Cameron Holds Football Racism Summit After Suarez Controversy

Cameron

The Huffington Post UK   First Posted: 22/02/2012 01:26 Updated: 22/02/2012 05:59

Prime Minister David Cameron and culture secretary Jeremy Hunt are set to meet football representatives to discuss how to combat racism in the sport.

Attendees expected at the meeting include representatives from the Football Association, the Premier League, the Football League, The Professional Footballers’ Association and the League Managers’ Association and figures including John Barnes, Graeme Le Saux, Paul Elliott and Amal Fashanu.

The government is also set to announce £3m of funding towards the Football Association’s new National Coaching Centre at St George’s Park. The Centre will help train the next generation of coaches, with emphasis on people from minority backgrounds.

This follows the furore over apparently racist events in recent football matches, like Luiz Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra before a match. Further incidents, including John Terry losing his England captaincy for having to stand trial in July over allegations that he had racially abused another player have garnered further controversy.

Jeremy Hunt has said previously "We have made huge strides, in fact I would say as a society one of the reasons we have made huge strides in changing attitudes to racial discrimination is because of the changes in football."

But Hunt made clear that recent football controversies showed there was no room for complacency. The culture secretary said they needed to make sure everything is done to “stamp out this problem”.

Nick Clegg last year attacked the “racial ceiling” that existed in sport. In his Scarman lecture, the deputy prime minister attacked the fact that only two of the 92 league clubs had a black boss. He also echoed criticism of FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, accusing him of “trivialising” racism.

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Prime Minister David Cameron and culture secretary Jeremy Hunt are set to meet football representatives to discuss how to combat racism in the sport. Attendees expected at the meeting include repr...
Prime Minister David Cameron and culture secretary Jeremy Hunt are set to meet football representatives to discuss how to combat racism in the sport. Attendees expected at the meeting include repr...
 
 
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13:59 on 22/02/2012
It seems this piece is about closet racism that should be stamped out. I'm no fan of Cameron but this is a question of society in general not just football. Bigotry of any kind is just plain wrong and football is one place that needs to address the problem amongst many others. The problem is that it is so high in profile other places sort of get missed. On this occasion, good for Cameron. He is still to lax with banks though!
13:51 on 22/02/2012
What the hell has this to do with our Prime Minister. Does he not have enough to do in sorting out our economy or is this an attempt to take over the Presidential role of FIFA and the FA.
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13:47 on 22/02/2012
politicians are clearly off side themselves for deliberetly ignoring the electorate,just slaving to a few rich people,they lie so much i dont know why they bother with manifestoes
13:36 on 22/02/2012
Cameron shows his lack of knowledge regarding football by the fact he supports Aston Villa!
13:29 on 22/02/2012
fed up with this PC bunch,it would seem anyone who has a chance jumps on the band wagon. But only if you are white and british no one listens,we all these days have people calling us names whatever your colour.
there is an old saying sticks and stones etc.it is obvious to me that the people who complain about raceism must be such delicate flowers,and this is such a nasty country why do they insist on staying in such a bad place?
13:28 on 22/02/2012
How about sorting out the bloody country? Cameron should stop hiding behind issues and deal with the pressing needs of our economy.... OOOps sorry he's already done that God help us, he's starting to remind me more and more of a certain Italian captain of a cruise liner......
13:27 on 22/02/2012
they have no chance of stopping it as all players will deny it .
they cannot even stop things that happen outside in clear view of the police ie using a phone while driving .
13:06 on 22/02/2012
Have the Scots been invited to this Foorball racism 'Summit'? If not why not. We are supposed to be a 'united kingdom' and this is an issue which stretches North of the Border. Is the PM yet again too worried at being seen telling Scots what to do (or not to do)? Cameron should start acting like he is prime minister of the United Kingdom, and not just prime minister of England.
13:28 on 22/02/2012
Well said
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13:52 on 22/02/2012
Cameron cant act like a PM because Germany clearly run europe
13:01 on 22/02/2012
First how come Suarez is'nt facing a trial like John Terry. To get rid of racism among fans,those making the remarks,be they home supporters award the match to the visiting team,and if they be away supporters award the points to the home team or deduct points.
13:53 on 22/02/2012
Answer - Evra reported his complaint to the FA. Ferdinand's complaint was reported to the police. Simple
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14:00 on 22/02/2012
at a guess probally because he is non eu citizen
12:58 on 22/02/2012
Super Dave rides again, yawn Racism in football has been going on for years, it was rife when I used to watch it in the 70's. For all the high profile attempts made by the "experts" nothings changed, just more press coverage.
12:54 on 22/02/2012
Why didn’t he also get involved with other cases of racism, such as Dianne Abbot and the ludicrous sentences given to those "drunk" Somalian girls? Oops, silly me, it isn't racism when directed at the indigenous population.
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tracingagent
14:09 on 22/02/2012
Very well said.
12:30 on 22/02/2012
Why isn't John Terry included at that meeting?
12:14 on 22/02/2012
Oh... so now he's going to appear at a meeting as an expert on Football, he might as well as he knows nothing about anything else.... Just leave the running up to the rest Dave, you can't be blamed if you're not involved.
12:33 on 22/02/2012
I don't think the meeting is about football expertise. Read the article again and try to get a more accurate idea of what the meeting is about, which does not need football expertise.
21:30 on 22/02/2012
??? I see it that Cameron is purposefully avoiding the major issues and this is an excuse to do so... if I'm wrong tell me more?
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cynic123
12:04 on 22/02/2012
We should start calling Dave Cam-morron PM Elect because he was not voted into power. He formed a coatition so that he could form a government. He is clearly showing that he is only working for 1% of the top money people in this country. Use your vote more wisely at the next General election. I BET HE KNOWS MORE ABOUT FOOTBALL THAN HE DOES ABOUT POLITICS.
11:51 on 22/02/2012
We all see what Terry said to Anton so if he gets away with calling him it, will it mean all supporters can get away with it?
12:39 on 22/02/2012
Very true; I watched the video and I what he said was absolutely clear.
If someone should say that I called him a pumpkin, I will not reply by saying, "I did not call you a pumpkin".
I would say, "I did not call you such thing", or "I did not" or "I never did, so don't be stupid", etc. etc.