Reports of racism rise by nearly 50 per cent as discriminatory abuse increases for seventh year running

Reports of racism rose by nearly 50 per cent throughout the 2018/19 season across both professional and grassroots football, new figures show today, with all incidents of discriminatory abuse increasing by 32 per cent.

Kick It Out, the equality and inclusion organisation, recorded 442 cases last season – up from 319 in the previous year – with racial abuse constituting 65 per cent of all reports, making it the most common form of discrimination in the game. It increased by 43 per cent from the 2017/18 season.

This is the seventh consecutive year that reports of discriminatory abuse have risen in the game.

Reports of faith-based discrimination, which includes Islamophobia and antisemitism, rose highest across this period, increasing by 75 per cent from 36 to 63.

Discrimination related to sexual orientation increased by 12 per cent from 61 to 68. Reports related to gender remained at the same level (eight), while disability discrimination reports dropped from 15 to nine.

Addressing the most recent increase in figures, Roisin Wood, OBE and CEO of Kick It Out, said: “Football reflects the society it is played and watched in and these figures are sadly not surprising.

“The fact that racist reports have risen by 43 per cent clearly shows the massive work that all of football still needs to do to challenge this. In 2019 we need to ask the question what can we do better and what is not working?

“The sharp increase in faith-based based discrimination is also worrying and represents a challenge to us all – what are we doing to address this intolerance?”

Wood also expressed concern that incidents of discrimination at the bottom of the footballing pyramid remain under-reported due to a lack of confidence in the authorities’ abilities to handle such cases.

This is reflected in the Football Association’s failure to inform Kick It Out of the outcome in 79 per cent of the 109 cases reported at the grassroots level, 40 per cent of which derived from youth football (Under-18).

“We feel that incidents at grassroots level are still under-reported and this could be due to the length of time it takes a complainant to get their case satisfactorily concluded, and even then there’s often disenchantment in the type of sanctions handed out,” Wood said. “We need to build confidence that if you report a grassroots incident it will be dealt with effectively and efficiently.”

Discrimination reports in the professional game rose by 46 per cent to 313, with an outcome reached in 62 per cent of cases.

The organisation also received 159 discrimination reports from social media last season, with incidents of racism once again the most common form of abuse (62 per cent).

“The online statistics in our view represent the tip of the iceberg and we renew our call for social media platforms – and the government – to help tackle growing incidents of online hate,” Wood said.

The statistics are compiled from all levels of English football, including the Premier League, English Football League (EFL), FA Women’s Super League, non-league and grassroots fixtures.