Rio Ferdinand, former England defender, is concerned that footballers participating in the 2022 World Cup will be targeted by racism.
Qatar will bring together nations from all over the world to come together for the biggest football event. But Ferdinand fears that football’s lifelong dream of a big stage like this will be shatter. racist
“I think it might happen again. It’s not fair and I don’t think it only happens to English players. I think players of all skin colors from around the world will think this way,” Ferdinand said.
“For the players to go on the field and think ‘If I make a mistake I would be racist.’ That’s true. And in modern times it should be like that? It shouldn’t be like that at all. It shouldn’t be like that in any era. You think we should be able to get over it.”
“But the commitment and value of social The media is there for everyone to see. They won’t change because they know this behavior is toxic and hateful. So they won’t change. Just like me right now.”
Ferdinand hopes to alleviate pressure on individual players and has set up what might be the most powerful WhatsApp group in football, with members including Wilfried Zaha, Romelu Lukaku, Ian Wright, Hope Powell and Peter Crouch among those actively planning how to harness their collective power – something Ferdinand believes is fundamental to influencing stakeholders.
‘I’m hopeful,’ he said. ‘I’m not naive enough to think that we put out this documentary and we’re going to rewrite the rulebook and everything’s going to change for the positive. (But) you’d like to have some sort of good impact in the right way.’