Total Of 86% Of UK Football Fans Witnessed Racism At Matches At Least Once - Poll

Zeeshan Mehtab Published February 11, 2019 | 04:03 PM

As many as 86 percent of UK football fans have witnessed incidents involving racism at matches at least once, while the figure among Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) people is even greater at 93 percent, a Sky Data poll showed on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2019) As many as 86 percent of UK football fans have witnessed incidents involving racism at matches at least once, while the figure among Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) people is even greater at 93 percent, a Sky Data poll showed on Monday.

One-fifth of respondents said they had happened to witness manifestations of racism often or even every time they attended matches. This figure among BAME football fans was 26 percent.

A total of 33 percent of respondents stated they had been personally subject to racist abuse, with the share of such people totaling 71 percent among BAME fans. At least 18 percent of the latter group noted that they were personally abused often or every time they attended matches.

According to the broadcaster, the issue of racism in football came into the limelight after Jamaica-born Raheem Sterling of Manchester City was allegedly subjected to racist abuse during a match in December. Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah, an Egyptian national, similarly purportedly faced racist chanting from a fan at a match last week.

The online poll was conducted on January 21-28, among a representative sample of 1,006 UK adults, and 150 Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) people who regularly attend football matches.