Football's attitude to racism is improving, but there is a long way to go

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Suarez case highlights problems with the family values of football

Nothing that has happened in the Luis Suarez affair should obscure the fact that English football has come a long way from the dark days of the 80s. But while that is no small thing, Liverpool's reaction shows that football still has some way to go before it is in step with the rest of society.

I can speak with some authority on how racist English football was and how it pretended that racism had nothing to do with the game.

I was then a football reporter for the Sunday Times, often the only brown face, not just in the press box, but often in the entire stadium, apart from a few black players on the park. The racist abuse that was hurled at me by football supporters was much worse than what Suarez said to Patrice Evra. I have written about this at length in the past, but let me recall one occasion when I was chased down a train by football supporters shouting, "Hit the coon over the head with a baseball bat." This was then a popular football song. On another occasion I was very lucky not to be badly beaten because of the colour of my skin.