Kick it Out

"Kick It Out" is English football’s equality and inclusion organisation. “Working throughout the football, education and community sectors to challenge discrimination, encourage inclusive practices and campaign for positive change, "Kick It Out" is at the heart of the fight against discrimination for everyone who plays, watches or walks in football". Looking on the website, I decided to check what issues they have highlighted recently as I feel that there has been a lot of incidents in football regarding racism. Recently, in the Italian league, a player by the name Moise Kean was subjected to abusive racial slurs by the opposing team fans after he scored and celebrated in front of them. Now, no supporter enjoys the opposition celebrating in front of them. Supporters may voice their anger towards the player but when it gets into the territory of Racial comments, that's when the line has been crossed. Raheem Sterling was a victim of racial abuse in a game against Chelsea, where a white Chelsea fan called him a "Black Cunt" near the touchline. He also received criticism about his spending, his leg tattoo and his lifestyle. I went on the "Kick It Out" website. I didn't see one article talking about the Chelsea incident. I searched through the archives of past articles so I know it hasn't been mentioned. What the "Kick It Out" website does do, is report the statistics of discrimination in grassroots, social media and the professional game. Statistics from “Kick It Out”, football’s equality and inclusion organisation, reveal an increase in reports for the sixth consecutive year. Racism constituted 53 per cent of them during the 2017/18 season, a rise of 22 per cent from the previous year. The charity received a total of 520 reports for this period, up by 11 per cent from 469 in 2016/17. Disability discrimination reports rose higher than any other in 2017/18, increasing by 107% from 14 to 29 incidents. 10% of all reports concerned anti-semitism. The statistics are compiled from all levels of the game, including the Premier League, English Football League (EFL), FA Women’s Super League, non-league and grassroots fixtures. Reports from social media, which was the most popular reporting method, are also included. Cases reported at EFL matches have risen by 30 per cent, and across the entire professional game, there was a 10% increase overall from 194 in 2016/17 to 214 in 2017/18. Grassroots discrimination reports rose by 35 per cent across the same period, with racism (71 per cent) and disability (33 per cent) the most common forms of discrimination reported. Those are the reports from last seasons and with everything, that's happened so far this season in English football, I'm predicting an increase for the current season also. I feel like “Kick it Out” has to be more vocal. Rally around and support the people of colour that are in football and tackle the issues we face more aggressively. Address issues such as there being a very small number of black managers in the leagues, for example. Danny Rose made a statement recently stating that he doesn't feel doing his coaching badges will do him any good after he retires from playing, as there is a huge problem with black coaching reaching a top level in English football using Sol Campbell as reference for how hard it is to be a black manager in English football. A man of Sol Campbell's achievements had to go all the way down to League Two to manage a club, while ex-players such and Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have started their careers in higher and better clubs such as Rangers FC and Derby County. Darren Moore, another black manager had put West Brom in the playoff position in the championships, but with the club's board expecting an instant return to the premier league, decided they didn't want to risk Darren Moore taking the club through the last ten games of the season even though they didn't invest much in the club for the season in terms of new players. He was doing well with the little resources and had one of the best away records in the league and had a seven-point gap between West Brom and the team in seventh place. The board saw him as not the man to take them to the playoffs just goes to show the lack of trust and confidence they have in black coaches abilities. Chris Hughton is the closest to success as a mixed-race manager in top-flight English football but even he has had his issued in club management also. Chris Hughton guided Newcastle back into the Premiership in 2009/2010 from the championship only losing 6 out of 51 games in the championship but the club said it was looking for someone "with more managerial experience". Once again with managers not being trusted enough to prove themselves qualified to succeed in clubs you can see why Danny Rose's statement was such a huge one. Racial incidents that happen in the premier league need to be punished more severely. I would like to see ambassadors and leaders speak on more platforms and push this a lot harder than it is at the moment. Who is the face of “Kick it Out”? Why are they not the first to speak on incidents in football to the media? Why is it not being marketed and promoted as much as it should be? Why is there no adverts being pushed on a nationwide scale? Racism is a sleeping giant in Britain. Racism in English football is so strategically dealt with that it's so irritating to me. I remember Anton Ferdinand being subject to racism by a Chelsea player during a game and the outrage that followed only lasted about a week. Now we are in similar circumstances with Raheem Sterling. They can't brush his incidents under the carpet because he's the best player England has. I love how the criticism has brought the best out of him in terms of his footballing abilities and character off the pitch. He voices how the media criticise him regularly to the point where it comes across as bullying. The day and age we are in with social media people can discuss it so much that now the newspapers have to calm down. The fact that the newspapers can dictate how black players are treated just continues to show the underlying racism in this society. I haven't seen one black player in English football like Raheem Sterling. True to his roots, true to himself, not willing to fold or bend and remain the strong black man that he is. He wants you to keep abusing him as he scores, he wants you to keep criticising him as he lives his life, continue to try and make him submit but he won't. No matter how much you try to promote Harry Kane, he's not better than Sterling. No matter how much you try to praise Delli Alli or any of the other players that are "Acceptable" to be the face of English football. None are as talented as Raheem Sterling. "Kick It Out" organisation need to do better to protect this amazing talent and force changes for people of colour to feel truly equal in the sport of Football.