Marland Yarde tells SSN's Gail Davis he does not believe rugby cares enough about tackling racism; RPA says game's stakeholders must put it top of their agenda; RFU says collective effort needed; Premiership Rugby says it is committed to making rugby more welcoming and inclusive
Wednesday 3 March 2021 16:11, UK
Marland Yarde is not asking for much from those who run the game he loves.
All the Sale and England winger seems to want is a safe and inclusive environment where ethnically diverse participants can thrive on a level playing field, free from any fear of discrimination or racial abuse.
"I want it to be fair, not just for the people playing this game now, but for the people at grassroots level who are coming through," he tells Sky Sports News.
"I want them to come into the sport and know they are safe, and they're going to be supported and protected."
Back in September, Yarde revealed he had been targeted with racial abuse around his international debut against Argentina in 2013. This interview with Sky Sports comes not long after historical racist social media posts from Argentina captain Pablo Matera have also resurfaced.
Initially stripped of the Argentina captaincy - and banned for two weeks before being reinstated - Matera was eventually instructed to anti-discrimination education. However, the episode brought back bad memories of the abuse Yarde suffered around his England debut.
"It wasn't handled well," he reflects, adding "you quickly realise there are no protocols for this in place."
In an interview with Sky Sports last September, Yarde revealed that he had reported an incident of racist abuse to Premiership Rugby, directed at him by a spectator earlier in the season. The abuse was overheard by a physio as well as a team-mate but no racist language was identified, and no action was taken.
Yarde later said he felt uncomfortable reporting the incident and was not surprised by the outcome. In the months since, the Sale winger has asked plenty of questions to those who run the game, without receiving many satisfactory answers.
"We got to that stage where I had a Zoom call [with the Rugby Players Association] and we discussed my frustrations," Yarde said.
The RPA had conversations with Premiership Rugby who are in charge of deciding and distributing new protocols for the competition.
"I was promised at the start of the season in November that there would be protocols in place and they were going to send it out to all the clubs. We got to, what, two-and-a-half months later, nothing was done.
"I wasn't even notified or messaged. So that's why I believe they just simply don't care enough, it doesn't mean enough [to them].
"If something meant enough to you and you wanted to make a change about something, I think you would make it happen. You would show more interest to try to make a difference and try to make people feel comfortable in their own skin and comfortable playing sport."
Shortly before this interview, the Sale winger received a draft copy of a new set of protocols for racist incidents which he described as "underwhelming" and unfit for purpose.
"What they have given me is a few lines, which is just common sense," says a disappointed Yarde.
"If you are racially abused, you can speak to a match official, or you can tell a team-mate, or you can tell your team manager. It's underwhelming. There's nothing to show that they've put thought into it.
"They are maybe just unsure of what to do, because they don't know what it actually feels like to be racially abused. People need to know if they do that at a game, you're going to be banned from life to coming to a game and they might have some second thoughts."
Former player James Bailey is now a diversity and inclusion advisor at the Rugby Players' Association. He understands the sense of urgency felt by players like Yarde to get the proper racism protocols in place and says it is time for rugby to put this "at the top of their agenda".
"Faith in the system is crucial, we have got to make sure that none of our players feel dehumanised or devalued because of the colour of their skin or any other form of discrimination," Bailey says. "It is absolutely crucial we take a firm stance that rugby has a zero-tolerance for any form of discrimination.
"Sanctions by themselves are not enough. There needs to be a clear deterrent in terms of any form of discrimination within the game, but there also need to be preventative and proactive education around these issues - and that needs to be started at a very young age and go all the way through leadership and governance so that everyone understands how, and when, and what is appropriate within our space.
"You can always understand players' frustrations when it seems on the surface when like things are not being moved forward, but what is key to all of this is that there needs to be an essence of urgency where this is put at the top of the agenda. It is the responsibility of all the stakeholders in the game to put this at the top of their agenda.
"What we are talking here is not a quick or easy fix. To change and influence society is going to take a collective effort, and a sustained effort. But I guess my key point is that it needs to happen now. I think there is an understanding that what is currently in our game is not good enough, but let's draw a line in the sand, and be proactive, and work together to move things forward."
What Yarde also hopes is that by implementing education to all players, rugby can become a voice for fighting racial injustice. At the same time, Yarde questions whether the sport really wants to change.
In recent months following the resumption of rugby, there have been slogans and T-shirts, and Premiership teams were asked if they wanted to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Yarde says that felt like a "tick-box exercise" because there had been very little discussion around it.
"I thought rugby and the Premiership was kind of pushed into it because it needed to be seen to do something," he explains.
