Barney Ronay argues that English football should take the lead in trying to eliminate racism and not wait for it to be sorted out in society in general (Analysis, 23 December).
Considering that just earlier this month one of the Premier League’s leading clubs was distancing itself from one of its players when he raised the issue of persecution of the Uighur Muslim population in China, and the Football Association seem more concerned about whether players can wear a poppy on the national team shirt each year than they are about the conditions for workers building the stadiums to be used in the next World Cup, I am less optimistic about the prospects for that than Ronay appears to be.
Perhaps, as in the 70s and 80s, fans themselves will have to take the lead, as in the fanzine movement that often campaigned against racism on the terraces. But given the commercialisation of the game now, I doubt there would be the space for that kind of movement to have a similar effect.
David Wall
Northampton
• The quality of Barney Ronay’s writing is unfailingly brilliant, but he errs in suggesting an equivalence of blame for English racism between the leaders of the Conservative and Labour parties, by saying “Both major parties in the recent general election were led by men with questions to answer on this score”. While Corbyn may have lacked leadership qualities in his failure to deal with antisemitism within his party, Johnson has uttered racist bile in both his spoken and written words.
Phillip Vine
Downham Market, Norfolk
• The rise in racism at British football grounds is depressing, but to explain its resurfacing we surely need look no further than Brexit and the nationalistic and xenophobic language of many of its political promoters. The outcome of the 2016 EU referendum was taken by many of a certain disposition to be the granting of a licence to be as openly unpleasant as they wished towards foreigners generally and more especially immigrants to the UK and UK-born residents of a different heritage from their own. For these people the brakes had been officially taken off as far as behaviour of this nature was concerned, and the rightwing people now running the government show no signs of wanting those brakes to be reapplied.
Phil Richards
Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire
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