Jadon Sancho revealed that incidents of racism in soccer have made him question why he plays the game, and he is quite certain that other players have experienced similar emotions which Sancho believes could lead to many falling out of love with the sport.
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Romelu Lukaku was the latest footballer to be subjected to racist abuse on Sunday. The incident occurred during Inter Milan’s visit to Cagliari. All three of Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Tammy Abraham received racist abuse on social media in recent weeks.
It has to stop, the 19-year-old Borussia Dortmund winger says. Not only does it hurt the individuals being targeted, but it’s likely to have serious consequences for the sport — quotes from the Guardian:
“It just has to stop. No player wants to play football and have abuse like that. It puts the confidence down in players and the love of the sport will go very soon if it doesn’t stop.
“It is hard to see things like this, because it feels like, ‘Why should we play football?'”
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Why should players continue to subject themselves to racist abuse when, after just a couple years at the highest level of the sport, they no longer need to play in the same way they did before they were financially secure? Once a player has made $50 million from his first big contract, why shouldn’t he choose to live his life quietly and out of the public eye, if the alternative is to remain in the public eye and receive hate and abuse?
