Raheem Sterling 'abuse': Racist undercurrents are in our society and football is merely a symptom of disease

The snap reaction to the abuse aimed at Raheem Sterling at Stamford Bridge on Saturday is that football needs to sort out its racism issues. Such sentiments ignore the main problem.

British society has rancid undercurrents and anyone who thinks that the only place they are bubbling to the surface are Premier League stadiums is delusional.

Sport — football in particular — has done more to break down barriers in the past few decades than most areas of life. Chelsea have gone to great lengths to rid their fanbase of racist elements.

Across the game there are countless initiatives aimed at promoting inclusiveness among players and spectators. Things are far from perfect and Saturday is proof that there is a long way still to go but no one becomes a bigot by simply passing through the turnstiles. There are no 90-minute racists. Hateful opinions are formed long before entering a stadium.

The banana skin hurled in the direction of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the Emirates last week and the spite-filled insults thrown towards Sterling are not a return to the ‘bad old days’ when large sections of crowds made monkey noises at black players. It is little consolation, though. The present is ugly enough.

Is it any wonder that intolerance and maliciousness are manifesting themselves in the stands?

Yesterday, protestors were marching the streets of London three miles or so from Stamford Bridge with homemade gallows and suggesting that those who disagree with their politics should be lynched as traitors. The entire economic and constitutional direction of the country is being defined by a referendum whose voting patterns turned on xenophobia.

Fear of otherness — different skin tones, different religions and different languages — pulses through daily discourse. Some of those watching the snarling, spit-spraying buffoons cursing at Sterling might have well been looking at a mirror rather than a TV.

Football has tried very hard to promote understanding and eradicate prejudice. The bigger question is about how we want Britain to be. A substantial number of the population believe the nation should be a less cosmopolitan, more hostile place. If you doubt this, take a look at what’s happening in Westminster this week.

It would be nice to think that those who abused Sterling on Saturday might be feeling shame today. Public humiliation might be the worst thing that happens to the individual at the centre of the storm, depending on what the investigations establish.

Stadiums are private property and the club can stop anyone they dislike from entering, so a ban could well be applied, but it is difficult to see anyone being prosecuted as pitchside microphones do not appear to have picked up any racist comments.

Football is the biggest expression of popular culture in Britain and reflects the mood of the country. Football is always merely a symptom. The disease has deeper roots in the body politic.

Standards of decency are slipping inside and outside football grounds. Boundaries are being crossed on a daily basis. The question is a simple one: are you doing enough in the stands and on the streets to counter this poisonous environment? Football is at least trying. If you are not, you are part of the problem.