Sterling wants racism penalty for soccer clubs

LONDON: Raheem Sterling has called for clubs whose fans racially abuse players to be hit with a nine-point penalty, saying current punishments meant the issue was “nowhere near being sorted” by football authorities.

The Manchester City forward has become increasingly outspoken on racism in football, having received abuse on the pitch while playing for both his club and on England duty.

Recently, he cupped his hands to his ears in response to derogatory chants from Montenegro fans while playing for England last month.

Now Sterling has become one of the signatories to a manifesto published in Tuesday’s edition of Britain’s The Times newspaper calling for more black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people in positions of power within football, more severe punishments for racist abuse and greater action by social media organisations, sponsors and traditional media.

“When I was a boy growing up in London, going to school and playing football, I didn’t know what racist abuse was because I never suffered any,” Sterling wrote in The Times.

“So it seems crazy that, in 2019, I feel the need to write a piece in a newspaper calling for radical changes to the game that I love.

“But I do because the racism problem in football is so bad, runs so deep and is nowhere near being sorted.”

He added: “You will all have read about the various high-profile racist incidents in recent months: the abuse I received playing for Manchester City away to Chelsea; the booing that the black England players were subjected to in Montenegro; the nastiness that Moise Kean of Juventus endured in Italy and the endless insults thrown at players on social media.”