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What's the story?
The English National Team went head to head against Switzerland in a friendly last night, at King Power Stadium, Leicester, England. In case you missed the opening 25 seconds of the broadcast which involved the tunnel scenes before kick-off and the players heading onto the pitch, the broadcast was in black and white.
As per reports from The Daily Mail, this was to honour the 25th Anniversary of the Kick It Out foundation which tackles all forms of Racial abuse and any discrimination in the footballing world.
The gesture by Sky Sports was well received by the footballing fraternity over the world.
In case you didn't know..
There had been many on field and off the field cases reported about racism and physical abuse in football in the past decade, and that's when the Kick It Out foundation rose to the limelight tackling such concerns in an authoritative manner.
English FA's Chairman Paul Elliott describes the Foundation as a catalyst for the change in English football both on and off the pitch and was delighted to celebrate their inspirational work in promoting football for all.
He also added,
'Hopefully the footage will encourage the millions of viewers at home to spend at least 25 seconds thinking about the importance of diversity in this beautiful game of ours.'
Gareth Southgate, the England Manager also talked about the same in his post-match conference, saying,
I think football is a mirror of society and our country has made huge strides in every area dealing with racism. Kick it Out has played a major part, particularly with education in schools of young people. It's great we can dedicate this game to that cause.'
The Heart of the Matter
The English players also warmed up in bibs and sweatshirts which had Kick it Out foundation's logos printed over them, as a gesture in support of the cause. The Mascot for the game was also chosen by the foundation and the England supporters also joined in from the stands, by wearing Kick it Out shirts in support.\
One of the most infamous racist occurrings in the beautiful game was when Real Madrid's Marcelo was subject to racial abuse from Atletico Madrid fans in a Copa Del Rey game where the former team won the game 3-0.
What's next?
As Gareth Southgate rightly said that football is a reflection of the society and shouldn't involve such bad occurrences especially from the supporters, let alone the players. Football is a beautiful game which goes beyond religion, race, caste, gender and colour - and it's supposed to be that way until the end of time.
