COLE:COPS TARGETEDME
Strikerclaimshewaspulledoverforbeingblack
Motherwell star Devante Cole has claimed he was pulled over by police for being black – but officers moved on when they discovered he was a footballer.
The Fir Park star, the son of former Manchester United hero Andy, was discussing life in Scotland as a black player on Motherwell’s behind-the-scenes documentary ‘Inside Motherwell’ when he made the claim.
And he has also insisted he will walk off the pitch in protest if he is racially abused.
The documentary follows
Mo t h e r w e l l’s s t a n d a ga i n s t racism last week ahead of their clash with Kilmarnock, in which players refused to take the knee, and Rangers star Glen Kamara claiming he was racially abused by Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela during their Europa League defeat to the Czech side last week.
Four of Motherwell’s black players, Cole, Bevis Mugabi, Sherwin Seedorf and Charles Dunne, sat down to discuss their experiences as a minority group in Scotland and it proved to be powerful viewing, as the quartet opened up on the discrimination they say t hey have faced throughout their lives.
The players agreed they’ve all felt victimised by police at some stage and Cole, who had a sixmonth loan spell at the Steelmen from Wigan in July 2019 before signing permanently in October last year, pointed to a particular occasion where he alleges he was pulled over and let go as soon as he told the officer he played for Motherwell.
Cole revealed: “Driving around you feel it even more so in a place like Scotland because there is probably less black people here than there is in England.
“So up here driving about I’ve been pulled by police once – and I was like what’s this for, really? Told them I played for Motherwell and it was happy days. I was just like: that shouldn’t work. If I didn’t play for Motherwell we were probably having a different kind of conversation.”
Cole added: “Everyone here [among the players] has been pulled [over by the police].It’s normal and it shouldn’t be.”
Centre-back Mugabi added: “When you are driving around as a black guy in an okay car, you get pulled.”
Fellow defender Dunne sighed: “It’s normal and it shouldn’t be.”
Police Scotland were contacted, but were unable to comment without further details of the alleged incident. Meanwhile,
the players also discussed how they felt taking the knee has lost its impact.
Mugabisaid:”It’stotallylostitsmeaning. At the start I thought this would be good and it would draw a lot of attention to it, but now it’s just pretty pointless.
Cole added:“I think for the first two weeks it was loud and clear...now it’s been lost.”
The players also opened up on the sickening abuse they have received on the pitch and over social media while doing their jobs.
Seedorf revealed:“I was playing at Wolves. It was an U23 game and we lost againstSouthamptonandsomebody was just saying black f***** this and that.”
Mugabi explained:“I was back at Yeovil, I walked to the edge of the pitch and somebody said:‘Go back to your f****** country. But I just went back on to the pitch – what can you actually do?”
Cole revealed he had to be held back from getting into a fight when an opponent tried to spit on him on a pre-season trip with Manchester City a fewyearsagoandsayshewouldnow walk off the pitch to make himself heard.
Cole said:“I went to swing [for him] and I just thought I couldn’t care less what happens after this, but luckily one of my team-mates caught me and stopped it.
“City put in a complaint and they got fined £10,000. Something stupid anyway that didn’t effect the club.
“If I get abused I’m walking off the pitch and doing something about it, race has nothing to do with football.
“I’ll get more reaction for walking off than I will carrying on.”