"It happened over the course of the eight remaining weeks of that season and as soon as that season was done, it was like, 'what are you going to do next to keep this going?' We have all these gambling and doping workshops but there's nothing on racism."
Rugby Football Union (RFU) board member Sue Day says player education has to be led by the RPA and Premiership Rugby. However, the former England Women's captain says there can no longer be any excuses, adding ethnically diverse players must have their voices heard and see the right actions taken.
"When it becomes to delivering education for players, that will sit with the RPA and Prem Rugby, but of course we will work very closely alongside them to help to make sure all the content is there. We have got a D&I group chaired by Ugo Monye to help us challenge that because we have got to make sure we get this right," Day says.
"It is so important we listen, if that is what players are feeling and thinking (that not enough is being done to tackle racism and promote diversity by rugby's stakeholders).
"If what the players are saying is the thing that will make the biggest difference is education programmes, then it is pretty simple, isn't it? We set ourselves a target of a few months' time and whatever programme they think will make the difference - then it's done, pretty simple, I think.
"Between us, we can't go and turn around, looking and saying it's their problem or their problem. Between us, we need to make sure it's addressed and let's address it."
Former Wasps president Day added: "We need to make sure the RFU itself is diverse, that our board and the people that work in it are diverse. We need to make sure our fans and followers are diverse and the content we put out and people see about rugby is diverse and reflects society.
"We need to make sure that the people who play our game on the pitch are diverse, so we get more people from ethnically diverse communities into playing, coaching, and officiating. Finally, rugby is built on thousands of volunteers and we need to make sure those people are representative of the society we live in."
When it comes to tackling racism in and around the sport, there have been some conversations but no meaningful action, according to Yarde. He believes the people in charge don't have the "emotional connection" to understand how important this is.
"This isn't me sitting here complaining about the RFU or complaining about the RPA or anyone else. This is me simply sitting here saying, I just want more to be done," Yarde says.
"It doesn't feel it's a topic of importance for rugby. There are so few black players in the league, I think they don't feel the need to necessarily fix that problem, because it's not widespread, it's not going to affect 90/95 per cent of the people within the sport - so why are we going to invest so much time and effort into trying to fix the problem of the very few?"
Yarde does feel like he is a bit of a lone voice but opens up on who his allies are, and the sense of shared frustration among some of the game's leading black players.
"I think any black person, any black player in this league would feel this way," he says.
"You know, I listen to Maro (Itoje), Beno Obano, Anthony Watson and all those guys [they] feel the frustration. What we feel, and what I get from listening to them, is they want to feel equality. They want to feel fairness. They want to feel that they're supported in wanting change. No-one wants to be standing out alone."
The Sale player spent years keeping quiet on the subject and has been forced to take a thick-skinned approach.
He adds: "You kind of just roll with it, because you just never think it's something that's significant enough to change someone's perception and all you're really going to do is just infuriate yourself.
"It does hurt. It does kill you in that sense. It was silence for me back then, I was ignorant to it a little bit. I just kind of thought nothing's going to change."
So why now? For Yarde, this is far bigger than rugby - this is about using his position as an athlete to drive societal change.
His admiration for the scores of black athletes who have used their voices for good since the police killing of George Floyd is evident. Then last July, baby Cecilia arrived and changed Yarde's life completely.
"I've got a daughter at home who is going to grow up into this world," he says.
"I want to make sure that she's entering into a world that is a bit more appreciative of people of different colour."
Yarde is also honest enough to admit he has grown up and admits to working hard to be a better person. After a chance meeting with a homeless man last year, he bought him dinner and listened to his story. The Sale player has been focused on helping the charity Centrepoint since.
His club helped donate clothes and toiletries before Christmas, and Yarde is working with local restaurants to help supply street kids with hot meals. When the Premiership shut down during the circuit breaker lockdown in January, Yarde put the players' food supply to good use by cooking and distributing the food to hostels around Manchester, alongside his team-mates.
The winger is driven by doing something to get these people back on their feet. He is delivering serious meaningful action. Yarde hopes he'll see the same from his sport soon.
In response to Yarde's comments, a Premiership Rugby spokesperson said: "Premiership Rugby is committed to making English professional club rugby a more diverse, welcoming and inclusive environment for our staff, players and fans while also supporting societal change.
"We are committed to build on our work through initiatives like Project Rugby to support black communities, as well as plans to further enhance work in LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality and to improve the access to our sport for those from low socio-economic groups and those with disabilities.
"When we launched Rugby Against Racism in August, we made five commitments and have been delighted to see the continuation of Project Rugby to increase access to the sport for young people from a BAME background. In the last four years, 13,500 young people from BAME backgrounds have been introduced to the sport by Project Rugby."
