Racism, and any other form of discrimination and harassment, have no place in a civilised, well-functioning society.
It was disgraceful to see that Antoine Semenyo was racially abused in last night’s opening Premier League game. Full credit to him for reporting the abuse; although this sort of thing should never happen in the first place and it is for all of us to stand up and say ‘that’s not right’, it shouldn’t always be left to the person on the receiving end. I hope that he, and anyone else affected by last night’s incident, receive support if they need it.
I thought the referee dealt with the situation well. It was the first time I’ve seen a game paused for this reason and became aware of the Premier League’s anti-discrimination protocols. Whilst there shouldn’t be a need for them in the first place, it was good to see firm and proactive action being taken and a zero tolerance approach by the Premier League in implementing these protocols. It underlines the importance of anti-discrimination policies and procedures, and people knowing what to do should something unacceptable happen.
One of my favourite poets, Benjamin Zephaniah, presented a documentary before his untimely passing on the role that football can play in tackling endemic societal racism through players using their platform. He was from Birmingham, like me, where I remember a family member protecting school children from the National Front in the 1980s.
A big sports fan, I’m old enough to remember the appalling overtly racist abuse in the late 80s and 90s, not just in football. Whilst incidents like throwing banana skins became less frequent, verbal assaults remained largely unchallenged, and racist abuse in particular became more insidious. I recall Rio (one of my all time favourites) and Anton Ferdinand not being heard properly after reporting racism in the 2000s and who can forget the shocking abuse against England penalty-takers in 2021. As the great John Barnes remarked a few years ago: “There are invisible banana skins everywhere”.
A lifelong anti-racist, I’m proud to have worked on implementing Macpherson recommendations in my early career and challenged racist abuse wherever I have seen throughout my life. However, last night’s incident serves as a worrying reminder not only that racism and discrimination still exist but that we are living in increasingly intolerant times. As I said last year, it is incumbent on all of us to stand up against these behaviours. It’s worryingly akin to the 1930s, with the same groups being singled out and discriminated against. Empathetic leadership is needed to cancel out hate and destructive behaviours. Government can do more to temper inflammatory language, rather than using it.
More must be done to tackle the root causes, including the harmful rhetoric around immigration, nationality, genetics, religious intolerance, and identity politics which has been allowed to pervade public narrative for far too long.
Laura Evans, CEO 16th August, 2025