Reports of racism in football rise by more than 50 per cent, Kick It Out reveals

Kick It Out is the game's leading anti-discrimination organisation
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Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP3 September 2020

Reported instances of racism in professional football rose by more than 50 per cent last season, a new report from the game's leading anti-discrimination organisation, Kick It Out, has revealed.

Despite the early curtailment of Leagues One and Two, Kick It Out received 282 reports of racist abuse in the professional game across the 2019-20 campaign – up 53% from 184 in the previous season.

The numbers do not include data from clubs, police and governing bodies, and were described as "the tip of the iceberg" by Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari.

The equality and inclusion organisation also reported a staggering 95% increase in reports of abuse based on sexual orientation, up to 117 from 60 in 2018-19. Overall, reports of discrimination rose from 313 to 446 – a 42% increase – despite the truncated campaign.

The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May prompted a period of activism and introspection across professional football, which is still ongoing.

Top-flight players took a knee before every match during Project Restart, with clubs promoting the 'Black Lives Matter' message on their shirts, and more players joining already-vocal campaigners like Raheem Sterling in calling for change.

However, Bhandari believes racism remains a significant problem in football and urged clubs, law enforcement and the game's governing bodies to release their data on discrimination to give a "complete picture" of the issue and aid "finding better solutions together".

He also called for regulation of social media companies and said clubs and governing bodies should lobby for changes to the way the likes of Twitter and Instagram operate.

Arsenal legend Ian Wright and Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha are among those to go public with the racism they have been subjected to on social media and the Premier League recently launched a new system for players and their families to report online abuse.

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Alongside today's report, Kick It Out commissioned a YouGov poll of 1016 football fans, which found that 71% said they had witnessed racist comments on social media directed at a footballer, while a further 51% had also witnessed racism directed at a fan of a rival team.

"Social media can be a battleground of hate," said Bhandari. "We need to work together across society to win this battle...everyone needs to do more.

"We need better regulation and enforcement and we need social media companies to be part of the solution. We need clubs and governing bodies to continue to lobby for change, sanction offending supporters and support law enforcement processes with the provision of evidence. We need players to continue to use their powerful voices."

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Kick It Out said it had experienced a drop in the number of complaints directed to them about social media abuse, suggesting "greater public awareness of mechanisms to report directly to social media companies".

At grassroots level, reports of discrimination fell by 14% from 113 to 94 last season but all matches were cancelled from March 2020 due to the pandemic.

Comparing this year to the equivalent period in 2018-19, there was an 11% increase in reports of abuse.

Kick It Out also noted changes in how individuals reported discrimination in the professional game, with phone reports down by over 70%, while reports via social media leapt by 229%.

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