Everton 'Fans' top racist league of shame

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Race issues

Everton fans top racist 'league of shame'

Abuse still hurled at black players as clubs step up efforts to eradicate it

The Guardian, Friday 7 January 2000 17.04 GMT

Racial abuse aimed at black or foreign players at football grounds is still rife, according to university researchers who carried out a survey of 33,000 fans.
Fans from Everton, Rangers and Celtic topped the league table for making the largest number of racist comments heard, the survey found.

Arsenal, Charlton Athletic and Wimbledon won praise for reducing racism through campaigns inside their grounds, but according to Sean Perkins, of the Sir Norman Chester centre for football research at Leicester university, racism overall has remained much the same since the last survey, in the 1996-97 season.

The research covered the four divisions of the English football league plus Rangers and Celtic, but only last year's Premier league teams and Scotland's two leading clubs were ranked in a "league table of shame".

Fans were asked: "Have you witnessed racism aimed at players this season (1998-99)." The percentages of fans who heard racist abuse were: at Everton 38%, at Rangers 36%, at Celtic 33%, at West Ham 32% and at Newcastle by 31%. Best in the ranking were Wimbledon on 11%, Charlton on 12%, Derby on 14%, and Southampton and Arsenal on 16%.

Everton fans became notorious in the 1980s for singling out the black footballer John Barnes, who played for Liverpool, during his first appearance in a Merseyside derby, when scores of bananas were thrown on to the pitch. The club was also one of the last in the country to have a black player in the team.

Other clubs such as Chelsea, Leeds and Rangers became fertile grounds for organised rightwing groups in the 1980s and vociferously abused black players and fans, with the football authorities and police turning a blind eye.

Dr Perkins said that although abuse overall did not appear to have diminished, it did seem to changing. More overt abuse, such as throwing bananas on to the pitch and groups chanting abuse, was rarer, and most examples were confined to individual bigots.

The abuse was not confined to black players: foreign players were also verbally abused.

"The fact that racist abuse in all its forms is being reported so readily could be an encouraging sign that the high profile campaigns make people aware it is going on," he said.

Since the 1980s, however, football has tackled racism. Many clubs have signed up to anti-racist initiatives and tried to attract non-white fans to their grounds. Figures continue to show that few black fans attend matches.

The campaign is led by Kick It Out, which has enlisted the help of leading footballers to highlight racism, organises anti-racist days at the clubs, had Kick It Out banners erected at clubs, and is launching an anti-racist campaign at the end of this month with the support of the England manager, Kevin Keegan.

The government has recently tightened legislation to stamp out racist chanting at grounds. Charlton Athletic said yesterday that leading clubs needed to do more to combat racism in and outside grounds.

Yasin Patel, of Charlton Athletic for Race Equality, set up by the club and the local authority, said: "It's good news for Charlton, but the survey shows that many clubs are merely paying lip service to the problem of racism."

Dr Perkins said the fears of football fans had also changed. "Before the Hillsborough disaster people were scared of being beaten up in grounds or crushed. Now it is more about lifestyle and sensibilities. Women and children, for example, who are now far more numerous in grounds, are offended by swearing, whereas men regard this as part and parcel of being a football fan."

Another new factor, caused by all-seater stadiums, was that fans could no longer move away if a fan next to them was offensive, as they had been able to on the terraces.