Reports of racism, sexism and faith-based abuse surrounding soccer have reached record highs across England. According to Kick It Out, a prominent anti-discrimination charity, overall discrimination reports rose by 32% throughout the 2023/24 soccer season. These incidents came across all levels of English soccer, from the Premier League down to the grassroots. Social media abuse was also included in the report as well.
In total, the organization recorded 1,332 reports of discrimination during this timeframe. Racism continues to be the most reported kind of discrimination. There were 731 incidents involving racism throughout the 2023/24 season. This is a 47% increase over the previous year.
Racism, however, is not the only form of discrimination on the rise. Female soccer players receiving sexist abuse is also up 44%. Incidents involving faith-based discrimination rose by 34% as well. A majority of these reports revolve around antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Reports relating to specific soccer players are also up 43%. According to the aforementioned campaign, 55% of the 395 such incidents were directed at players with Asian roots.
There may be a silver lining to the record number of reports
While the figures are certainly discouraging, there could very well be a silver lining to the increased number of reports. Kick It Out also claims that the reports per incident rate has increased for the fifth year in a row. This likely indicates that soccer fans are essentially becoming more diligent against discriminatory abuse.
Kick It Out chair Sanjay Bhandari supports this suggestion. “It’s deeply concerning to see how steeply reports are rising,” stated Bhandari. “However, we believe this increase can also be attributed to fans becoming less tolerant of discrimination and greater awareness of reporting procedures.”
“Encouragingly, we are seeing stronger punishments for racist abuse in recent years, including the toughest ever handed…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/kick-it-out-claims-racism-reports-are-up-47-in-english-soccer/
Author : Chris Moore
Publish date : 2024-07-24 16:54:43
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.