Raheem Sterling’s decision to speak out about the alleged racist abuse he suffered during Manchester City’s match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday underlines that tolerance of such attitudes has gone on for too long, according to former England international Alex Scott.
In a post on his official Instagram account on Sunday, Sterling said he “just had to laugh” at the abuse he suffered from Chelsea supporters – of which some is claimed to have been racially insulting in nature – because he has learned not to expect any better form of treatment.
Scott, who won six English league titles and was capped 140 times for England during an illustrious career in women’s football, is saddened that Sterling has been forced to reach such a conclusion and urged football – as well as society – to take a long, hard look at itself.
“No one, absolutely no one, should be expecting any form of discrimination or racism,” she said on the BBC’s ‘Match of the Day 2’ programme.
“No matter how strong a character you are, you can only take so much. For him to come out and speak, enough is enough. No one should have to go through what he's going through, no one.
“I think we've gone back to a stage that we thought years ago had been eradicated. Clearly it hasn't, and the last couple of weeks have highlighted that it's still very much there, even if some people thought it had gone.”
Shortly after footage of the incident circulated widely on social media, Chelsea and the Metropolitan Police confirmed that they are investigating whether an incident of racist abuse took place.
Chelsea are resolved to ban the supporter in question if he is found to have racially abused Sterling, and Scott believes only harsh sanctions will bring about significant change.
“It's sad that in the last couple of weeks these things have come to light, but we need to stamp it out,” she added. “Strong punishment needs to be [handed out to show] you can't get away with this sort of thing anymore.
“I think not just in football, when you look across [society], diversity is needed in all forms to educate, to stop these things from happening.”
