Will racism ever leave Football?

Recently, the topic of Racism in Football has been brought to light again due to the racial abuse suffered by Manchester City's Raheem Sterling against Chelsea at the weekend. Sterling went to collect the ball that went off the pitch.

The match had taken place at Stamford Bridge where the fans are very close to the pitch and players. Sky Sports were showcasing the game live and the camera picked up fans hurling abuse at Sterling as he went to pick the ball up.

Sterling's face was bemused after he went back on towards the pitch. The instant replays displayed the fans being disgruntled and caught the fan shouting racial slurs. This clip then circulated around social media and went viral. Subsequently, the police were notified about the incident subsequently opened an investigation.

The following day Raheem released a statement via his Instagram account stating how the media play a part in 'fueling racism and aggressive behaviour' he supported this statement with two articles the Daily Mail posted.

The first post which branded a young black footballer in a negative light writing how frivolous he is with his spending at the time he bought his mother a house in comparison to a white young footballer who bought his mother a house. This particular article was simply branded as 'Phil Foden buys a new £2 home for his mum'.

This headline implies how Phil is a humble kid buying his mother a house whereas the other post which included the black footballer as arrogant. This sparked a huge debate in football whether the Black British players get the same treatment as the white Brits.

Gary Neville came out on Monday Night Football on Sky and exclaimed how he bears witness to the inequality the black footballers were receiving compared to the white footballers. He said how the treatment of the current England stars differed, the way Harry Kane is adored compared to players like Raheem Sterling who is at the upper echelon tier of football, contributing heavily to Manchester Citys Premier League last season.

Gary also mentioned how Raheem confided in him during the poor campaign England had in Euros in 2016. All the players were poor during this tournament but Sterling was at the brunt of the abuse and he asked Gary why this was happening to him especially where other players were equally as bad. There was malicious intent by the England fans.Now, as a result, it is being questioned whether is there enough being done on tackling racism in football. In society, it is yet to be fully eradicated however football can be possibly the first platform used to showcase how racism can be fully removed from the game.