Sports Minister Hugh Robertson has revealed that he is concerned with the issue of racism in football, but believes it has improved over the last 20 years.
The MP’s comments come after a range of incidents within the Premier League over the last year which have raised concerns over whether anti-racism campaigns are working and whether enough is being done to remove it from the field and terraces.
Robertson told Sky Sports: “Am I concerned? Yes. But do I recognise a huge progress has been made over the last 20 years? Very much so.
“That said, this is a problem that is never going to go away. I feel it will always be with us, it will reoccur from time to time, despite the huge progress that has been made.
“That is why it is really important that we back the bodies that are fighting it, like Kick It Out. Give them our full support and we all do everything we can to make sure that this problem does not occur again in the future.”
Robertson also revealed that he sent a letter to UEFA expressing his concern over the events in Serbia after England u21 defender Danny Rose was allegedly racially abused by fans and his fellow team mates were attacked by the Serbian players and coaches.
“When I watch the events that took place in the u21 international in Serbia one of the first things I did the next morning was for me to write personally to the president of UEFA expressing my concern with it, and that letter is a matter of record,” he said.
“To be fair, he had written back to me that very evening saying that they took these allegations extremely seriously, they would be investigating and that he would let me know when the investigation had been completed.
“So there was no indication there that they were going to do anything other than treat this with the upmost severity.”
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