Time to get tough on racist abuse
Maidstone captain George Elokobi fears racism is becoming the norm in football and has called on the authorities to issue lifetime bans. England’s black players were subjected to abuse during their 6-0 European Championship qualifying win in Bulgaria on Monday night.
It’s the latest in a string of recent high-profile incidents, with the likes of Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba targeted on social media. Elokobi, a victim during his time at Wolves, believes perpetrators need educating but also feels the authorities need to get tough on both individuals and countries.
“I feel like it’s becoming quite the norm,” said the Cameroonian defender.
“We saw it with England v Bulgaria and you’re thinking, ‘wow, when is it going to stop?’ “Credit to Gareth Southgate for bringing it to the attention of the officials and they responded incredibly by making sure they thrashed Bulgaria
“Let’s see what the people at the top do about it because it’s getting out of control now and I just feel the punishments are very lenient.
“Is it going to stop any time soon? I doubt it. Education is key to help the ignorant people that do it because no one is born to be a racist. “They pick it up from their communities, ie the parents, because no child comes into this world being a racist.
“It’s sad that it’s quite common nowadays.
“We saw it happening to the likes of Rashford, taking a penalty and missing, and the same with Pogba and it’s just getting worse because what are football governing people at the top, like UEFA, what are they doing?
“Fining them £5,000 or £2,000 isn’t going to do anything. “Sometimes I think they need to start banning some of these countries. “The duration I don’t know, it could be for a year or make them miss a big tournament so their football body doesn’t get any money.
“In the UK I think we’ve tried a lot of stuff, haven’t we? “There’s campaigns going on, Show Racism the Red Card, Kick it Out, but I think the FA needs to do more.
“Do they need to give life bans instead of two years?
“Just banning them is not going to be enough. Sometimes people need serious education. “If they are racist, why are they racist?
“You’ve got to dig it out. What made them become a racist? It could be their upbringing.
“It’s deeper than just, ‘there you go, there’s a fine, there’s a ban’, you have to try to educate these people.”
Elokobi was targeted when Wolves played at Walsall in January 2014.
His club complained to the FA but two months later Walsall were cleared of all charges.
“In this country it’s difficult because they say ‘we can’t identify the culprit’,” said Elokobi, speaking on the KM Football Podcast.
“It happened to myself against Walsall.
“I was warming up on the side and I could definitely hear it coming out from the crowd – ‘hey, Elokobi, you black ...’ “The one thing I tell anyone is I’m proud of my race, it doesn’t faze me one bit what you say to me.
“I’m proud of where I came from, I’m proud of how I speak, I’m proud of my religion. “When I look at anyone or I’m speaking to anyone, I don’t see colour.
“So if you want to bring my colour, my race into play and feel like you’re going to make me feel lesser than yourself, good luck to you.
“Good luck to you because that is just going to spur me on to go on and do greater things.”