DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
‘ tolerance ’ – all players were picked simply to enhance team performance . Taken alone , this was the meritocracy of the fabled Promised Land ; seemingly a transparent selection policy which ignored prejudice . But there was still , undoubtedly , an institutional problem . The truth is that players had simply grown used to racial abuse and expected it .
A new dawn By the 1990s and 2000s black players represented every club in the country
– it had become the norm . As hooliganism was further eliminated , racism at football clubs reduced and considerable credit for that goes to Kick It Out – an anti-racism organisation which began in 1997 .
The digital age , however , introduced a new poisonous threat – online hatred . It is somewhat ironic that racists had been forced underground , into the virtual world , only to discover that their views were oxygenated and amplified by social media companies who , in spite of the light speed
164 September 2021