July 12 – The UK charity Kick It Out received a 65% rise in reported incidents of discriminatory behaviour during the 2022-23 domestic season, describing the increase as “alarming”.
The organisation said it received a record-high 1,007 reports from grassroots level, the professional game and across social media.
Kick It Out chief executive Tony Burnett said supporting the victims of abuse remains the “utmost priority. It strengthens our resolve to tackle discrimination in all areas of football.
“Behind each of these statistics is somebody who has sadly experienced discrimination, and supporting the victims of abuse remains Kick It Out’s utmost priority.”
The report found:
– A 65.1% rise in reported incidents of discrimination on previous season
– Racism remains the most commonly reported form of discrimination, accounting for nearly half of all reports (49.3%)
– Reports of online abuse rise from 74 to 281 – up by 279%
– Reports of sexist behaviour/misogyny rise from 16 to 80 – up by 400%
“While we continue to work tirelessly to ‘kick it out’, we call upon fans, clubs, leagues and governing bodies to help us with this cause, and we are encouraged that the number of reports per incident continues to increase, suggesting that people are becoming less tolerant of discriminatory behaviour and more likely to report abuse when they see it,” added Burnett.
“Our figures provide a snapshot of what is happening across the game, but we still don’t know the full picture because clubs, leagues and governing bodies aren’t currently mandated to share their reporting data.
“This underscores why football urgently needs a centralised reporting mechanism to collate and monitor reports. Only once that happens can we understand the full extent of the problem within football and tackle it with the full force of the sport.”
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