Players Views
Rio Ferdinand
England
Did you have any experiences of racism, growing up in London?
I was at a football club, I won't say where,at a club watching a game when I was about 18. I had a Saturday off, so I went and watched the team play. I was sitting in the stands and there was a policeman standing behind me about three rows back. The visiting team had a few black players in the side and a few of the black players made a few good tackles and I think one of them scored a goal. And there's this guy right in front of me started saying 'you black this' and 'you black that'. So I looked at my friend and said 'I think I'm going to leave, I can't sit here and listen to this all the time' and the policeman didn't say or do anything. The guy carried on shouting 'you black this and that' and then he turns round and says to me, 'oh, not you mate you're alright, it's just these ones, they get right on my nerves'. I just kind of laughed out of embarrassment for the guy and I looked at the policeman and he looked away, as if to say 'I didn't hear it'. It just makes you shake your head sometimes, they haven't got any self-respect to start talking like that. I ended up leaving the game before the end, so that was disappointing. But, that was one of the main things I've seen in football and it's something that, touch wood, is being driven out.
What would your advice be to a young person who is suffering from racism?
Obviously the way forward isn't violence. As much as you would like to turn round and hit someone for saying something like that and you could be within your rights to do that in some situations, but it's not the way forward and it's not the way to solve it. The way to solve it is to bite your lip and kind of rise above it. I know it's hard, but it's something that makes you a better person and you don't want to go down to their level of being ill mannered and having no self respect. If you've got a bit of self-respect you just rise above it and keep your mouth shut. If you are in the classroom, you tell a teacher as soon as it happens. On a football pitch you let the referee know that something like that has happened and then after the game he may put it in his match report and he could take it further after the game. But, as I said violence isn't the way forward.
What advice would you give to a young person hearing racism?
Just to find out yourself. If your parents are racists and they tell you certain things about different cultures, the best way to judge is to find out for yourself. If you don't know yourself then you'll never know and you'll only go on what other people are saying. If you just sit around with someone in the class and you'll notice that there's not much difference between anyone, it's just the colour of your skin and it's just on the outside. But, as I said everyone is more or less similar in one way or another.
One of the themes that we are going to cover on our new video is the Stephen Lawrence Campaign, which has had a big effect in the last couple of years.
Yes, I went to school with him. When he was murdered the school kind of came to a standstill. It was like, unbelievable because Stephen was never the kind of person to promote trouble of any kind. It's been well documented in the papers, he was an A level student and he was going on to do good things and then his life was brought to an immediate halt, so it was terrible. His parents are doing an unbelievable job, the way they're fighting the system, they've really made sure that they've dug their heels in and carried on with the campaign.
