Video states "change needs to happen, and happen now"; Kevin De Bruyne, Jordan Henderson and Lucy Bronze among players appearing alongside Sterling
Wednesday 17 June 2020 16:57, UK
Raheem Sterling has launched his own social media campaign as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, enlisting players including Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany and Lucy Bronze, calling for change in government and sporting organisations.
Sterling has called upon the government to address the under-representation of black people in Parliament and on the boards of sporting organisations.
Last week, The Daily Telegraph published an analysis of leading governing bodies and sporting institutions that showed an alarming trend of under-representation of black people.
There are no owners, chief executives, or chairs who are black at any of the 92 Premier League and Football League clubs. Of those national sport governing bodies that receive public money, just three per cent of board members are black, and 64 per cent have no board members who are black at all.
Sterling is understood to have seen the report last week and been shocked at the findings.
His City team-mate De Bruyne, his former club captain Kompany, England Women international Bronze, Liverpool's Jordan Henderson and Bayern Munich's David Alaba are among those Sterling has enlisted for the video to launch the initiative on his social media channels.
It follows the campaign from his England team-mate Marcus Rashford that persuaded the UK government to reverse its decision to scrap the £120m funding to provide free school meals over the summer for children that needed them.
Sterling has often been at the centre of the country's debate over race in recent years, calling upon a fairer representation of black footballers in media in December 2018 after being abused at a game at Stamford Bridge.
He appeared on the BBC's Newsnight programme last week to defend the rights of Black Lives Matter protestors to "find a solution and way of stopping the injustice they are seeing."
