Inter striker Romelu Lukaku has given his opinion about the state of racism in the world of professional football, and his appraisal is frank and highly critical of what he sees.
In an interview with international broadcaster CNN, the 28-year-old Belgian talked about his experiences with racism as a black player, and also expressed disappointment that more is not being done to eradicate the problem of racism in football which he sees no improvements on.
Lukau suggests that the ubiquity of social media and their lack of initiatives against online abuse has allowed many black footballers or people working in football to be subjected to more racist abuse than in the past, adding that “I understand why people like Thierry Henry are blocking social media. Social media companies need to do more for me.”
“For me, to be honest, I don’t see progress,” the Belgian said scathingly.
The striker talked about the response to the racist abuse he suffered during an away match against Cagliari, stating that “in practice we tried educating people on things that aren’t good, because Italy is a really beautiful country and I was mostly accepted by both home and away fans.”
“I think when it happened, something changed,” he added. “That’s what all leagues should do. They should talk to players and basically try to start doing things with the players and teams.”
The Belgian also compares the racist abuse in football to the proposed European Super League, and notes that while the response to the latter was intense and organized from fans, response to the former has always been comparatively muted. “Why don’t you but the same energy [as went into Super League protests] also when it comes to racism? Because they are basically the same platforms,” he concludes.
