Black AND White matter...

“It is dangerous to be right on matters which the established authorities are wrong”... so said French philosopher Voltaire.

Life and football is full of rules, long-standing practices and firmly-held beliefs. Rules should be few but always adhered to, practices should be about being better today than you were yesterday and beliefs should be about fairness, fun and family.

As I referenced some months ago in an earlier blogpost White Roding is an archetypical Essex country village, but influence on the football team for which I manage is not solely White, Anglo-Saxon & Protestant.

Equality for all is a matter of personal accountability and collective responsibility, no matter what your circumstances are. As human beings we are significantly similar in almost all aspects, but the differences are magnified by ignorance, intolerance and ill-will. Fast forward to the outrage that is entirely understandable, following the death of George Floyd.

Whether it is ”taking a knee,” righting previous wrongs or telling off a teammate, we all need to do more to be better than we were yesterday.

This picture of John Barnes is beautiful. The kit, the player, the way he kicks into touch a racist attack with more skill in his back heel than virtually every English footballer in history have had in their bodies, let alone an idiot from sidelines who shamed his side. It was at a time when I had just started playing senior level football. Beliefs have come a long way in 30 years but still we have a long way to go.

It is right that teams like Liverpool have learned from the past and now show their solidarity to a cause that is still being let down by authority.

More clubs, communities and countries need to do more, to take a stand, to take a knee, to bring about equality for all on all matters at all times.

For now, White Roding 45s will not bend down In a sign of defiance (only because at our age we will struggle to get up again), but we stand tall, arm-in-arm in solidarity against discrimination of any sort.