June 9 – England forward Raheem Sterling has lent his support to the global anti-racism protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the United States and says football can help by giving more black players a chance to become managers and coaches.
Thousands of people have taken part in Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the UK and Sterling says now is the time to try and bring about lasting change.
“I know this might sound a little bit cheesy but the only disease right now is the racism that we are fighting,” Sterling, who has suffered his fair share of racial abuse, told the BBC. “This is the most important thing at this moment in time because this is something that is happening for years and years. Just like the pandemic, we want to find a solution to stop it.
“There’s something like 500 players in the Premier League and a third of them are black and we have no representation of us in the hierarchy, no representation of us in the coaching staffs. There’s not a lot of faces that we can relate to and have conversations with.
“With these protests that are going on it’s all well and good just talking, but it’s time that we need to have conversations, to be able to spark debates. I feel like that’s what’s lacking here, it’s not just taking the knee, it is about giving people the chance they deserve.”
“When there’s more black people in positions, when I can have someone from a black background for me to be able to go to in the FA with a problem I have within the club, these will be the times that I know that change is happening.”
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