It’s time football caught up

ENGLISH football, which has been sitting smugly on the moral high ground in the battle against racism, even confident enough to lecture other countries on the issue, is suddenly waking up to the ugly smell of complacency this morning.

The basis for the self-congratulatory stance taken in recent years is the extensive work done by the FA and by the Kick It Out campaign to raise awareness of racism in the sport.

But just when there was a temptation — not by the FA it has to be said but perhaps by those weary of the battle — to think racism in football had been ‘solved’, there is frightening evidence that it hasn’t.