Labour urges black players to walk off pitch if they are racially abused

Black footballers should walk off the pitch if they are racially abused by fans, Labour said today.

Players subjected to vile monkey chants, banana-throwing and race-based barbs should be supported if they choose to abandon a match, according to Shadow Sports Minister Rosena Allin-Khan.

Speaking at the Mirror’s Boot Out Racism fringe event at Labour’s conference in Brighton, she said: “On the pitch the payer need an ally.

“If the players walk off the pitch, I would 100% be there and in Westminster, 100% support players in walking out.”

Racism from the stands has resurfaced in recent years and black England players were taunted during their side’s 5-1 victory over Montenegro in March.

Danny Rose, Raheem Sterling and Callum Hudson-Odoi were the victims of disgusting racism from the stands – triggering the Mirror’s campaign to root out racial abuse from the sport.

Calling for all players in a team to walk off if one of them is abused, Troy Townsend, from Kick It Out, said: “It has to be en masse.

“It cannot be an individual saying. ‘See you later, I’m going’.”

Ex-Manchester United and England defender Paul Parker, 55, spoke movingly about the abuse he and fellow black players suffered decades ago,

He said: “In the early ’80s it was horrific.

“Did I say anything about it? No, because there was nowhere to go, no-one to help.”

He told of playing at a ground where rival supporters sang a song which included the line “There ain’t no black in the Union Jack”.

Parker went on: “They were actually singing that with a black player in their team, that’s how bad it was.

“When I asked that black player why he was standing for this, he said, ‘It’s where I’m from, it’s the team I support’ – and that’s what it was like, innuendos in the dressing room which I had to accept as a joke.

“That might come across as weak, but if you remember those times in the early ’80s and late ’80s there was nowhere to go.”

Parker revealed he tried to shield his mum and dad from the hatred he was subjected to.

“My parents never watched me play one professional game, not one,” he said.

“Not because they didn’t want to come … but I was scared of what was going to happen if someone said something in front of them because my mum was a 4ft 11ins Jamaican, pocket dynamo, aggressive woman.”

Former Charlton and Aston Villa star Paul Elliott, also 55, said: “The abuse that we received was repugnant, totally reprehensible.”

The fringe, hosted by Mirror football correspondent Darren Lewis, came after an alleged racist incident in the weekend’s clash between Hartlepool United and Dover Athletic.

Dover won 2-0, but the National League game was marred by abuse targeted at Athletic striker Inih Effiong.

The match was suspended for more than 10 minutes after Effiong was allegedly racially targeted.

Dover boss Andy Hessenthaler and his Hartlepool counterpart Craig Hignett discussed taking their players off the field following the incident, which happened after Effiong’s penalty strike.

The National League said in a statement: “The League understands that a disciplinary process will be commenced by the Football Association and that investigations are being conducted by Cleveland Police.”