Darren Lewis to Sky Sports News: "All football does is condemn. All we do is talk time and time again. People are tired of it. The players have to take that power and show the game that unless it does something, they will not play."
Sunday 6 December 2020 17:00, UK
Darren Lewis insists "all football does is condemn" racism and believes there may only be "substantive change" once players refuse to take part in the sport.
On Saturday, a section of Millwall fans booed as their players and Championship opponents Derby took a knee ahead of kick-off in support of the fight against racial injustice. It was the first match home supporters had been able to attend at The Den since the league was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Players, officials and staff at Premier League and English Football League (EFL) games have been taking a knee pre-match since football restarted in June in order to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
The EFL, Football Association (FA) and anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out all released statements in the aftermath of the game condemning the incident, while Millwall said on Sunday morning they are "dismayed and saddened" and remain committed to being at the "forefront of football's anti-discrimination efforts".
Speaking on Super Sunday Matchday, football writer Lewis believes condemnation from authorities "doesn't mean anything" and says real change may only occur once footballers refuse to play altogether.
"You can't punish people for having an opinion. These weren't monkey chants or anything like that. This is a position they have taken as a matter of opinion," Lewis said.
"Some people think Black Lives Matter is a political organisation and that's a misconception. What the Black Lives Matter movement is trying to articulate is that our lives as people matter and everyone chooses, and I say that deliberately, chooses to misunderstand that.
"I've said many times, if somebody is going to disrespect you in that way, don't play. If it disrupts the competition, the game, that's not your problem, but as a young black man this sport cannot keep indulging in the idea that you play through it.
"Everyone has come out to condemn it, but what do condemnations mean? What does it mean if we are back here again? If you find yourself in a situation like that, don't play. The club then has to do something about it, the game has to do something about it and maybe we can have substantive change.
"At the moment we cannot keep going round in circles with authorities and organisations, 'we condemn this, we condemn that' - it doesn't mean anything."
Lewis added: "Do young black men have to keep coming out, do young fathers have to keep sending their sons into work knowing they're going to get racially abused week after week? No.
"All football does is condemn. In other industries people say 'we're on strike'. They strike over pay, they strike over conditions. They take actions into their own hands. In this sport, all we do is talk time and time again. People are tired of it.
"The players have to take that power and show the game that unless it does something, as other industries have found themselves in similar positions, they will not play."
In their statement, Millwall also said club officials will meet with Kick It Out and representatives from other appropriate bodies "in an attempt to use Saturday's events as a catalyst for more rapid solutions".
Troy Townsend, head of development at Kick It Out, sympathises with the "good people" at Millwall who are trying to make change, but says football as a whole must be more proactive.
"For me [the booing] has been premeditated. This is something that has been on people's chest for a very, very long time and they had the opportunity to spell it out to those players yesterday," Townsend said.
"We've got to continue to call this out and we've got to start to be proactive in our actions, because the impact of what happened yesterday goes far beyond the booing incident.
"I was in conversations with Millwall last night and I feel for the good people at the club who I've worked with over the past year and a bit - Steve Kavanagh, the chairman, and people on the board. I know this is not them and Steve was hurting.
"They are trying to change around the history of this football club and it's never going to be easy because their fanbase lets them down continuously.
"The players' message went out on Thursday, but I actually do feel that the club should have put something out yesterday, to stand by those players who were hurt, to stand by their staff who are equally as hurt."
In the aftermath of Millwall's match, the FA released a statement to support players and staff taking the knee and strongly condemn the "behaviours of any spectators that actively voice their opposition to such activities".
Edleen John, FA Director for International, Corporate Affairs & EDI, told Super Sunday Matchday: "From an FA standpoint and a personal standpoint we absolutely respect the individual choice of players to protest against discrimination in ways that are respectful, and in taking the knee that is what they are doing.
"As this relates to the fans and spectators, we as the FA do not have jurisdiction over those individuals unless they're also players in the game, but we of course do and can apply sanctions to clubs and we have done that in the past in clubs including Millwall, where the focus is on putting together an action plan to drive change.
"That doesn't always focus on monetary sanctions. It can look at increasing training for stewards, it can look at matchday operations and what needs to be improved as part of that process, and can also include things like increasing CCTV to make sure situations where there is discriminatory abuse or booing can actually be caught and therefore lead to subsequent charges.
"For us it's about a journey, learning and being proactive in terms of how we make sure clubs are holding their spectators and fans to account, but making sure clubs also have all of those practices, policies and equipment in place to do that effectively."
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