COMMENT
TO CHANGE A DEEP ROOTED CULTURE
Lord Herman Ouseley, Chair of Kick It Out, tells us about his concern about the rise in both hate crimes and incidents, the underlying problem of prejudice, and the vulnerability of football as extreme groups and individuals try to regain ground they previously occupied. Football cannot win the battle without external help involving the rest of society, similarly engaged, particularly through education. BY LORD HERMAN OUSELEY, KICK IT OUT
When the legendary football manager, Bill Shankly, referred to football being more important to the followers of the game than the harsh realities of life and death, he was merely highlighting the manic tribalism and emotional capital invested in the game by the fanatical supporters. Such passion and fervour has an upside in its commitment to club loyalty but can be disadvantageous when its excesses get out of hand as it did at times over the following six decades. In that time, football’s traumas have included the disasters and human tragedies such as occurred at Heysel, Bradford and Hillsborough, corruption scandals, especially involving FIFA, violence and racial harassment at matches, the contrasting resources between those in the Premier League and those clubs at the bottom of the pyramid, the wildly different experiences of foreign ownership of professional clubs and the endemic discrimination and exclusion prevalent in the sport at all levels. Football has been slow in generating meaningful action to change its deep root-
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SPORT EXECUTIVE
ed culture, especially with action necessary to deal effectively with unacceptable behaviour and attitudes. It has maintained a position of denial for much of the time when challenged about racism, sexism and homophobia. It has only, in recent years, shown signs of getting realistic in its attempts to deal with the discrimination and exclusion which blights its image, and has become conscious of how poorly it is judged on equality and fair treatment objectives and achievements. Overall there is still today an over-riding perception and peddled view, that football reflects the good, bad and ugly that exists in the wider society and the issues of diversity, inequalities, and deprivation have to be addressed by the wider society for real change to be visible in the “beautiful game”. While that has a resonance of the challenge we all have to face up to as members of the society, football cannot afford to let slip the moderate progress made in recent years to make the game truly inclusive, diverse and free from discrimination and harassment. The moderate progress made
to date must not feed a complacency that will allow extremism, hatred and nastiness to re-enter the game, which will happen if there is any easing up of action to create equality, diversity and inclusion. FOOTBALL ON THE FRONT LINE Kick It Out, football’s independent, charitable equality and diversity organisation, has positioned itself in the front line to tackle discrimination and exclusion in football. But that is largely because football is already on the front line, having to cope with the behaviour of football fans, players, administrators and officials. It works within football, serves all interests across the entirety of the game at all levels and works totally for the benefit of the game, in collaboration and partnership with all other bodies and agencies. It also works with community and voluntary organisations with similar objectives in tackling inequalities, prejudice and discrimination. One of the main obstacles to achieving community and social cohesion in the United Kingdom is the trend towards