Kick It Out’s Troy: We’re losing war on racism
TROY TOWNSEND believes all of football is underperforming in the fight against racism.
Kick It Out’s head of development made his uncompromising assessment in the wake of Raheem Sterling’s call for the English game to give more opportunities to black managers and administrators.
“None of us are performing well if there are incidents still happening,” said Townsend (above). “We are very quick to challenge the incidents out in Bulgaria (below) or incidents in Montenegro, when it affects our national players.
“We are damning and want the harshest possible punishment on the associations and perpetrators.
“When it comes back into our own countries, we are not dealing with it in the manner we stress it should be dealt with abroad. We are all underperforming.”
Townsend has spent more than a decade fighting for equality and inclusivity in football, and has welcomed the spotlight on racerelated issues in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in the US.
But with Premier League football returning after a threemonth suspension on June 17, Townsend fears the focus will be diverted and the old problems will soon return.
He has now challenged the English game’s rulers to listen to the game’s black contingent and keep the issue at the top of the agenda. “It goes off the radar as soon as the next Premier League game comes about,” he told Sky Sport’s The Football Show.
“The Premier League is back next week. Are we going to be discussing these conversations, or are we going to be grateful that football is back on our screens and we’ve actually got something to turn the focus away?
“This season has seen some unbelievable situations happen around our football grounds, up and down the country.
“We are all failing, and there needs to be urgent talks when football does return, to establish how football is going to step up to the mark to help society.”
IT has been said more than once Gareth Southgate would make a good Prime Minister.
Well, he is certainly developing into a smooth politician.
Asked if he thought the Football Association was institutionally racist, as implied by Raheem Sterling, he emphasised the need for change at the top of organisations but said progress was being made.
Quizzed on the management paths for Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in comparison with those available to Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole, he agreed it symbolised a broad problem but pointed out young black coaches were emerging.
Southgate is an England manager who speaks well but treads carefully. Southgate is an England manager who is happy to let his players do the straight-talking.
And he could not have been prouder of the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Sterling and the rest of his squad over these past few months.
As young English players rally behind the Black Lives Matter movement and offer selfless community help during the Covid-19 crisis, Southgate believes they are at the forefront of a generation with a social conscience unafraid to speak its mind.
He said: “They never cease to impress me. For lads that are so young, they have a willingness to speak up on critical matters, a recognition they can affect the world outside their own game.
“I think they recognise they shouldn’t just sit back and be happy to be players. They can make a difference.
“They recognised the journeys they made in their own lives and, when they see kids going through that, they