By Reena Kumar
OVER half of all professional footballers in England have either been subjected to or witnessed racist abuse in stadiums a
campaign group has revealed.
In total 200 players in the Premier League and Football League took part in the survey carried out by football's anti-discrimination group Kick It Out.
The "Rooney rule" was also backed by the players which would give black coaches more of an opportunity in senior positions, a third of those polled were from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.
Results of the survey exposed that 57 per cent of players had witnessed, and 24 per cent had been subjected to racist abuse in stadiums.
And on the training ground or in the dressing room, 7 per cent of footballers had been subjected to, and 20 per cent had witnessed racist abuse.
Zesh Rahman, Michael Chopra and Neil Taylor are the only three players of British Asian descent to have played in the Premier League, with a small handful of others appearing in the Football League.
Paul Mortimer, the former Charlton and Crystal Palace player who was appointed as Kick It Out's professional player engagement manager, partly in response to criticism of the campaign, said carrying out the survey was an important first step.
He said: "Now we have these figures we can go ahead and do something about it, pinpoint areas and put strategies in place. It is a huge problem.
"We have a reporting app which players can report social media abuse on and we also want to educate people how to handle abuse, such as not responding in person."
Mortimer has held talks with Kick It Out's leading critics Jason Roberts and Jason Brown, and plans to speak to Rio Ferdinand as well.
The Football Association has launched four short animated films detailing exactly what to do if players or fans encounter discrimination while attending or taking part in a football match.
The films, available to view on www.fa.com are being distributed across professional and grassroots football.
