BAME panel to advise Premier League on race issues

THE Premier League has brought in a panel made up of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) members to advise on issues of race. Top-flight officials have appointed an eight-person group which is made up of current and ex-players and managers, which Sportsmail understands is being chaired by ex-West Bromwich and current Doncaster manager Darren Moore (right). The Premier League will also seek Raheem Sterling’s input, even though he is not one of the eight. The move is part of wide-ranging plans to tackle racism and was not triggered by the sickening abuse aimed at England players in Bulgaria on Monday night. The Premier League say that the BAME participants’ advisory group will ‘ensure the views of BAME players and coaches are heard’ and will ‘help inform ongoing work’. Over the next two weekends, the No Room For Racism campaign will be visible at all top-flight matches, with Sterling, Tammy Abraham, Trent AlexanderArnold, Son Heung-min, Teemu Pukki, Jordan Pickford and Callum Wilson appearing in videos at stadiums. The campaign was introduced last year without input from Kick It Out but the anti-racism charity has been consulted this time around, Premier League insiders said. It is also understood competition bosses held face-to-face talks with social media firms, including Twitter — which has been used as a platform for racists to publish hatred. Meanwhile, a group of Aston Villa fans are preparing a banner to pay tribute to the way Tyrone Mings dealt with racist abuse on his England debut. The Project B6 group of supporters hope to unfurl the flag at tomorrow’s home game against Brighton, following Mings’ impressive response to the monkey chants aimed at him in Sofia. Four Bulgaria fans arrested for subjecting England players to racist abuse have been fined 1,000 Bulgarian lev (£443) and banned from sports events for two years.