Mark Baker

Thirty minutes into the first Premier League game of the season, and Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo is racially abused by someone in the crowd. Two nights ago, Tottenham’s Mathys Tel was racially abused online. This is a stark reminder of an ugly reality: black players are facing this every week. We stand in solidarity with Antoine and can’t praise him enough for his courage in calling this out after such a distressing episode before going on to score twice. Anthony Taylor and his refereeing team also deserve credit for acting swiftly and decisively. We will keep pushing to kick this disgusting behaviour out of the game through punishments, accountability and education, but football still has a long way to go.