Former 'Kick It Out' Manager Troy Townsend: Football Failing to Tackle Racism and Discrimination

Former senior figure at Kick It Out, Troy Townsend MBE has called on football's governing authorities to really send out a strong message about racism and discrimination following recent unsavoury incidents. 

Last month, Real Madrid's Vinícius Júnior was the victim of alleged racist abuse from Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni during a UEFA Champions League knockout playoff match in Lisbon.

Leeds Incident 

And last weekend, Leeds fans came in for heavy criticism after appearing to boo a break in play against Manchester City to allow their Muslim players to break their fast midway a Premier League game. 

While Leeds manager Daniel Farke, who was sent off at full-time, admitted the boos were 'disrespectful' if really they were directed at the break, Townsend feels most of the fans involved had misinterpreted the need for it. 

"I will say there is nothing you can do about it (the Ramadan break booing)", Townsend SportsBoom.com in an exclusive interview. 

"Booing is not an offence, it's not something that's punishable. A lot of Leeds fans message me, because I did a piece on that as well, telling me that I wasn't in the ground, the fans didn't know what was going on and Pep seemed to be using that as a delay tactic."

"Shows all the excuses they have for their own personal ignorance around the Islamic faith. One person even emailed me and decided to tell me every bad thing that he believes that muslims have done all around the world, and they deserved to be booed."

"So for me, it's an absolute lack of understanding around the world about why the players take the break. Many people were saying, well, why don't we just kick off later?"

"And that just shows you the world we live in at the moment when you cannot be your authentic self, you can not use the moment to break fasts, and you know, the celebrations that go on afterwards, it's total ignorance of the highest order. But the worst thing about it is that these people will not see that ignorance and they will think that what they're saying is correct and what everyone else is saying is correct."

Vinicius Junior and Benfica 

Following the Lisbon incident however, UEFA launched an official investigation into the alleged 'discriminatory behaviour', leading to Prestianni suspended for one match, somewhat of a slap on the wrist, according to Townsend. 

"In regards to Vinicius Junior, I'm so sorry that he's had to go through that again. The most racially abused player in the last three years in world football, someone who, you know, we want to see express himself on the field of play, want to see him dance, create those magic moments with that unbelievable goal," Townsend added. 

"The goal piles into significance because of the actions of the Benfica player, because of the actions of the Benfica manager, and because of the actions of one of the people that's high up at Benfica, and all the language that they use to disrespect Vinicius Junior at that moment." 

"I understand the Benfica manager has come out and obviously made a statement only recently after ignoring press and not wanting to highlight the situation and said that the player will never play for him again if found guilty. Well, we'll just have to see. But everyone's thoughts should be going to Vinicius Junior and it's been amazing to see a couple of Brazilian players and Brazilian teams back their colleague."

"And I think football has to send a really important message now that that kind of stuff is not acceptable but football has been talking about this for far too long and has never dealt with it and that's why certain players believe that it's okay to get away with it."

WILL RACISM EVER BE ERADICATED FROM THE GAME? 

When queried on if he ever feels football will someday be rid of such canker and discriminatory reactions that have being seen around it for far too long, Townsend opined that there was very little chance. 

"Think about the state of the world at the moment. Think about everything that's going on in the world. Football is a microcosm of what society is."

"Society is the main driver of hate and continues to be the main driver of hate." 

"Football has a responsibility to deal with what happens in the stadiums, but football doesn't want to take that responsibility on."

"So you ask me, do I think we'll finally eradicate racism and discrimination from football? Absolutely no. No chance. We have to do better, but I'm sorry we haven't got the right people at the top of the game to do better, we haven't got people who have been victims. We haven't got people who've experienced someone talking about the colour of their skin and talking about it in such a way that it's so harmful, that it's an absolute disgrace. We haven't got those people at the top of our game."

"And unless if we change the way that decision-makers look, sound, and amplify a voice, then unfortunately, for years and years to come, we'll have this experience happening. For all the new generation of players, we'll have this experience continue to happen and continue."

"Many people say to me, Oh, we're surely we're in a better place than what we were. Well, no, we're not. Because if just one person is victimised, it means that the game is going nowhere. I can tell you now, the organization, Kick It Out, who I used to work for, do all the reports around racism and discrimination and at end of the season, they'll tell us, We're only in March, and we've only just got to March. And already, the reports coming in about every aspect of discrimination is higher than what it was at this stage last season. So it's not getting better, it's getting worse."

"But the punishment and the sanctions for people that do those actions are not strong enough, they're not powerful enough. They don't send a message that actually this is a zero tolerance approach."

"And remember, we've got the new-ish, it's not new, but we've got social media to deal with as well. Back in the days, players didn't have to deal with social media. Now, it's part and parcel of who they are. But it's also part and parcel of the way that this new wave of fan, God be it, I call them a fan, can target players because they believe they've done something wrong, or they've cost them a bet, or just a bit of comedy and a bit of joke to send these monkey emojis or gorilla emojis to a black player."

"You're never going to get the social media platforms acknowledging that that is a problem. Never," he concluded.