Former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville believes it is “ridiculous” that football has not made significant inroads into tackling racism.
A small number of fans booed players taking the knee in protest at racial injustice ahead of the national team’s Euro 2020 warm-up games against Austria and Romania in Middlesbrough, while Marcus Rashford received a torrent of abuse on social media after United’s Europa League final defeat almost a fortnight ago.
They are the latest in a long list of incidents which have plagued football and footballers and Neville does not believe enough effort has been made by those in the game to help eradicate it.
“I don’t see how clubs lose from being more open and transparent about the challenges they face.”
Shadow Sports Minister Alison McGovern agreed.
“Those supporters are going to have a huge role in championing the interests of fans on boards and will be an early warning system for when things go wrong,” she said.
“How do we make sure that support is there for them and make sure fans have a participatory role and are not there standing on the outside screaming when things go wrong?”
Anti-discrimination group Kick It Out on Tuesday announced the launch of a new players’ board, to be co-chaired by its head of player engagement Troy Townsend and former Professional Footballers’ Association chair Clarke Carlisle, a Kick It Out ambassador.
They will work with a group of 11 current and former players from the men’s and women’s games.
