Getting to grips with racism in football

posted by: Nick Lowles | on: Wednesday, 25 January 2012, 21:12

Hardly a day goes by without another story about racism in football. A couple of days ago we heard about a Chelsea fan getting arrested on his way back from a game in Norwich. This follows the club having to apologise for racist chanting amongst a section of its fans during a recent match in Belgium. Today we hear that nine Charlton fans, aged between 20 and 30, were arrested for singing songs in support of Gary Dobson, one of the men who was recently convicted for killing Stephen Lawrence, on their way back from a match at Fulham.

With Liverpool player Luis Suarez banned for eight matches for racially abusing Manchester United player Patrice Evra, and Chelsea and England captain John Terry facing charges for abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand, it is time the football authorities stepped up its efforts to rid the game of racism.

So much has been done over the last twenty years to reduce racism within the game it is important there is no let up now. This morning I was part of a group who met Sports Minister Hugh Robertson to discuss possible racism and violence at the forthcoming Euro 2012 championships. While racism is not the problem it once was in the English game, it is a serious and growing problem in Poland.