KICK IT OUT: FOOTBALL IS DRAGGING ITS FEET

KICK IT OUT campaigner Troy Townsend has accused football of not reacting quickly enough to the racism crisis – despite the concerns of the game’s highest profile players.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a banana skin thrown at him during last November’s North London derby, while Raheem Sterling’s landmark Instagram post followed the abuse he received from fans at Chelsea a month later.

Townsend (right) believes the game sits on its hands until it is shamed into action.

Speaking in a new BT Sport documentary, State Of Play, he said: “The game reacts way too slowly. If we are going to make positive steps, on the Saturday night that Raheem Sterling gets racially abused, you act there and then.

“You don’t wait for Raheem to send a message on Instagram to react and say we’re looking into this. On the day Aubameyang has that banana thrown at him, you send a strong message there and then to say this will not be tolerated and the game will take action.

“Internally, behind closed doors, football talks a great game. Publicly it needs to do better. If we are talking about race, who are the influencers at the top end that can talk about it passionately? That can make people understand what someone might go through?

“We need role models. That’s part of trying to get that support system – people that know what you’re going through.

“If you don’t see that reflected at the highest level then we’re going to turn away more people than we put through the system.”