All these years we’ve talked about race and inequality... now let’s finally deal with it, make it real and change

BURTON CHIEF ROBINSON IS FOOTBALL’S ONLY BLACK CHAIRMAN AND HE HAS A POIGNANT REASON FOR MOURNING THE KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD... HIS AMERICAN GI DAD, CLARENCE

THE shockwaves from George Floyd’s death reverberated around the world, and English football responded by embracing Black Lives Matter.

But for Ben Robinson, football’s only black chairman at League One Burton Albion, Floyd’s murder had added poignancy.

Robinson’s father Clarence Pettiford was a black American GI stationed in Burton during the Second World War.

He was from North Carolina – the same state where Floyd was born.

And Floyd’s death after eight minutes under the knee of a white police officer was another painful reminder for Robinson that racism still runs deep. The 74-year-old told Mirror Sport: “My American father came from the same state as George Floyd.

“Racial prejudice in the States is a major problem, it really is. In 1945 when my mum fell in love with my father, apparently if the white people in North Carolina had known he had slept with a white woman, they would have hung him.

“Sadly it has not moved on anything like it should have in terms of equality.”

But Floyd’s awful death has sparked fresh impetus for progress amid the Black Lives Matter movement. Robinson has understandably always ensured Burton have led the way in the local community to help combat racism, as well as backing a wide range of initiatives, from addiction clinics to the YMCA.

But he has been pleased to see the whole of football unite behind the BLM campaign as Premier League stars have taken a knee and increased steps to try to eradicate racism.

Robinson, in charge at Burton since 1995 after also being chairman from 1976 to 1986, reflected: “Football clubs and players have a great opportunity because of the exposure the sport receives and the pedestal it sits on.

“It reaches out to the whole world. It has a platform to raise public awareness.

“You want people to look at others for what they stand for as individuals, not their colour. At Burton we have always gone out of the way, as have the players, to support that ideal.

“Because of my background, I feel lots of compassion and a desire from what I have experienced to support this initiative.

“All these years we have been talking about the problem of race and inequality, but let’s finally deal with it and make it real and change.

“I hope this Black Lives Matter campaign is raising public awareness and changing things for the good of all communities.

“There is still a lot to do in everyday life. Racial prejudice was very deep-rooted and still exists in certain areas. Big strides have been made but there is still a lot of work to do.”

Robinson experienced plenty of racism as a young man, including meeting a girl who said he was very nice but felt she couldn’t take him home to her parents. But it didn’t stop him building a successful career in insurance.

He was also given an MBE by Prince William last November for services to the community, and made a Deputy Lieutenant for Staffordshire too.

Robinson never met his father, who was recalled to America after getting engaged to his mum Edna.

He still enjoyed being brought up in a close family though as his mother married Frank Leslie, a long-distance lorry driver who took him to Burton games. Robinson has since connected with his American family in the last 15 years and now speaks regularly to Gale Pettiford, a cousin in North Carolina.

He revealed: “I experienced some prejudice as a young man. I went for a job in Nottingham in insurance and I was convinced I didn’t get it because of my colour, as I didn’t lack experience.

“But fortunately I am made of strong stuff.

“Even in football I remember once going to an away ground and their chairman walked past me to shake the hand of my colleague, a distinguishedlooking gentleman.

“But it is now a far cry from what I experienced growing up.

“Thankfully, the younger people of today don’t look at colour. They look at people as individuals.”

‘Sadly it has not moved on anything like it should have in terms of equality’

‘Racial prejudice was very deep-rooted and still exists. There is still a lot of work to do’