It’s Not as Simple as Black and White: Challenging Racism in Professional Football through Locally Grounded Multi-agency Collaboration

Abstract

This chapter will begin by considering the ways in which racisms and racialised exclusions have impinged upon and been generated by English football culture and their impact on patterns of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) participation across all levels of the English professional game. The chapter will also provide some contextual background on the shape and scope of national interventions designed to challenge racism in football and the efficacy of efforts to engage professional clubs in the idea and practice of anti-racism, in particular with respect to recent work around the Kick It Out Racial Equality Standard for Professional Clubs (KIO RES).