Patrice Evra speaks out on racist abuse and how to combat it
When an Arsenal fan is racially abused by supporters of his own team, it’s a disgrace and no player wants to let it happen to him.
But what is remarkable about the abuse that has followed Tottenham’s Harry Kane this month is how it was not received by a man of such obvious talent and ability.
He’s a world champion, he’s got the England caps, he’s got the Golden Boot, the Premier League’s Golden Glove award, he’s got the ball to score goals, and the man who was the first man in history to score twice in one Premier League game against Manchester United has been treated with a level of contempt that is simply shocking.
No.10 has gone to the police, and he’s going to court for this, but I have yet to see the fans of Tottenham or Arsenal treat him even slightly with the respect that they afforded to the England captain, John Terry, when he had a football match against Portsmouth cancelled after he was accused of spitting on his opponent.
What was so extraordinary about his experience was the way it was turned into a political football posturing to try to score political points against someone who he thought had the wrong colour skin.
It’s also extraordinary that he has decided to speak out to try to encourage others, including fans of his own club, Tottenham, in their own way to learn tolerance and accept that no one should ever have to suffer any abuse.
There’s a new level of outrage with the abuse. It’s the most powerful outrage we’ve seen and I think we’ve reached a moment where a change in behaviour on the part of the fans is needed.
So I’ve been asking people who are on Twitter to put a star next to their name if they have experienced abuse; this is what they said:
@GirLeeds
Thank you so much for your advice to me about a player, I was really worried about going onto the pitch.
Thanks for being so clear in your guidance.
@BryanRothwell
My response to being abused by fans of Tottenham: Ignore it!
I was on my way to play Spurs when a fan came up to me and grabbed my shirt. I replied with a comment “sorry mate, I don’t really care.” But I could have got