Barnes-era racism still taints game
OF all the words written since Raheem Sterling said the British media need to take a hard look at how it treats young black footballers, the ones that most resonated with me came from my colleague Darren Lewis: “As I kid, I watched John Barnes get more stick than any other player when England played poorly. As an adult, I am seeing it with Sterling.”
That same thought hit me last summer when I was reporting on the World Cup.
However it didn’t come from listening to England fans out in Russia, but from reading words on certain newspaper websites and social media, from back home.
Words I’m sure that were digested in the minds of haters at grounds across the country.
That Darren, who’s not just an excellent journalist but happens to be black, draws that parallel between Barnes and Sterling shows that when it comes to racism in the English game, nothing has really changed.
And how, now, thanks to Sterling’s brave stance, there can be no excuses. It has to.