Joleon Lescott has opened up on his decision not to endorse Kick It Out for the majority of his career, with the former Everton defender recalling an incident from 2007
Joleon Lescott has discussed an incident from 2007(Image: In The Mixer)View 3 Images
Former Everton defender Joleon Lescott thinks he'll be dead before there's a change regarding racism in football. The 43-year-old, who enjoyed a distinguished Premier League career, spent much of his playing days refusing to support anti-discrimination body Kick It Out.
His stance originated from a 2007 incident involving former Newcastle United midfielder Emre Belozoglu. The Turkish international faced accusations of racially abusing Everton's Joseph Yobo but was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing.
In a separate case, Belozoglu received a two-and-a-half-month suspended prison sentence in 2014 for directing a racist slur at midfielder Didier Zokora while representing Fenerbahce in 2012, reports the Mirror.
Lescott has now delivered a scathing assessment of how football authorities handle racist abuse, reflecting on the 2007 incident and the subsequent Football Association hearing, with the FA maintaining close ties to Kick It Out.
"I don't think I'll be alive when there's any change. No chance," Lescott confessed, speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet. "I just hope down the line, family members that are still involved in the game see change.
"I've said it enough times that I generally don't believe I will see a difference. I couldn't tell you the last player who has been convicted of racism."
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In conversation with anti-racism campaigner Troy Townsend, Lescott elaborated: "I always had an issue with Kick It Out. There was an incident during Newcastle vs Everton in 2007. Emre Belozoglu, the Turkish player, said something to Joseph Yobo.
Lescott boycotted the organisation in 2012 along with a host of other playersView 3 Images
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"Me and Tim Howard heard it, went to the hearing and we were told we weren't allowed any representation. I hadn't spoken to Kick It Out before. I had nothing. I was told we weren't allowed any representation.
"Went there, got into the hearing. Me and Tim had to go in separate. We get into the room and Emre's there with five people. I was like, 'Oh, I can't bring in a club representative and he's got lawyers.'
"They said, 'We're going to take all day to deliberate.' Cool, no problem. The hearing was in Leeds. I live in Cheshire. I hadn't even gotten home, and he'd been cleared. I hadn't even gotten home. I was just like, 'Yeah, this isn't for me.'
"For the rest of my career, I didn't wear any Kick It Out stuff. You know, the pictures at the start of the season, I wouldn't go in the pictures. If it were Show Racism the Red Card, I would turn the card around and face the other way so they could never display any pictures.
Lescott opened up alongside Townsend(Image: In The Mixer)View 3 Images
"I said, 'You're not going to use me to do this.' The rules state that they don't care enough when I think it's three strikes. I think a player has to receive three incidents in one game before you could walk off. It's insane. If I pull your shirt twice, I'm off."
The FA's disciplinary panel dismissed the case against Belozoglu after the charge was not proven. Speaking to The Times shortly afterwards, Belozoglu stated: "I am a Turk in England. We are ambassadors for our country. Just imagine how awful it would have been if I, of all people, had been found guilty of racism.
"It would have affected my career - and the careers of other Turks trying to go abroad. You know, in Turkish, there is a saying: 'Sling mud and the stain will never come off.' Well, I know in my heart that I am not guilty, but if you have such a conviction on your record, how do you ever get away from it?"
In 2012, Lescott, along with Rio Ferdinand, former Reading star Jason Roberts and 32 other Premier League players, boycotted Kick It Out by refusing to wear their t-shirts.
Townsend, who previously served as Kick It Out's Head of Player Engagement before leaving last year, commented: "I've got to be honest and remember I've scoured this game up and down right the way through.
"They don't like the conversation. The conversation is very, very hard to handle. Remember at the top of this game, whether it's Premier League, all of them organisations, there's no representation. There's no people that look, sound and feel like those who are being victimised.
"I just want to see a fairer system. And if we can get to a fair system, then football actually might take on its responsibilities. Because at the moment and for the time that I was in, no, I don't think it did."
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