All this racism has to stop

SPORT has a unique power of pulling people together. Despite our differences, we unite to anticipate and celebrate our national teams or individuals when they play at the highest level and strive for the highest glory. But we can’t deny that sport can bring out an ugly side of people too.

None of us can have watched the news or scrolled through our social media feeds in the last few days and failed to notice the conversation around the vile racist abuse aimed at England football players following the Euro final in Wembley.

It simply has to stop. There is no place for it and more needs to be done to prevent these so-called ‘fans’ from having a platform to spread hate. We can’t be naïve enough to think that this is a problem that only exists in English football either; we have to be brave enough to recognise that sometimes such racism is closer to home too.

It is not enough to just turn a blind eye, we simply have to stand together – unite as we do to celebrate sport – to stamp out this disgraceful behaviour and show we will not tolerate it. As a council we condemn racism in every form, and have committed to ongoing efforts to ensure equality in everything we do. We recognise there is more to be done, and we have pledged to continue to focus on ensuring we serve and support everyone equally.

Every one of us has an important role to play here; every one of us can stand up and show we will not tolerate racism. It has to stop.