:00:29. > :00:35.Football, the national sport. We know it as the beautiful game, but
:00:35. > :00:40.it can have an ugly side. Racism has a long history in the sport,
:00:40. > :00:45.and after a number of high-profile incidents last season, it is under
:00:45. > :00:48.the spotlight. I have been speaking to kids, Ex professionals and some
:00:49. > :00:55.of the most important figures in the game to see it racism still
:00:55. > :00:58.exists. Last year, the top flight of English football was different.
:00:58. > :01:03.Manchester City were crowned champion for the first time in 44
:01:03. > :01:08.years, of the season also made headlines for the wrong reasons.
:01:08. > :01:14.Luis Suarez has been banned for eight matches and fined �40,000 for
:01:14. > :01:20.racially abusing another player. October, Liverpool striker, Luis
:01:20. > :01:26.Suarez was accused of racially abusing a Patrice Evra on the pitch.
:01:26. > :01:30.The FA have banned him for 80 matches. John Terry was accused of
:01:30. > :01:35.shouting and racist insult to Anton Ferdinand who plays for QPR. It was
:01:35. > :01:40.taken to court and John Terry was found innocent. But the FA are
:01:40. > :01:46.taking the matter further. And then in a cup-tie between a Oldham
:01:46. > :01:53.Athletic and have a pool, a fan was rested after Tom Adeyemi reported
:01:53. > :01:59.abuse from the stands. Those incidents puds racist abuse in
:01:59. > :02:05.football back into the news. Back then, racism in football was a big
:02:05. > :02:09.problem. Black players regularly abused. They even had bananas
:02:09. > :02:14.thrown onto the pitch. Until recently, we assumed behaviour like
:02:14. > :02:20.that was in the past. Paul Elliott played for teams in England, Italy
:02:20. > :02:24.and Scotland, now he works with the anti- racism campaign, Kick It Out.
:02:24. > :02:30.As a player, what was it like to be on the pitch and be racially
:02:30. > :02:37.abused? Football has changed. It was a difficult working place,
:02:37. > :02:42.because football on the field was my place of work. On many occasions
:02:42. > :02:49.when I had possession of the ball, there was lots of monkey chanting.
:02:49. > :02:53.I got racial abuse by supporters, at times by fellow professionals.
:02:53. > :02:59.Football then and society was a difficult place indeed. How can you
:02:59. > :03:04.cope with that on the pitch, trying to play the game? It's wasn't nice.
:03:04. > :03:11.Many people thought it was normal, the regular thing and you have to
:03:11. > :03:15.accept it. It took years of campaigning by top managers and
:03:15. > :03:19.players at to make people realise that racism in football was
:03:19. > :03:25.unacceptable. This story is shocking and it is clear we have
:03:25. > :03:29.come a long way, but the John Terry and Luis Suarez incidents mean the
:03:29. > :03:34.colour of a player's skin is something players and the fans used
:03:34. > :03:38.to abuse each other. Danny Shittu plays for Millwall, and has
:03:38. > :03:44.represented Nigeria at the World Cup. Do you think racism is still
:03:44. > :03:49.in football? I have been playing for quite a few years. I personally,
:03:49. > :03:53.have not experienced it. I have heard of it with a couple of my
:03:53. > :03:58.friends and a couple of other professional footballers. I have
:03:58. > :04:02.been in stadiums and the fans don't like you because you are playing
:04:02. > :04:07.for the other team, but to suffer racial abuse must be hard to deal
:04:07. > :04:12.with. You try to switch off, as a player. The even though you have
:04:12. > :04:17.not suffered racial abuse, what goes through your head when you see
:04:17. > :04:22.the high profile incidents? It is upsetting to see such things going
:04:22. > :04:29.on. We just have to keep working at it. Players and people running the
:04:29. > :04:34.game. Is it making strides? Definitely, but a lot of work needs
:04:34. > :04:39.to be done. The phrases and is still an issue, what effect does it
:04:39. > :04:43.have on other levels? This is a soccer Tiger made in London and a
:04:43. > :04:48.train or kids to give them a helping hand of realising their
:04:48. > :04:52.dream of becoming professional footballers. What did you think
:04:52. > :04:58.about it? I thought racism had gone out of the game. I thought they
:04:58. > :05:03.dealt with it a long time ago. that worry you when you see the
:05:03. > :05:09.bigger stars of the game are doing this? It gives us the impression
:05:09. > :05:16.that if we make it, it will happen to us. How do experience that?
