Monday, 28 July 2014

Campbell: Black ex-pros too scared to talk about racism

Campbell: Black ex-pros too scared to talk about racism

The former centre-back has previously claimed he was prevented from captaining England due to the colour of his skin and is disappointed by the lack of support for his opinions.

Former England centre-back Sol Campbell believes black players are "too scared" to openly talk about racism in football.

Campbell claimed in March that he could have been captain of his country for 10 years had he been white, which was met with scepticism by some, including Paul Ince who captained England in June 1993.

The 39-year-old now feels that some black ex-professionals are afraid to speak out about racial abuse, and he is disappointed by the lack of support for his opinions.

"They are seeing what is happening around them and they don't do anything about it. They love the status quo. They just want to toe the line," Campbell said at the opening of the Black Cultural Archive in London.

"It's a case of 'I'm all right, I don't care who is coming up behind me. I'm too scared to own up'. Well, I'm not like that and I am never going to be like that, I'm just going to be me.

"People could have said what they did in a different way. John Barnes had bananas thrown at him. He is almost acting like nothing happened to him. People like him could have said, 'maybe not 10 years, but I could see where he was coming from. Articulate it in a different way.'"

On Ince, he added: "Then you've got Paul Ince [speaking] in the Daily Mail. It's like: 'Really?!' What position are you protecting when your position can so easily be taken away?

"I know some of the political people are trying to kind of move the FA [Football Association] in certain ways.

"But you just get to the stage where, if I've got black ex-players going against me then you start to think: 'What is going on here? I'll just let people drift and carry on doing my own thing.'"

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