As England star Jess Carter reveals the racist abuse she is receiving, broadcaster Lianne Sanderson, a former professional footballer who won 50 caps for England and was part of the England squad at the 2007 Women’s World Cup, and Euros 2009, says she knows what she is going through
Racism is something I live with every day. I didn’t as a player because there wasn’t social media, but I do now as a commentator.
Every time I go on TV I deliberately don’t check my phone afterwards, because I know the racist emojis and comments will be there.
There are times I’ll be on air at TalkSport and people will phone in. There is a pre-call before they are put through to me, and I see the light go red and it says ‘racism’.
Obviously they get them off before they get through to me. It doesn’t make me feel good, but I’ve become desensitised to it.
But someone like Jess Carter, right now preparing for the semi-final, she’s not going to be in a good moment. She knows she’s not having her best tournament, and on top of that she’s getting racist abuse.
I feel for her, and all the players that this happens to. I stand with her, because I know how lonely she will be feeling.
You can criticise someone’s performance, I don’t mind that. Everyone has an opinion. But no-one should be racially abused, regardless of how badly they played, regardless of if they’ve done something in a game that isn’t acceptable, that’s not OK.
To subject someone to racism, homophobia, sexism, is just outright wrong.
A lot of players have started coming off social media in recent years because of the abuse they’re getting. But we’re all creatures of habit, every footballer checkers their phone after matches, because you want people’s validation, you want to know if you had a good game or not.
Unfortunately it only really seems to hit home to people when you share what people actually say.
Because I get it every single day, whether it be monkey emojis, someone being horrible about my sexuality, something about my weight. It doesn’t make me feel good. I’ve had two death threats.
But they’re not going to stop me, they’re not going to shut me up and I’m not going anywhere. You have to develop thick skin though. There have been times when it’s left me in tears.
You’re not going to stamp out racism completely, racist people are always going to exist in the world.
But there a lot of token gestures, anti-racism campaigns that don’t have any backbone. Personally I see the same people 20 years later in the same room, sitting in the same seat, and nothing has changed. Those people are part of the problem as well.
They need to get serious about bringing change, and really stamping out racism and other forms of prejudice from football, with real action and putting people those positions who have walked a day in the life of.
The social media companies aren’t doing enough. If I put a song up they’ll take it down for copyright. If someone posts something racist to me, they’ll say it’s within the guidelines.
Some of the things you couldn’t get more offensive if you tried, but there’s always a generic response, almost like a robot. And nothing changes.
So there’s so much more that needs to be done. Racism is still a daily reality. There are still homophobic chants being sang in the stands. We haven’t come very far. It’s the reality of the world right now unfortunately.
If I were Jess Carter right now, or any player in the tournament experiencing abuse, I would come off social media right now.
People might say, well if you do that then the racists are winning. But if you’re in tears at night and if it’s affecting your mental health, it’s not about who’s winning and who’s losing.
It’s about protecting your energy and your mental health, and not letting the racists beat you.
