Sterling: T-shirts and boycotts will not defeat racism
RAHEEM STERLING has called for ‘harder punishments’ in the fight against racism in football, and said social-media boycotts and wearing T-shirts in protest was not enough.
Fresh from his leading role in Manchester City’s treble-winning campaign, the 24-year-old Footballer of the Year is keen to speak to the sport’s governing bodies about implementing tougher measures.
In particular, Sterling is advocating serious points deductions and expelling teams from tournaments to help eradicate the problem.
‘Teams getting deductions, teams getting kicked out – this is when people start taking it seriously,’ said the England forward, who has emerged as a key voice against racism since allegedly being abused by spectators at Chelsea in December.
‘If I go to a football game and I
Teams getting deductions and kicked out is when people take it seriously
support Manchester United, for example, I don’t want to be the person that lets my team down by saying silly remarks in a stadium.
‘If you know your team is going to get deducted nine points and not win the league, you’re not going to say these racist remarks – even though you shouldn’t have it in your head. Fining a club £5,000 or a fan £300 doesn’t do anything.’
Sterling was speaking at the Future of Everything Festival being hosted by the Wall Street Journal in New York and revealed football chiefs had contacted him after he used Instagram to criticise the way the media portrays black players.
‘You can get caught up with training every day, and games every two, three days, so you don’t really have a lot of time to be out speaking to people,’ Sterling said.
‘But in my off time and holidays, if I can get around and speak to the Football Association and the people in the Premier League, and see how we can look about doing things better in the future, for sure I’ll be there in person to try and do that.’
The Professional Footballers Association led a 24-hour social media blackout by its members in April in protest at racist abuse but Sterling is unconvinced of its effectiveness.
‘It is a social media post that’s going to happen for one day,’ he said. ‘In two days’ time it will all be forgotten about.’ Sterling added antidiscrimination charity Kick It Out ‘do a lot in England’ but stressed: ‘A few times they get us to wear a Tshirt but it is not enough. There need to be harder punishments.’
However, Sterling does believe the situation has improved, adding: ‘Ten years ago it was a lot, lot worse than it is now.
‘It’s starting to get better and people are understanding that they can’t say certain things.’