“He was too shocked to talk,” Sotirios Siminas says as he remembers trying to find out why one of his players was in tears at the end of a game that exposed the extent of the racism infecting the heart and soul of English football.
Siminas, who coaches one of the Under-12 boys’ teams at AFC Urmston Meadowside, in Manchester, can feel the anger rising. Six months on from that unpleasant Sunday morning, it is not easy listening to him explain what had happened to one of the children in his care. “The other boys told us that he was subjected to vile abuse by the opposition players,” Siminas says. “He was called a Paki on their way off the pitch.”
Written by Jacob Steinberg
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/apr/12/racism-english-football-parks-premier-league-special-investigation under the title “From parks to Premier League: the shocking scale of racism in English football”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
