Kick It Out and Forza Football survey reveals 50.1 per cent of UK fans have witnessed racist abuse at a game
Wednesday 21 November 2018 12:38, UK
Kick It Out founder Lord Ouseley says football authorities must do more to tackle racist abuse in response to a "rising tide" of discrimination across the UK.
Research published on Wednesday by the anti-discrimination organisation revealed that more than half of football fans in the UK have witnessed racist abuse while watching a football match.
The study, which surveyed 27,000 fans across 38 different countries, also revealed that only 40 per cent of football fans in the UK know how to appropriately report racist incidents.
In spite of that, Kick It Out have received a notable increase in reports in the last 12 months and Lord Ouseley says more needs to be done to tackle racism.
He said: "We have made improvements over the years and I think most fans going to football now in this country will be certain that there is less racial abuse going on - certainly not of the horrible kind that we witnessed in the 70s, 80s, 90s and even part of this century.
"But, nevertheless, at the moment we know we're getting increased complaints and reports at Kick It Out, a rise over the last year of 11 per cent, and at grassroots level there's an increase of over 30 per cent."
He added: "We know that on pitch abuses are now at a minimum because clearly the protocols are working - the referees in charge will take action against perpetrators and actions will be taken and sanctions applied.
"But in stadium there are still situations where abuses are taking place and that has got to be put into the context of the overall political situation in the country, where hate crimes on the increase.
"They've doubled in the last five years. It is now in excess of 94,000 recorded hate related crimes in the last 12 months.
"Football is doing a lot, not enough - it must do more, but it's fighting against a rising tide of hate incidents outside of football."
Globally, 74 per cent of fans want FIFA to consider previous racist abuse when awarding countries international tournaments and Lord Ouseley believes teams should be banned from competing if their governing body has a poor record in tackling racism.
"It needs to happen on a much more comprehensive basis because you've got to take into consideration previous offenders," he said.
"If clubs, associations or nations are not taking action then they should be punished and excluded from competitions.
"It's not just about a fine deduction or a closure of grounds."
