BELL: STARS MUST RING THE CHANGES
Players should be using their influence to SCREAM about the big issues like climate change, plastic and mental health rather than sit at home
for the next generation.” He also praised Tottenham left-back Danny Rose’s “important” willingness to open up on a “taboo” subject like mental health ahead of the World Cup.
Bellerin, who believes American sports are much better at dealing with offfield issues, said: “Imagine a kid or a teenager that is not happy with themselves.
“He knows he has got an issue and is scared because he doesn’t know what his family or his friends are going to think about him.
“Then a player he looks up to, which Danny Rose (above) could be, raises this issue.
“That is probably going to give that push that kids needs to get out there and actually talk about it and then from there being back with the best health he can have.
“There are so many good and positive things that come from raising problems and showing people we are humans, not machines.
“We have lives, families, problems, worries, and it is important to speak about them to get people to relate to us as well.”
Bellerin admits wading into controversial subjects irritates some people, but insists the positive response he receives when he has outweighs the negative.
Speaking to Arsenal.com, Bellerin said: “The football industry is one where we just have to be quiet and play.
“The culture around it is footballers can’t really do anything else other than kick a ball. This is the stereotype.
“When I raise these issues I always have a backlash as in, ‘You should stick to football or you should stick to something you know.’
“But I spoke about the plastic issue and some kids in a school in north London saw it and I had 400 letters from every single kid of that school.
“They are so understanding of the damage it has done and were writing that they saw this video.
“When you influence people in that way, even if it is just a small group, all that makes me a thousand times more happy than a backlash makes me sad.”