Micah Richards has opened up on his experience of racism when playing football in Leeds as a youngster.
Former England defender Richards was born in Birmingham but grew up in Chapeltown and had a brief period in Leeds United's youth system before eventually coming through the ranks at Manchester City.
The global attention gained by Black Lives Matter in the past two weeks has given a new focus on how race plays a part in life, and Richards has revealed that being a black player in youth football in the late 90s and early 2000s was not easy.
Speaking to the Mirror, the 31-year-old revealed that he suffered abuse every time he played.
“When I played for Leeds City Boys I was the only black player on the team and I was racially abused every week.
“I was lucky that my dad is a Rastafarian. He taught me to be proud of my skin and my culture.
“But even when I was a professional, he would go to games with me and people would see his dreadlocks and start talking to him in a Jamaican accent or sing Bob Marley songs.
“They thought they were being funny, but it’s just another form of bullying.”
Richards added: “I’ve had coaches say to me, ‘You’re a good lad aren’t you, Micah?’ It sounds inoffensive, but I knew what road they were going down. It was like they were surprised that this black kid could be a decent lad.
“I spoke out on the radio a few weeks ago about how I had to consciously change my behaviour at Villa because some people thought I was flash. The reaction on social media was incredible.
“About 90 per cent of it was positive, but the rest accused me of being a liar.
“It gets to a point where you think about not talking about racism as some people say you’re playing the race card.
“But then you realise that if you stop speaking out then the bigots have won. I played for England, I wore the shirt with Three Lions, I love this country – and I would die for it.”
Richards now lives near Harrogate and detailed a recent incident that made him realise how deeply he has been scarred by racism.
“I crossed over the road so I could walk on the opposite side of the street,” said Richards.
“I didn’t want them to feel threatened by seeing a black man walking towards them.
“It was an unconscious act. I didn’t think about it, I just did it. When I actually stopped to think about it, I was baffled.
“Then I realised maybe I’d been programmed to think white people who didn’t know me would feel uncomfortable if I was walking towards them.
“How bad is that?”
