanting: they must have learned something. Never waste a good crisis. |
| "We expect clubs to very quickly impose their own disciplinary processes on players who fall short. Every club should have its own code of conduct which says you don't racially abuse anyone." He wants a recalibration; no more reacting to public pressure or disapproval from corporate sponsors. "The club themselves should be making apologies. It is about putting responsibility back on clubs. Are the managers challenging it; and coaches? Do the clubs have policies to root it out? The next big challenge is the boardroom. Are they genuinely committed?" | "We expect clubs to very quickly impose their own disciplinary processes on players who fall short. Every club should have its own code of conduct which says you don't racially abuse anyone." He wants a recalibration; no more reacting to public pressure or disapproval from corporate sponsors. "The club themselves should be making apologies. It is about putting responsibility back on clubs. Are the managers challenging it; and coaches? Do the clubs have policies to root it out? The next big challenge is the boardroom. Are they genuinely committed?" |
| Time for a step-change, he says. But also time also to reflect on the progress of 20 years. When Kick It Out was formed, half the clubs signed up quickly, while the other half took some persuading. One lower division club proved especially intransigent. "The chairman said whenever there was a problem, 'I just get on my megaphone and stop it.'" Would that things were so easily fixed. | Time for a step-change, he says. But also time also to reflect on the progress of 20 years. When Kick It Out was formed, half the clubs signed up quickly, while the other half took some persuading. One lower division club proved especially intransigent. "The chairman said whenever there was a problem, 'I just get on my megaphone and stop it.'" Would that things were so easily fixed. |
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