Commentators racially biased?

Alarming results from Europe’s top leagues

THE Professional Football Association (PFA) have urged commentators to address their racial bias after a study revealed differences in how they describe players with different skin tones.

Findings revealed yesterday, following the first study of its kind in football, showed that “deep-rooted racial stereotypes” are promoted in commentary by:

Players with lighter skin tones receiving significantly more praise for their intelligence, quality, work rate and versatility.

Players with darker skin tones receiving at least 63 percent of the criticism when it came to comments made about intelligence, quality and versatility.

Players with darker skin tones being more likely to be reduced to their physical attributes, receiving almost seven times more comments about their power and over three times more about their speed.

Jason Lee, the PFA’s equalities executive, said: “To address the real impact of structural racism, we have to acknowledge and address racial bias. This study shows an evident bias in how we describe the attributes of footballers based on their skin colour. Commentators help shape the perception we hold of each player, deepening any racial bias already held by the viewer.”

Kick It Out chairman Sanjay Bhandari said the research only confirmed what many have long suspected. He highlighted the damaging impact negative perceptions can have on players during and after their careers.

“I welcome this research by the PFA, which provides independent data to support what many of us have believed for many years: that black players suffer from casual stereotyping focused on pace and power rather than intelligence,” Bhandari said.

“Carrying those lazy cultural stereotypes, it is little wonder so few top-level black players make it through into top-level coaching as those perceptions precede them.

“The Black Lives Matter movement has shown that we all need to raise our game. For commentators, that means being more careful in their language and becoming more aware of their unconscious bias.”

Danish company RunRepeat conducted the study in association with the PFA. They reviewed commentary from 80 games this season which took place in four of Europe’s major leagues including the Premier League.

Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1 were the other three divisions used in the study with 20 matches from each league assessed.

In total, 2 073 statements made about 643 different players by English speaking commentators working for media outlets in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada – Sky Sports, BT Sports, ESPN, beIN Sports, NBCSN, TSN and FreeSports – were reviewed. Around five percent of the commentators and co-commentators were black, Asian or ethnic minorities.

The physicality references were predominantly aimed at darker players, too, who were 6.59 times more likely to have their power referred to and 3.38 times more likely to have their speed mentioned.

Just over 60 percent of all positive comments regarding work ethic went to lighter players, with just under 40 percent going to darker players. There was also a clear bias in statements relating to versatility. Lighter players received 65.79 percent of the praise, with only 34.21 percent going to players with darker skin tones.

A massive 73.53 percent – the highest figure recorded in any of the categories – of negative comments about players’ versatility went to those with darker skin tones.

The only category in which players with lighter skin tones received more criticism was for work rate – 57.14 percent compared to 42.86 percent aimed at players with darker skin.

In a separate development, Sky’s leading pundits and presenters have held discussions with Kick It Out’s head of development Troy Townsend about the language they use in analysis of matches and players.

Explaining the significance of the findings on bias in football commentary, the study says: “Players have been unified in their support of the Black Lives Matter movement, sending a strong message about equality.

“We understand that the commentators may not have intended to further racial stereotypes by sharing their opinions about a player’s intelligence or physical attributes during a game. However, the narrative of black people’s primary value laying in their physicality and not their intelligence dates back to attitudes modern society is determined to eradicate. While this type of unconscious prejudice has become less overt, even subtle racial bias is damaging, continues a legacy of pain and has long-reaching societal consequences.”