UK,
Tuesday, 11 June, 2024
McCreadie Andias
Major UK media sites and newspapers have been heavily called out for what has been described as ‘scapegoating’ black players in their media cover photos after England’s 1-0 defeat to Iceland in an international friendly match played at Wembley Stadium on Friday.
Social media users pointed out that negative media coverage of the loss and the images accompanying the articles often seemed to centre the team’s Black stars.
This comes following the next day’s back pages of The Sun and The Daily Star, as well as a player ratings piece by The Telegraph and the live blog on the BBC Sport website all featured Bukayo Saka as a main picture, despite the attacker only coming off the bench in the 65th minute, long after England conceded the only goal of the game.
The Black Footballers Partnership (BFP) has also criticised elements of the English media for using a photo of Bukayo Saka alongside critical reports of the England team in the aftermath of the shocking defeat.
The BFP says the decision by multiple outlets to use photos of Saka – who only played for 25 minutes as a second-half substitute confirmed Raheem sterling’s statement that called out the same years ago.
Sterling who currently plays for Chelsea highlighted the issue in 2018, when he accused some sections of the media of helping to “fuel racism” in their portrayal of elite Black players.
The BFP , formed in 2021 as a strategic organisation to unite Black current and former players and give them a voice, said it was unfair to single out Saka, instead of white England players who also failed to impress and were on the pitch for longer.
The campaign group released a song in support of the England team – entitled It’s OUR team – to try to stave off a repeat of what they called “the disgusting racist wave that followed England’s exit from Euro 2020”.
Saka alongside Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were racially abused online following the Three Lions’s penalty shootout defeat to Italy in the final of the previous Euros in 2021. Within minutes of his penalty being saved in the shootout, Saka received abuse on his Instagram account, which was flooded with monkey emojis.
In a statement, the BFP said: “Here we are, six years after Raheem Sterling called the press out for fuelling racism, with no obvious lessons learnt among our globally respected and influential press.
“Following England’s underwhelming loss to Iceland, and before we have even started the tournament, a number of leading British papers exclusively used photos of Bukayo Saka – who played only 25 minutes of the game – to illustrate articles that sought to criticise the entire team.
“This is simply not on. The press should know they play a part in setting the atmosphere for how fans see the England team.
“Black Footballers Partnership calls on journalists, as well as fans, to be unifiers, not dividers, as Euro 2024 begins in less than a week’s time, and to review its hiring practices to increase diversity at senior levels.”
English legend and former Arsenal foward Ian Wright called out the media for scapegoating England’s Black players and warned that they will try to gaslight the nation into believing it’s not happening.
The Ex-England international and current pundit Wright weighed in on the claims, suggesting certain players were “being set up to be the face of defeat” and urged positivity in the face of negative coverage.
Wright said on Twitter/X: “Now more than ever let’s get behind & support these young people. We can all see what’s happening & who’s being set up to be the face of defeat.
“We are going to be gas lit with explanations & justifications, but those deciding who goes on the back pages know what they’re doing. Let’s keep our energy focused on giving these players pure love & support throughout the tournament.”
F1 star Lewis Hamilton, who has been a consistently outspoken voice in the fight against racism, also appeared to back Wright’s critique by sharing to his Instagram Story a post demanding accountability from the English media.
The initial post from Versus that Hamilon reposted said: “We need to hold the English media accountable for systemically vilifying Black players. The constant scapegoating of Black players needs to stop. This endemic racial discrimination has no place in football, yet countless news outlets suggest otherwise.”