WILLIAM DECLARES WAR ON RACISTS
PRINCE William has told of his fury over “outrageous” incidents of racism in football fuelled by social media. The Duke of Cambridge, who is President of the FA, fears progress in recent years is being lost after Premier League players suffered racist abuse in the opening weeks of this season. He warned some of the sport’s biggest stars still struggle to talk about the abuse they endure and the effect
it has on their mental health. Social media is increasingly exposing players to abuse and royal experts believe this is the Duke’s most significant attempt yet to force a clamp down on tech giants.
Manchester United stars Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba, Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham and defender Kurt Zouma have all received a torrent of hate online this season.
Statistics gathered by football equality charity Kick It Out showed reports of racism in English football rose by 43 per cent – from 192 to 274 – last season.
Prince William said: “People are now talking a little bit about mental health issues, but I imagine talking about racism is still quite a difficult subject, especially when it’s happening in such a public fashion with Premier League matches or Champions League.
“We’ve got to do something about it. I’m fed up with it. I’m so bored of it.” Prince William said it had felt like it was “getting under control here” with players feeling more confident in calling out offensive behaviour.
But he noted a recent resurgence in abuse has led to fears racism is rife in football once again.
Citing recent abuse suffered by Abraham and Inter Milan forward Romelu Lukaku, the Duke said: “It’s outrageous what’s happening.”
High-profile footballers are increasingly speaking out about the racism they are enduring on social media and from the stands.
Rashford last night slammed Twitter’s promise to monitor the accounts of the top 50 black footballers as useless.
He said: “For me, it is too easy to do what you like on the internet and any of us now can go on and create accounts and write what we want under anyone’s post and no one would ever know.
“Just to see it spike in the last couple of months, it’s been unbelievable, so we want to just nip it in the bud while it’s happening.”
Twitter claimed this week that it had taken action on more than 700 examples of “hateful conduct” in the past two weeks following racist abuse involving top footballers.
Kick It Out said it would meet Twitter, the UK Football Policing Unit and the Crown Prosecution Service to develop a strategy to clamp down on racist trolls online. The Premier League, the Football Association, and English Football League will also be invited.
Kick It Out said: “What the public need most is Twitter to show decisive leadership and deliver concrete action for change – we expect to see that in the weeks and months ahead.”
Show Racism the Red Card ambassador Leroy Rosenior said: “Education and punishment go hand-in-hand.
“But I’m getting to the stage where I think we just need to punish them [racists] first.”
Prince William said Heads Up, his campaign aimed at improving mental health, is planning to shine the light on racism.
He added: “Heads Up is about mental health, but we are going to start doing stuff on racism as well because it is affecting mental health, not just the players, but also fans.”
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said: “It is interesting he is linking the issue of racism with his mental health campaign.
“Everyone condemns racism verbally but the goal is to eradicate it. Mental health was a completely taboo subject in Britain with the traditional stiff upper lip. Racism is known to be one of the evils linked to football. It is something they have to eradicate.”
The Professional Footballers’ Association is demanding social media giants monitor player accounts, club accounts and key fixtures to remove racist abuse or hate posts swiftly. They are also
urging “better links with the police and football authorities” on social media abuse.
In April, players were urged to boycott social media for 24 hours.
Darren Smith, a programme lead for football and coaching management at UCFB Wembley told the Duke: “We’re trying to help people feel part of the community through football, but there’s still a barrier there. It does have an effect on mental health.”
Speaking of a lack of accountability on social media, he said: “People are using different platforms to express it and think they can get away with it.”
The Duke was visiting Hendon FC, north London, to learn about the club’s mental health projects.
He told Richard Hay, coach and support worker: “You’re the linchpin of the community.”
Jimmy Gray, manager of Hendon FC, said: “Football is so high profile it needs to take a zero tolerance stand. It’s sad that it has to be on the agenda, but it has to be.”