Troy Townsend: Tackling racism is an ongoing battle - we cannot go quiet

Tuesday will mark one year since George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis.

The American's death had an impact worldwide, including in sport where footballers decided to take the knee in support of Black Lives Matter.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, fans have rarely been in the stadium to witness players kneel in the flesh but returned to grounds this weekend, providing a mixture of responses.

At Villa Park, where Chelsea were playing, some fans booed taking the knee; at Craven Cottage Fulham supporters applauded; while at Wolves, a man was arrested for making a racist gesture at Peckham-born Rio Ferdinand.

Premier League players started taking the knee before each match in June last year.

“It’s not a point of what the knee is doing, it’s the point of the actions after it," Kick It Out's Tory Townsend says of the gesture's impact.

"The players who have driven this message, who have driven taking the knee, especially in the Premier League and throughout all the leagues, have wanted action; they’ve wanted fairness; they’ve wanted representation right across the board in terms of the governance of the game; they wanted situations around racism dealt with effectively.

"That is the important message first and foremost. What happened yesterday has shown there needs to be more conversation and more work in this area.

"We must applaud fans being back in our stadiums, but at that very moment in time we’ve also got to realise there’s still a negative nature with certain fans and, unfortunately, it was targeted to Rio Ferdinand yesterday."

There is little doubt taking the knee before Premier League matches and the recent social media boycott have raised awareness of the inequality in society, with many hoping to build on the message it has sent out.

“The next step has already happened, in terms of the FA, the governance of our game, who have introduced the Football Leadership Code," Townsend told ITV London.

"There are a number of initiatives working towards better representation in our game, in terms of coaching. They are not enough alone; it’s important that we acknowledge those but it’s also important that we appreciate that in 2021, the stage where we’re at is racism is still rife in our game and it’s important that we put plans in place so we can eradicate it appropriately.

"That is in regards to working together, working closer together, so all the footballing authorities, the stakeholders, people like ourselves, organisations like ourselves working closely together.

"As we’ve seen with the social media boycotts, as we’ve seen with the strong and powerful messages that have been levelled at the social media platforms, it’s exactly what the many people would like to see when we do see incidents like yesterday that happened to Rio Ferdinand."

Players will continue to take the knee and Kick It Out will be by their side to help end stop racism in the game.

Asked how things can progress, Townsend said: “By not going quiet it’s as simple as that. It’s not a time we can lose our voice.

"This is an ongoing battle, this was an ongoing battle before George Floyd was murdered and it will continue. 

“It’s also about holding people accountable for their actions. It is important that we speak our truth but also hold people accountable for their actions in our game."