Sterling: Negative coverage ‘helps fuel racism’
Craig Burley was surprised to not see a reaction from Manchester City to N’Golo Kanté’s first-half goal, in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over the title-holders. (1:51)
Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling has hit out at media coverage that he said “helps fuel racism,” a day after abuse was allegedly directed at him during a match at Chelsea.
Premier League leaders City were beaten 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and after the match Metropolitan Police confirmed they are reviewing footage that allegedly shows a Chelsea fan directing racist abuse at England international Sterling.
The following morning in a post on Instagram, Sterling said he expects “no better” and cited a Daily Mail story from January about his teammate Tosin Adarabioyo as an example of how media coverage toward black players contributes to “why people are racist in this day and age.”
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Sterling wrote: “Good morning I just want to say, I am not normally the person to talk a lot but when I think I need my point to heard I will speak up.
“Regarding what was said at the Chelsea game as you can see by my reaction I just had to laugh because I don’t expect no better.”
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Sterling posted two photos, contrasting different newspaper headlines for similar stories involving black and white teammates at City — Adarabioyo and Phil Foden — who bought new houses this year.
The headline referring to Adarabioyo, who is black, focuses on how he spent £2.25 million on a house “despite having never started a Premier League match” while that on Foden says he bought a £2m home “for his mum.”
Sterling added: “For example you have two young players starting out their careers, both play for the same team, both have done the right thing. Which is buy a new house for their mothers who have put in a lot of time and love into helping them get where they are, but look how the newspapers get their message across for the young black player and then for the young white player.
“I think this is unacceptable both innocent have not done a thing wrong, but just by the way it has been worded. This young black kid is looked at in a bad light. Which helps fuel racism and aggressive behaviour, so for all the newspapers that don’t understand why people are racist in this day and age, all I have to say is have a second thought about fair publicity and give all players an equal chance.”
Sterling, 24, has had an uneasy relationship with the media, with critical coverage before the World Cup in Russia of his decision to get a tattoo of an assault rifle on his right leg. He said it was a tribute to his late father, who was shot dead when Sterling was 2.
Last December, a man was jailed for 16 weeks for racially aggravated common assault on Sterling.
The chairman of English football’s anti-racism organisation, Kick It Out, complained that the chairmen of the Premier League, the English Football Association and Chelsea had not spoken out about the alleged abuse faced by Sterling.
“It has to be dealt with at the top,” Herman Ouseley said. “We do not have any leadership at the top of the game to speak out, they rely on Kick It Out.”
Later on Sunday, the FA said in a statement: “We take all allegations of discrimination extremely seriously and will work with the clubs and the relevant authorities to ensure this matter is dealt with appropriately.
“We strongly condemn all forms of discrimination and encourage all fans and participants who believe that they have been the subject of, or witness to, discriminatory abuse to report it through the appropriate channels: The FA, our County FAs or our partners Kick It Out.”
City suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday. They dropped to second in the table behind Liverpool, Sterling’s former club, who won 4-0 at Bournemouth earlier in the day.
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this report.