Mixed race caller recalls being asked to choose team in 'black vs white' football match
29 March 2021, 16:58
Mixed race caller was asked which team he will play for in 'black vs white' football match
This is the moment a mixed race caller told LBC about when he was asked by a coach which team he will play for in a "black vs white" football match.
Mark in Weybridge spoke of his experience amid debate over use of the label 'BAME' as it has been reported that the Prime Minister's racial disparity commission is set to report that it's "unhelpful" and "redundant".
Mark told LBC's Shelagh Fogarty: "So my experience was when I left school I went to play football for a London Premier League football club at the age of 16, and this was about 25 years ago.
"And, unbeknown to me, but on a Friday they would regularly have a 'blacks vs whites' football match, which I just couldn't believe."
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Mark told Shelagh that when he questioned why such a match was taking place, he was told "that's just the way it always is".
Elaborating on his experience, Mark said: "I'm mixed race and the coach shouted over to me 'which team are you playing for?'
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"That stopped me in my tracks and that was the first time that race [and] colour was really ever presented to me."
Explaining the immediate lead-up to the matches, Mark said: "The black players walked to one goal, the white players walked to another goal and I stood in the middle..."
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