Sports minister Mims Davies to hold meeting with football leaders over racist abuse and discrimination
Monday 4 February 2019 19:53, UK
Sports minister Mims Davies has told MPs she is holding a summit with football leaders to discuss the spate of racist abuse and other forms of discrimination that has dogged the national game in recent months.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Davies said she is inviting the English Football League, the Football Association, the Premier League, the Professional Footballers' Association and anti-discrimination groups such as Kick It Out and Stonewall to come up with a plan to tackle the issue.
Players such as Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Manchester City star Raheem Sterling have been subjected to alleged abuse in recent months, while there have also been worrying reports about fans' banners and chants at clubs including Chelsea, Cheltenham and Millwall.
In her speech, the Conservative MP for Eastleigh said: "Football is the national game - people of all ages and from all backgrounds should be able to enjoy it. It should bring people together not foster division.
"Those involved in abuse are not football fans, they are using football as a cloak for discriminatory, and often criminal, behaviour, and they are not welcome in our stadiums.
"Together we must find a way to tackle this. I will be bringing together the football authorities and other organisations with an interest, in the coming weeks, to agree what action must be taken to stamp out all forms of discrimination at sports events.
"We will not stand by and watch people threaten these values with ugly acts of hatred...we cannot allow the minority to ruin it for the majority of us that love the sport.
"Let's find the mentors and leaders to make change and I will work directly with them and the football authorities to deliver the inclusive, positive game we all want to see."
An MP since 2015, Davies was appointed sports minister in November after her predecessor Tracey Crouch resigned over a delay to the introduction of reduced limits on the stakes of fixed odds betting terminals.
