Gary Neville, Ashley Cole and Graeme Souness reflect on racism in football after Tottenham vs Chelsea

'Something has to change': Gary Neville, Graeme Souness and Ashley Cole discuss racism in football.
Sky Sports
Joe Krishnan22 December 2019

Gary Neville has made an impassioned plea to the Premier League to "stand up" and combat racism amid allegations of racist abuse being directed at Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger against Tottenham on Sunday.

Spurs forward Heung-min Son was shown a red card via VAR for kicking out at Rudiger in the second half and it is alleged the German defender was subsequently the target of racist chanting.

Following that incident, Rudiger informed Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta about the alleged racist chanting and referee Anthony Taylor spoke to both managers.

Three separate announcements were made over the tannoy system reminding fans that "racist behaviour among spectators is interfering with the game" and has "no place" in the game.

But former Manchester United defender Neville, speaking as a pundit for Sky Sports after the game, accused the Premier League of hiding behind the Football Association on racism and believes there is a wide-scale failure to deal with the issue in England as well as in football.

"I don't think we're dealing with it," Neville said. "We're talking about a micro level, about an individual behind the goal, but it's far deeper than that.

"Ashley [Cole] was abused at the Bernabeu 15 years ago in a game that I played in and I sat in the dressing room at the end of that game and didn't even give it a moment's thought really.

"The English media are calling for Uefa, Fifa or Spanish authorities to deal with it - similar recently to Bulgaria - but we have a racism problem in the Premier League and the Premier League have got to stand up.

"They hide behind the FA on this issue in my opinion. They hand the disciplinary issues over to the FA, and yes we heard the announcements at the end of the game... but something needs to happen quickly."

Neville later urged the football authorities to empower players to walk off in the event of racist incidents.

He added: "We have to empower the players to walk off the pitch and stop the entertainment whilst it's happening, because that's the only way I can see it happening.

"I didn't do it 15 years ago with Ashley and it's OK for me to say it in my ivory tower in a commentary box and suggest they walk off. Ultimately, I would be ashamed of myself for not doing it 15 years ago and proud of players to empower them to think to do something about it.

Cesar Azpilicueta speaks to referee Anthony Taylor  Photo: AFP via Getty Images
AFP via Getty Images

"The PFA are meant to protect the players but they are being abused while playing football, and that is not acceptable. The PFA might have to take it into their own hands and stop pointing the finger because we have to deal with our own ship here."

Neville's comments were made as part of a post-game discussion with fellow pundit Graeme Souness and former Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, whereby Souness called for the guilty parties to be banned for life and asked fellow fans to report those responsible.

"Whether it's just a village idiot or that they're full of drink, for me we have to be self-regulating," he said. "I think someone in the immediate area has to get a steward over, get them ejected and never allow them to be back in a stadium again.

"It has to come from the good guys out there. The vast majority of the 60,000 fans are not racist and they would hate to be standing next to someone like that. Get them banned for life... simple as."

Cole, who revealed he suffered racist abuse in his playing career, questioned whether educating fans was the right approach from the football authorities.

He said: "You do try to block it out but he's heard something. The players keep going to the referee and the same thing keeps being done. Nothing. Do these people need educating? It's easy to say what you want on social media but is there a way to do it [educate] in the stands? I don't see a different way, there's no answer.

"I've had a lot said to me. I'm paid to play football so I was rather thinking of showing them in a different way by playing football. But yeah, it's happened [in English football]."

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