Eniola Aluko Wants Football To Play Bigger Role In War Against Racism

Nigerian-born former England female international, Eniola Aluko has charged stakeholders in the football world to ensure the sport plays a bigger and better role in putting an end to racism across all sectors of society, megasportsarena.com reports.

The former Chelsea of England and Juventus of Italy star, who ended her international career with The Female Lions on account of alleged discrimination from the team’s former coach, Mark Sampson, believes football can lead the way in the fight against racism and called on UEFA to bring in tougher punishments.

Following a long legal dispute in 2017, Aluko received an apology from the FA for discriminatory remarks made by Sampson on the grounds of race, and the recently retired attacker says she hopes footballers will continue to speak out against racism to try and force change.

Her latest declaration comes at a point when thousands of people have taken part in Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, with Manchester City winger, Raheem Sterling among the host of footballers who voiced their support.

Aluko told The Football Show: “Football can set a really good example. We have players in the Premier League from all over the world. Dressing rooms are multicultural, managers are multicultural and football should lead the way in terms of how it punishes racism. One of the issues we are seeing with the George Floyd murder is the fact that police just get away with it.

“That shows injustice in the way in which racism is dealt with. In the same way in sport and football, authorities don’t always deal with it and impose the proper sanctions. I’ve said this many time before, the minute the likes of UEFA come down really hard on racism, it won’t happen as often.

“I know clubs obviously come down hard with banning fans, and banning them for life, but from a wider point of view a deterrent system needs to be created. This could really set an example for the world and for sport.”