Football Racism: No One Knows Conviction Rates – Despite Calls To Stamp It Out
Police, prosecutors and equality campaigners have been left in the dark about racist incidents at football matches because of a lack of data on conviction rates, HuffPost UK can reveal.
No information is held on how many incidents have actually have led to convictions, making it difficult to identify obstacles in bringing racist hooligans to justice – or sentences that are unduly lenient. That is despite a spike in reports to police of racist incidents at football matches, and dedicated policing units for the sport.
The organisations charged with curbing racism in the sport – the Crown Prosecution Service and the Ministry of Justice – told HuffPost UK they could not answer our requests for information as they did not hold the details we had requested.
“We are witnessing a worrying return of racism to grounds,” a spokesperson for Stand Up To Racism told HuffPost UK.
“Barely a weekend goes by without reports of racist incidents amongst fans or players. Given the racism coming from the top of society from the likes of Johnson and Trump, this is no surprise.
“Football is multi racial, multi-faith and racists will be the minority but far too often sanctions are slow and cumbersome.”
IIffy Onuora, equalities coach for the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), said in December that a “strong message” had to be sent out that racism in football grounds could no longer be tolerated.
“We will be lobbying the government to increase punishments for those found guilty of racist offences at football,” he added. “That includes handing down custodial sentences. There needs to be a bigger deterrent. Enough is enough. These are hate crimes.”
Yet neither the CPS nor the MoJ could break down the number of convictions there had been for racist incidents at football matches.
MoJ data for public order offences at football matches lists “taking part in racist or indecent chanting” as one crime, with no specific details available for the former.
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