Bartley: Clubs must take a tough stance on racists

LIVINGSTON midfielder Marvin Bartley wants Scottish clubs to be held directly responsible if their fans are found guilty of racial abuse.

The Englishman, who has been a target himself since arriving in Scotland to join Hibs in 2015, feels football authorities around the globe are generally not tough enough in dealing with racism.

And he believes that clubs should ultimately be docked points if their supporters continue to misbehave.

Previous attempts to introduce strict liability have been overwhelmingly rejected by Scottish clubs in the past.

But Bartley is adamant it’s the only way forward if clubs are serious about tackling the scourge of racism.

He said: ‘I think, in terms of football, the fines are embarrassing for racial incidents.

‘When you look around the footballing world, you will probably get fined more for revealing a sponsor on a T-shirt than someone in the crowd shouting racial abuse.

‘That is not us taking it seriously. The fines have to be a lot heavier. There has to be a lot more onus on the clubs to sort this out.

‘If a club were to have a racial incident from their supporters, there should be a warning and a fine that goes with it.

‘If you have another one, there should be a points deduction. That is the only way that it is going to stop this.

‘When fans in and around you know you are costing your side points or a place in the league, that’s when people start to take it seriously because it is affecting the football club as a whole.

‘I get it that some people are scared when they hear these things and they don’t want to get involved in it, but let’s make it concern everybody.

‘The clubs will be a lot more serious about it because the fines will be heavy and they are losing points.

‘Let’s have a vote about it (strict liability) and the clubs that say no to it, tell us why.

‘I can’t think of a Scottish Premiership side that doesn’t have a black player in their squad.

‘If they don’t want to take liability for (racist abuse), then they should come out and explain their reasons.’

Bartley (right) called for increased education and more self-policing amongst fans as he opened up on the anguish of how it feels to be racially abused.

‘The first incident (on Twitter) was harsh and it hurt,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘But the second incident was a lot worse because I heard someone saying it.

‘Warming up, someone zoomed in on me in a video and it is probably the worst racial abuse I have heard in a video.

‘I got the footage sent to me, too. It was awful. It cut me deep to hear those words, not only said, but said about me.

‘It is mentally tough, especially when you feel settled somewhere and you hear that.

‘Not only do you hear it but it goes out on social media, so your mum and family hear it. It was a torrid time.

‘I can’t describe how I felt after I received it. I really was struggling. I see myself as Marvin Bartley, and there are a lot of things about me that I can change.

‘But the colour of the skin I was born with, for somebody to see that as a problem and say those things about me was really hard to deal with. Two things will help. Firstly, self-policing. We need to pull people up and say that is not acceptable or alert a steward and say: “I have just heard racist abuse”. ‘The second thing is educating yourself. I can be called many different things, but to bring my skin colour into it is below the belt. ‘I think too many people feel it is acceptable. But people need to educate themselves on how it makes others feel. ‘I am a professional footballer and, on the pitch, my style is physical but I am still a human being. This is what I am trying to get across — it hurts me like anybody else. ‘I think racism is getting worse in terms of social media. Twenty years ago, if you wanted to offend a person of colour, you would have to go to their face and say it. But now footballers are so accessible over social media. ‘You can just send a message to them. You can do it via a fake account and then delete the account. ‘I will never meet them but they’ve still sent that message — and that hurts just as much reading it.’