:05:16. > :05:22.me. Have you heard any racism? have heard it. We were playing a
:05:22. > :05:27.tournament and after the game, the other boys were being racist to our
:05:27. > :05:34.team. Even though it did not happen to you, how did it make you feel?
:05:34. > :05:38.Angry. Being a Premier League start in itself is a really high place to
:05:38. > :05:44.be, and if they do something bad it will have influence on a lot of
:05:44. > :05:49.young children. These guys are not the ones to make the rules that
:05:49. > :05:53.change attitudes in football. That has to happen at the top. You don't
:05:53. > :05:58.get any higher than the man who runs FIFA, Sepp Blatter is in
:05:58. > :06:01.charge of football around the world and I spoke to him. For the
:06:01. > :06:09.hundreds and millions of people around the world, should they be
:06:09. > :06:16.worried about the state of racism in the game? We know the game is
:06:16. > :06:24.also the affected, but not so much by what we call discrimination or
:06:24. > :06:28.racism. This is bad. It has to be kicked out. Is it a cause for
:06:28. > :06:33.concern when some of the highest- profile players in the Premier
:06:34. > :06:39.League, are those involved in alleged cases of racism? Absolutely,
:06:39. > :06:45.we are worried about that. Players at the highest level, and coaches,
:06:45. > :06:49.they must be an example. But they must be an example. Therefore, we
:06:49. > :06:55.expect example of the great players. We also have another matter, which
:06:55. > :07:00.is very important, a handshake, which is very special. This
:07:00. > :07:06.handshake, where you have to look into the eyes of the people. This
:07:06. > :07:12.is also something way you are my friend, we play football, you are
:07:12. > :07:17.my opponent, but we will shake hands and I will respect you.
:07:17. > :07:25.do FIFA want to be in terms of racism in football? And how do you
:07:25. > :07:29.plan on getting there? I want to be in Zero Tolerance, and to be
:07:29. > :07:34.accepted that zero tolerance is accepted by everybody. But this is
:07:34. > :07:39.a long way to go. A pleasure talking to you.
:07:39. > :07:43.It is not every day you get to speak to the most powerful man in
:07:43. > :07:49.football. After spending time with him I am not sure how he wants to
:07:49. > :07:53.tackle the problem. There are other organisations that have had to kick
:07:53. > :07:58.racism out of the game. One man has trying to do that the last 20 years.
:07:58. > :08:02.I have come to Wembley to meet him. Lord Herman Ouseley is the chairman
:08:02. > :08:09.of Kick It Out, which he set up in 1993 to challenge discrimination in
:08:09. > :08:12.football. One of the fundamental things in football like racism,
:08:13. > :08:16.people who engage in these acts have very little respect for
:08:16. > :08:21.themselves. These people look in the mirror and don't like
:08:21. > :08:25.themselves, so they have to hate someone else and be disrespectful.
:08:25. > :08:29.Iping we have got to get people to think good about themselves. Be
:08:29. > :08:34.respectful about themselves, so they respect other people. That is
:08:34. > :08:37.the challenge for all of us. Lord Herman Ouseley believes that to
:08:37. > :08:43.kick racism out of the game millions of people love, we have to
:08:43. > :08:48.change the way people think. Racism is a problem in society, not just
:08:48. > :08:51.sport. But football has a responsibility to set the standard.
:08:52. > :08:56.Whether what happened in the Premier League last season means