A framed photograph of the Cleveland Summit overlooks the desk of Allen Hopkins as he logs on at work each day. It records the 1967 meeting between Black athletes – Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among them – and politicians to consider and eventually support Ali’s refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam war. That support sent a message – the fight for civil rights is a collective effort.
“When a Black player walks up to take a penalty, I can’t even watch,” says Hopkins, announced in July as the first executive director for Black Players for Change, a US-based collective of athletes, coaches, and staff working within Major League Soccer. “If he misses that penalty he is going to get his socials crushed. I can’t watch. I just never want a Black player to take a penalty … if he misses …”
He pauses as he tries to explain the complex balance between the hopes of the past, the reality of the present, and a collective dream for the future when it comes to fighting racism in soccer.
“But clearly, I actually do want the Black player to take the first penalty. Or the fifth penalty. Or be like Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender and take a penalty [in a shootout] and then make the save for the next one [in the Leagues Cup final] and then just walk off.”
Black Players for Change was launched during the summer of 2020: Covid lockdowns met protests over blatantly racist killings. Say their names: Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd. MLS players wanted to say the names of those killed too and make a public stand for racial justice. Black Players for Change was born that July with an eight minute 46-second silent protest – sanctioned by MLS – before an Orlando City-Inter Miami match. It was a powerful moment.
Three summers on Black Players for Change provides a voice for athletes, advocating for soccer resources in underserved communities, lobbying for restorative justice and education when racism surfaces within the game. There is also a plan to take its mission internationally.
“The world has changed,” says Hopkins. “The Black player has ascended … Even in the US, if you look at player awards for 2022, they are all Black: Tyler Adams, Sophie Smith, Alyssa Thompson, Yunus Musah.”
Hopkins has a decades-long history within US soccer. He was as match announcer on Fox Sports’ fledgling coverage of European leagues before joining ESPN. He was an adviser to Jürgen Klinsmann during the German’s reign as head coach of the US men’s national team and has had several roles within Major League Soccer.
“When I worked for US Soccer with the national team I was one of one,” he says. “I can show you pictures at the White House where – outside of the players – I am the only Black person. We won the Gold Cup and – outside of the players – I am the only Black person there. I have a photo from college where we are lifting up a trophy that we won. I am the only Black person.”
Hopkins says he is never surprised when overt racism rears its head within the sport. It is part of his lived experience. When New York Red Bulls forward Dante Vanzeir was banned for making a racist comment during an MLS match against San Jose Earthquakes, Hopkins says the gamechanger was that multiple people heard what was said and spoke up. That hasn’t always been the case.
“Often it is he said-he said,” Hopkins says. “It happened to me when I played but I don’t think I had a teammate within earshot or anyone able to support me in that moment. The first time it happened to me personally I was shocked and couldn’t believe it because soccer was the one place it didn’t happen.”
So how to respond in the moment?
“My parents grew up in the Jim Crow south – rural Mississippi,” Hopkins says. “So I was raised by folks who were completely informed by that experience. The way they raised me was to take a very conservative safety-first path. Take care of yourself. These were the rules of the road.”
The Vanzeir incident, however, was managed by MLS and the players’ association in a way that Hopkins and Black Players for Change see as a meaningful way forward.
“We are not a cancel culture organization,” Hopkins says. “We were very happy that Vanzeir was part of a restorative justice conversation. Our members are the most gracious, kind, and empathic group of athletes I have ever been around. When issues have come up within MLS, where players have said racial things, it has been about how can we restore? How can we heal? How can we educate?”
But, he adds: “Not everything is perfect.”
Hopkins is referring to former DC United player Taxi Fountas whose contract with MLS was terminated by mutual agreement in August. Fountas had been placed on administrative leave by MLS in July after the league determined that allegations he used “prohibited and discriminatory language against another player” were credible. The “other player” he made racist comments to was a teammate. Time for restorative justice? Not exactly.
That July incident was a second offense and came just nine months after Fountas was alleged to have made racist comments towards Damion Lowe, who is Black, that were overheard by his Inter Miami teammate Aimé Mabika. That allegation could not be corroborated and Fountas received no sanction.
“We had an opportunity to give our feedback to MLS and the players’ association,” Hopkins says of the Fountas case. “We were clear that, no matter who he is, a player is not above [sanctions]. Having Fountas removed from the league and having MLS say why he was removed says a lot. It is also a wake up call for everyone else in the ecosystem and the community that that is the new bar now.”
Fountas now plays for Trabzonspor in Turkey’s SuperLig.
“The reality is that Fountas was able to escape severe punishment the first time,” Hopkins says. “We want to try and help people be better and if they don’t want to be better then it’s time for Maya Angelou – when people tell you who they are, believe them the first time.”
While Black Players for Change has origins in the highest level of the sport it is also conscious of its roots. The organization has partnered with the US Soccer Foundation to build fields in underserved neighborhoods across the US, and aims to support Black coaches across all levels of the game while building stronger connections with its female counterpart the Black Women’s Player Collective and the Black Players Alliance, which represents players within the United Soccer League.
“The conversation we need to have is ‘How do we really bring the game to the Black community?’ Not Afro Latino. Not Afro Caribbean. Not African. Not African European, but the Black community overall. We can do a better job of that. We also want to ensure that putting in a new field in a city is not just a real estate play and cutting ribbons [for politicians]. We need to make sure that the next wave is creating communities – making it easy for our [professional] players to turn up and hang out and nutmeg little kids or for a facility to be used as a community center where people can hold their own events and do foundational work.”
Black Players for Change also sees a big window for global leadership tackling racism within the sport. The organization is currently discussing opportunities to lead education and intercultural awareness training with top-tier leagues and clubs in Europe.
“We have a lot of ground to cover just to get to a place where our default settings are humanity and empathy and understanding,” Hopkins says. “We can do it. I know it is ambitious but I see this thread through Fifa, Uefa, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Liga MX and MLS.”
Hopkins understands you have to follow the money and for big business – which top-top tier leagues most definitely are – not all publicity is good publicity.
“There are certain things in corporate America – the Fortune 50, 100, 500 – that you can’t be,” Hopkins says. “You can’t be homophobic and you can’t be racist. There is an element of brand protection and shareholder protection that goes into how businesses approach these issues and that is OK. We have to start somewhere. But dollars also means resources and having resources means having people to educate and to lead, and having more diverse candidates in senior positions.”
With the Cleveland Summit poster looking over his shoulder as he goes about his daily work, Hopkins has set a high bar for what he thinks Black Players for Change can achieve.
“We can eradicate racism in the context of sport,” he says.
What? Really? That’s some dream, surely?
“It’s not as Pollyanna as it sounds,” he says. “You can legislate, you can regulate, you can educate, you can train. We can get racism out of soccer and that should be our goal. With intentionality, it can be like a polio vaccine. The reality is that no one does activism like African Americans because that is just what we do. And no one does sports activism like Black athletes. That should be leveraged.”
