Help report race abuse
LORD OUSELEY has called on football clubs and authorities to do more to encourage the reporting of racist abuse after a global survey revealed more than half of fans have witnessed incidents at games.
The survey, the results of which have been released by equality organisation Kick It Out and live-score app Forza Football, reflects the views of nearly 27,000 supporters from 38 countries.
An average of 54 per cent of respondents said they had personally witnessed racist abuse, with Peruvian fans reporting the highest incidence at 77 per cent and Dutch supporters the lowest at 38 per cent.
Half of UK fans claimed they had witnessed abuse but only 40 per cent said they would know how to report it, while the figure globally was 28 per cent.
Ouseley, the chairman of Kick It Out, said: “If you were asking this question 10 years ago, certainly 25 years ago, about how many fans had witnessed racist abuse it probably would have been about 90 per cent, so the fact it’s 50 per cent is both disappointing and pleasing, because we’ve moved and are moving in the right direction.
“What is disappointing is only around 40 per cent know what to do about it. Around every football club there should be signs everywhere, there should be opportunities for people to download apps and complain either to clubs directly or to Kick It Out, or to the FA or the appropriate league.”
Fans were also asked whether they would feel comfortable with a player of a different ethnic or racial background to them representing their club or country, with an average of 84 per cent saying they would.
Fans in Norway (95 per cent), Sweden (94 per cent), and Brazil (93 per cent) felt the most comfortable, but only 11 per cent of fans in Saudi Arabia said they would feel comfortable.
More than 20 per cent of Germans, Spaniards and Italians said they would feel uncomfortable.