Racism remains 'rife'

Special Report has uncovered shocking evidence of on-going racist abuse in English football. Ahead of Monday's show, on Sky Sports News at 7.30pm, the team outline the scope of their three-month investigation...

Last Updated: 11/02/13 at 15:50 Post Comment

For the past two seasons, the spotlight has been on racism in football. More and more incidents have led to more and more questions and soul searching in the game. What should black players do? Is it football's problem or society's problem?

To answer those questions, we spoke to the victims of racism in football and we spent three months going to matches at every level of the English game - from the Premier League to the Football Conference.

What we discovered was the worst incidents of racist abuse ever recorded on camera at a professional football game in the United Kingdom. At one match this season we witnessed - and filmed - black players being racially abused 56 times. No-one was arrested at this game for a racially-aggravated offence.

We took our footage to show it to the Fifa President Sepp Blatter. A few days later he called for clubs to be relegated if their supporters racially abused players.

For 130 years black players have been working as professional footballers in England. And for 130 years they've had to put up with racism.

Every black and Asian player we spoke to in the making of this programme told us they had been racially abused during their career.

Only one victim felt comfortable speaking to us openly on camera. Some victims wanted to speak out, but their clubs stopped them. And some victims would speak only anonymously.

For this Special Report we also went into the dressing room. What we found was shocking evidence of what black and Asian players have to deal with every day.

Tune into Sky Sports News HD at 7.30pm this Monday at 7.30pm for Special Report: Racism in Football.

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