If you do what you always do, you’ll get what you always get.
It is the reason why, in the NFL, defiant Colin Kaepernick and so many others decided to take a knee.
The reason why, in 1968, Tommie Smith and Jon Carlos shook the world at the Olympics with their Human Rights salute.
The reason why, last year, Sulley Muntari chose to leave the field of play after being booked for complaining about racist abuse.
The reason why, four years previously, Kevin Prince Boateng walked off after being targeted with racist abuse during a friendly.
Moise Kean BLAMED by Juventus teammate Leonardo Bonucci after suffering racist abuse
The reason why, in 2019, so many fans of football, sport and equality would love to see some sort of stand taken against the racists who blight the game we all love.
In a debate last May, I stood by my long-held view that England’s players should have had the right to leave the field if they were abused on the field in Russia.
Thankfully the World Cup passed off without serious incident and the issue never arose.
Since then, ironically, there have been more cases in England with more and more people coming round to the fact that football simply cannot protect it’s black participants from racist abuse.
Yaya Toure accuses football authorities of failing black players in racism fight
Yes, it is a societal problem. Football can’t solve that.
What it can do, however, is apply the sanctions that would act as an adequate deterrent. That would force fans to think twice before hurting the majority.
Because right now, even if there was one person in the stands hurling a racist insult at a player, that player has right not to accept it. To draw his own personal line in the sand.
FIFA and UEFA, the world and European governing bodies, insist players should follow a protocol. Speak to the referee who in turn speaks to the fourth official and a PA announcement is made warning abusive fans to stop.
It didn’t work, however for England and Liverpool rising star Rhian Brewster in 2017. His coach, Steve Cooper, was told to stop bothering the officials.
That same year midfielder Sulley Muntari, then playing at Italian club Pescara, was booked for complaining about racist chanting from thugs at Cagliari.
The protocol didn’t work for Mario Balotelli either.
As a player at French club Nice he was booked last year for complaining to the referee about racial abuse from Dijon supporters. That's before you even get to the chaos and carnage this season.
So yes, we are at a point where players do need to take matters into their own hands. Teachers, tube drivers, all sorts of industries would show solidarity by walking out to support someone going through what black footballers are having to put up with.
Would fans would back players standing up for themselves? Absolutely. Sponsors and the wider public too.
My respect for the players of past generation was for their dignity in the face of the bigots and the bananas hurled in their direction.
The steely determination of those heroes ensured they would not be beaten by those who would have preferred not to see them in an England shirt or playing at the highest level. They were able to rise above it.
We have, however, reached a tipping point. In football and the wider society.
Eni Aluko found that in 2017 when she received widespread backing for sticking to her principles over her claims of racial abuse and the FA’s inability to deal with it.
In America they have long since had enough. High-profile black sports stars have no compunction about speaking out to address the police brutality, the social and economic injustices and the continued attempts to silence them.
They use their voices, their status, their ability to make a difference. The intervention of the establishment, led by the President, only served to fire them up further.
In England too the wider society is fed up. The backlash against the Raheem Sterling tattoo controversy last year, the abuse he endured at Chelsea and the monkey chanting the national team suffered in Montenegro, has underlined the fact that there is now a will to draw a line in the sand.
Quiet dignity, superior skill and the ability to score decisive goals has only taken us to this point.
Raheem Sterling hits out at Leonardo Bonucci over criticism of Moise Kean
The abuse hurled at Juventus teenager Moise Kean at Cagliari on Tuesday night, the blame laid at his door by his own team-mate, Leonardo Bonucci and his manager Max Allegri, proved even further that the time has come for black players to solve this problem themselves.
Kean, 19, might be supremely talented but he is just a boy.
A boy who must have been confused at the lack of public support from his team-mates and the suggestion that there is ANY justification for the monkey chanting aimed at him and Blaise Matuidi by - again - Cagliari fans.
It is time for action. FIFA themselves told us last year that we should stand up to racism. Neither they nor UEFA could punish a player or a team for doing just that.
If they did punish a refusenik, it would have massive repercussions. The player or team in the dock would have the support of fans around the world and sponsors who in turn would be mindful of the cultural mix of their consumers.
Fans respond to Leonardo Bonucci blaming Moise Kean after he suffers racist abuse
Would FIFA - who we know tend to follow the money - really want to alienate the organizations that feather their nest?
Could they really penalise a club for demonstrating that they are no longer prepared to stomach what football - with it’s pitiful fines and weak leadership - has shown itself unable to address?
Consider the furore two years ago when Muntari left the pitch. Then multiply that by ten. A hundred. A thousand. The shock waves would reverberate around the sport.
Football would be finally shaken into action - and it is indeed the time for action.
Because yes, the response from the legends of the past was to allow their feet to do the talking.
But if you do what you always do, you’ll get what you always get.
