How the football codes in liberal democracies confronted racism

With such players initially facing "a torrent of monkey grunts" and variations of the n-word insults, at a time when the National Front were leafleting outside grounds, Reade notes that such racist attitudes became "banal and counter-productive … because the majority of fans now had their own black heroes".

In Australia, indigenous AFL players increasingly refused to accept on-field racial vilification by the 1990s, by acting collectively through informal support networks based on shared heritage that also influenced the AFL Commission at a time when the latter too was eager to improve the image of the game and make appeal to a bigger national and family audience.

The AFL Commission's strategic planning now included ongoing development of a program to combat racial, religious and gender vilification.

The British also led Europe in terms of addressing racism in football.

In 2005, Trevor Phillips, chairman of the UK's Commission for Racial Equality, himself black, noted how the game's contribution to fighting racism in Britain has been "absolutely crucial" and contrasted greatly to 20 years ago when "racism in English grounds was almost as bad as it gets".

Barracking Chelsea for 45 years, Phillips noted that "There was a long period where I couldn't go because I'd be the only black person in the Shed [end]", yet "Now I can take my daughters", am "able to support a football club" and "belong to something, which doesn't define me by my colour".

In 2005, with three Blackburn fans recently fined and banned from grounds until 2009 for shouting racist abuse with racist players fined and shamed, Simon Kuper argued that England had been more successful than elsewhere in France, Italy and the Netherlands because the English approach had promoted racism as unpatriotic with England's white players also complaining to the media when their black players were abused in matches abroad.

Major progress today in the football codes is also evident by the high representation of black players in various major football leagues in the US, Australia and UK.

In the US, it is estimated that 70 per cent of NFL players are black.

In England's Premier and Football League, a 2015 estimate had black representation in the Premier League and Football League at 25%, albeit just 6.5% of managers (6 of 92 clubs).

In Australia, a 2016 article noted that Indigenous representation on AFL playing lists was around 9% (3% for administrative ranks), compared to 12% for the National Rugby league (4% administrative roles) at a time when the Indigenous people comprised 2.7% of Australia's population.

While Australia has a relatively small population of those with African backgrounds, they too are now also making their mark in Australia's various football codes.