September 2001 marked the 20th anniversary of John Barnes's debut for Watford. We asked five other black players of the same generation to recall their problems with racism in the early part of their career and reflect on how things have changed since
Alex Williams
Debut for Man City: November 1979
Now: Football Community manager, Man City
Dave Hill's book Out Of His Skin analysed the racial tension surrounding the arrival of John Barnes at Liverpool in 1987. In an extract from the introduction to a new edition, Dave Hill reflects on the reaction to his book
Ever since the watershed of the Taylor Report, an anti-racist climate has undoubtedly been fostered in British football. Vocal racist elements within football grounds find it harder to proceed as if they have a divine right to define and dominate the mood, to chant, threaten and generally get away with things that would not be tolerated in any other public place. A wide-ranging campaign has been mobilised against racism in a way that would have been impossible as recently as the mid-Eighties. Such is the optimistic reading of the story of racism in English football since Out Of His Skin was written. It has substance and deserves applause. But any suggestion that racism has ceased to have a disfiguring impact on our football would be dangerously naive.
Jonathan Baker explains why he is turning his back on the Premiership in general and Newcastle in particular
Now, I’m something of a Newcastle United fan. In fact, I’m one of the club’s top, ooh, 50,000 or so supporters. A bold claim? Well, not really. You see, for the past season or three, I’ve been one of the elite. One of the lucky few with a share in a season ticket for St James’ Park – an item so sought-after that a Hollywood film (the mysteriously entitled Purely Belter) has been made based on the epic quest to obtain one by a pair of loveable scallies from deepest Gateshead.
Kate Hoey lost her job as sports minister after the general election, to no one's great surprise. John Williams looks back at her term and argues that her views on Wembley were sound , but doomed
Her arrival was a blaze of brave talk and controversy, her departure something of a whimper followed by a series of moans in the Mail on Sunday, no less. In retrospect, appointing as sports minister in this particular government a women such as Kate Hoey was high risk stuff. Hoey has no strong objections to foxhunting, is at odds with her own government’s policy in countenancing a return to terracing in football stadiums, and, laudably, would rather see decent changing rooms at grassroots for all athletes in all sports than see England host the 2006 football World Cup finals.
Gary Panton reports on two St Johnstone players alleged to have taken cocaine as they and the club head to court over unpaid wages
It’s fair to say neither George O’Boyle nor Kevin Thomas can claim to fit into the “model sportsmen” bracket. The two ex-St Johnstone strikers, sacked by the Perth club at the turn of the year after being caught with a line of white powder in the toilet cubicle of a trendy local bar, recently attempted to swing public sympathy in their favour by telling a Sunday tabloid that the whole sorry incident had been a result of “drunken curiosity”.