Reports of racism, sexism and faith-based abuse surrounding soccer have reached record highs across England. According to Kick It Out, a prominent anti-discrimination charity, overall discrimination reports rose by 32% throughout the 2023/24 soccer season. These incidents came across all levels of English soccer, from the Premier League down to the grassroots. Social media abuse was also included in the report as well.
In total, the organization recorded 1,332 reports of discrimination during this timeframe. Racism continues to be the most reported kind of discrimination. There were 731 incidents involving racism throughout the 2023/24 season. This is a 47% increase over the previous year.
Racism, however, is not the only form of discrimination on the rise. Female soccer players receiving sexist abuse is also up 44%. Incidents involving faith-based discrimination rose by 34% as well. A majority of these reports revolve around antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Reports relating to specific soccer players are also up 43%. According to the aforementioned campaign, 55% of the 395 such incidents were directed at players with Asian roots.
While the figures are certainly discouraging, there could very well be a silver lining to the increased number of reports. Kick It Out also claims that the reports per incident rate has increased for the fifth year in a row. This likely indicates that soccer fans are essentially becoming more diligent against discriminatory abuse.
Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari supports this suggestion. “It’s deeply concerning to see how steeply reports are rising,” stated Bhandari. “However, we believe this increase can also be attributed to fans becoming less tolerant of discrimination and greater awareness of reporting procedures.”
“Encouragingly, we are seeing stronger punishments for racist abuse in recent years, including the toughest ever handed out to a football fan found guilty of racist abuse at a football match earlier this season.”
“However, we now need to see better coordination from football authorities and stakeholders to ensure there are positive outcomes for victims of abuse across the game, particularly on social media where too much discriminatory abuse still goes unchallenged.”
Multiple high-profile reports of discrimination surrounding soccer have featured heavily in the news lately. Several Argentina players sang a racist song towards French players following their recent Copa America triumph. Wolves star Hwang Hee-chan was also allegedly the target of racial abuse by a Como defender in July. Former midfielder Joey Barton faces charges of malicious comments toward a female pundit as well.
In Spain, Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior has continuously fought against rampant racism in Spain. The Brazilian has officially suffered racist abuse more than a dozen times during matches while with the club. He previously joined Los Blancos in 2018.
This issue came to a head in the spring. Vinicius moved to tears when discussing the ongoing problem. The star even admitted that he has personally considered ending his career. Back in his home nation, authorities passed a law in 2023 to help combat racism at games.
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