Hoppo’s Hairdryer
I LOVE a noble gesture, but socialmedia blackouts from a handful of players, former pros and clubs will not convince any of the Silicon Valley giants to work harder to combat the scourge of racism on their platforms.
Facebook has around 2.8billion monthly users, Instagram around 1.1bn and Twitter, by a distance the smallest, has 330million-odd.
So the disappearance of a few hundred football folk, or even a few thousand, is barely going to register with those at the top of such organisations. It may raise awareness for a day or two, but it isn’t going to change the perceptions of those who think it acceptable to abuse people for the colour of their skin.
What would better serve the game — and society as a whole — would be for football to refocus its efforts and considerable resources on getting more individuals into schools and communities to talk to people, young and old, about the impact racism has had on them.
To challenge their perceptions and educate them in the hope that they in turn can do the same for family members and friends.
Only then might we actually see football’s ‘R’ rate slowly begin to fall.
KUDOS to my old Hinckley Town Cricket Club teammate Darren Stevens. Two weeks shy of his 45th birthday, he’s become the oldest recipient of a Wisden Cricketer of the Year award since 1933.
There were two or three players in Leicestershire’s county set-up in the late 1990s who you would have fancied for a professional career ahead of the Kent star.
But Darren (below) worked harder than anyone for his break and has never stopped working to maximise his talent.
He is every bit as much an example to youngsters who want to carve out a career as anyone in the
England set-up.