Since March, an additional 20% consider taking a knee to be an important way to combat racism.
The Three Lions made headlines by continuing to take knees throughout the Euro 2020 tournament in protest against racial inequality and abuse. Now, ahead of the start of the new domestic season, the EFL has reaffirmed their support for players and staff members who choose to continue to kneel before matches.
Getting on your knees is considered increasingly important
YouGov research also shows that since the spring, players and staff taking a knee has increasingly been seen as important in the fight against racism. Eight in ten Britons from ethnic minorities interested in football now say taking a knee is important to combat racism, compared to 61% who said the same in March. This includes a majority who think it is “very important” in the fight against racism (58%), an increase of 30 percentage points from March.
Only one in ten people (10%) think that this gesture is not important to combat racism in football, compared to 32% who were of this opinion earlier in the year.
Has the sport’s response improved in the eyes of ethnic minority fans?
Elsewhere, YouGov research shows that while opinions are divided, fewer ethnic minority fans believe professional football as a whole is not sufficiently responsive to the issue of racism in the sport.
Nearly two in five people (38%) now say that professional football does not respond sufficiently to racism, compared to half (50%) who said this in March. Since then, 38% believe that the reaction to this question is now approximately correct (+13 points compared to March).
Only 15% of fans think the sport is overreacting to this issue, just like the 16% who shared this opinion in the previous iteration of this survey.
Most groups in professional football still aren’t doing enough to combat racism
Three Lions defender Tyrone Mings recently described racist abuse towards England players after the Euro 2020 final is ‘not surprising’ and among ethnic minority fans, opinion on supporters’ efforts to tackle racism remains low.
Some 79% of ethnic minority supporters say football fans as a whole are not doing enough to tackle racial abuse in football, the highest figure of any group surveyed.
When it comes to football associations, 77% believe international bodies such as FIFA and UEFA are not doing enough to end racism in professional football, up from 69% in March. 72% think the FA is not doing enough to tackle this problem.
Seven in ten (70%) are not very impressed by the police’s response to the issue and believe they could do more to crack down on racial abuse in professional football.
At football clubs, six in ten (60%) ethnic minority fans think they could do more to tackle racist abuse, but 30% think they are doing enough.
The players themselves are the only group where the majority of ethnic minority supporters believe they are now doing enough to tackle the problem; 54% now say that footballers are doing enough, compared to 43% in March. That compares to 38% of fans who think players could do more.
Football continues to have a serious racism problem
Our first poll of ethnic minority football fans following the Euro 2020 tournament and the abuse against players after the final reveals that the vast majority continue to view football as having a serious racism problem. Eight in ten (82%) now say sport has a serious problem with racism, an increase of four percentage points from March, and a further 13% think the problem exists but is not serious.
This compares to 71% of English football fans who also believe professional football has a serious problem with racist abuse, an increase of 14 points from March.
