Reports of racism and discrimination in football rise by a third, Kick It Out finds

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Dan Rivers

Reports of racism and other forms of discrimination across all levels of football rose by a third last season, according to figures released by Kick It Out.

The biggest rise was in reports of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

Troy Townsend, Kick It Out's head of development, described the situation in amateur and youth football as "lawless", with "horrendous" abuse occurring even in the youngest age-groups.

The equality charity’s annual survey has now shown an increase in discrimination for seven consecutive seasons since it was first published in 2012/13.

The biggest rise was in reports of anti-semitism and Islamophobia. Credit: PA

There were 422 reports of discrimination during the 2018-19 campaign, up from 319 in the previous year

This increase should not come as a surprise after a season which witnessed numerous high-profile examples of overt discrimination, with stars such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mohamed Salah and Raheem Sterling all subjected to abuse.

Raheem Sterling had previously admitted of the possibility of being racially abused is something he considers every time he plays. Credit: PA

Townsend said it is hard to tell if racism is on the rise, racists are more "emboldened" to broadcast their views because of the contentious political climate or more people are just more willing to report abuse.

"We're in a worrying period of time, and it is a societal problem, but I can't affect that," he said.

"What we can do is talk about what we can do inside the game."

He said people needed to have faith their complaints would be taken seriously, which means speeding up the time it takes to complete discrimination cases and keep complainants more informed of what is happening throughout the process.