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BBC survey has found that England's football clubs are failing
to deal with racism among supporters.
BBC Radio Five Live has learned that only 122 fans have
been banned from Premiership and Nationwide League grounds
for racist behaviour in the past five years.
Figures provided by all 92 English clubs indicate that
there is no common strategy in place to deal with the problem,
with some clubs failing to throw out fans guilty of racist
abuse.
The situation has been described as a ‘disgrace’ by the
game's leading anti-racist campaigning body, ‘Kick It Out’.
National coordinator Piara Power warned that unless clubs
do more, another generation of black and
Asian fans will be lost to the game.
And ‘Kick It Out’ chairman Sir Herman Ouseley believes
changes need to be made from top to bottom.
"The game has taken steps to try and deal with the excesses
of racist behaviour but you can't deny the fact that at
the highest level of the game there is complacency," Ouseley told
BBC Radio 5 Live.
"There is a certain amount of apathy and a sense that
we have moved on. We're now on to building new national
stadiums and racism has fallen right down the agenda.”
"This complacency exists in the boardroom, among the FA.
The FA Council hasn't transformed itself in a way which
reflects the ethnic diversity of the game and black and
Asian match-day officials are still far and few between."
Their comments are backed up by research carried out for
the Football Association which shows that 83% of Asian fans
and 77% of black fans will not go to matches for fear of
racist abuse.
There have been several high-profile cases of racism in
both international and European matches.
England's Emile Heskey and Ashley Cole were subjected to
abuse from Slovakia fans during the Euro 2004 qualifier
in Bratislava.
And PSV Eindhoven were fined after their fans directed
chants at Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.
There were also complaints that Nottingham Forest fans
abused Leicester supporters during a First Division game.
Ouseley, a former chairman of the Commission for Racial
Equality, believes local authorities should demand clubs
within their jurisdiction produce plans
outlining how they will deal with racial harassment.
But the most effective weapon, according to Ouseley,
could be direct action from the players on the receiving
end of the abuse.
He added: "There is now a critical mass of black players
playing professionally and it may come to players walking
off the pitch if we don't see improvements.”
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