Adebayo Akinfenwa says players have a duty to call out racism
Tuesday 9 April 2019 16:48, UK
Adebayo Akinfenwa says players and other stakeholders in football must do more to eradicate racism from the game following a spate of incidents over the weekend.
Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha and Watford captain Troy Deeney suffered online abuse over the weekend, while there were a number of alleged racist incidents at matches across the leagues.
Raheem Sterling has received widespread praise for his public stance against racism this season, and Akinfenwa is calling for other players to follow the England forward's lead in calling all forms of racism out.
"It [racism] has always been there, and people who know my story know I went out to Lithuania at the age of 18 and experienced horrific abuse [while playing for FK Atlantas]," he told Sky Sports News.
"And yes it has gotten much better over here but you are starting to see it rearing its ugly head again.
"I love what Troy Deeney did on his Instagram, I love what Sterling is doing and Wilf [by condemning the abuse] because we have to got to shine a light on it.
"This is a society problem - period. Social media has provided an avenue for people to sit behind their phones and keyboards and put it out there. Social media has its pros and its cons and it does [unfortunately] highlight the problems we have got within our community and our society.
"At the same time I would not say it's just a social media problem, I think it's a community problem, a social problem and not something we are going to find an answer to overnight.
"I think right now, at the forefront, we all have got to try and do more. The media also has to step up and the governing bodies have to step up. We've all go to try and step up and tackle this problem."
After being subjected to racism while on England duty last month, Tottenham full-back Danny Rose said he could not wait to leave football because he is frustrated at the way authorities handle cases of racism.
Wycombe striker Akinfenwa says Rose's comments highlights the magnitude of the problem football faces in tackling racism.
"It's every boy's dream to play football. Once you've made it professional that's all you want to do," he said.
"And every professional doesn't want to retire, so when you hear someone who is at the peak of his powers saying he can't wait to retire that's how you know it is a massive problem.
"That shows how deep this is and we've got to try and do something about it."
Akinfenwa was speaking at a Football for Peace (FfP) fundraiser hosted by the Global Gift Foundation charity.
The event helped raise funds to support FfP projects, including the Football Saves Lives initiative which helps safeguard young people from exposure to social issues such as radicalism, hate crime and mental health problems.
