AFTV creator Robbie Lyle has revealed how racism at football prevented him from taking his father to watch Arsenal.
Lyle has afforded Gunners fans a bigger platform than ever before to discuss the performances and issues surrounding their club on the YouTube channel’s videos.
But the presenter concedes discrimination at football matches growing up stopped his 92-year-old father Aston from going to watch at the stadium.
“It’s one of my regrets,” Lyle said in the ITV documentary Football Fans Under Their Skin.
“That I’ve never been able to take him to a game. He watched so much football on TV and I’m like: ‘Dad, you need to be there.’ I’d have loved to have done that.
“Racism has stolen that experience from me, so the fact that I am able to take my son means I am breaking that cycle.
“Even as I got older and I said to my Dad: ‘I’ll take YOU to game’, he was like: ‘Nah.’
“Growing up, everybody knew that going to football as a black fan meant you were taking your life into your hands sometimes. I think he just felt that there was going to be trouble.”
