Association of Professional Players: Treatment of the cruel media of Streling feeds racism

LONDON (Reuters) – The harsh way in which the media treated Rehim Streling of Manchester City has fueled racism in the stands, the Professional Players' Association announced on Monday.

Streling wrote Sunday that newspaper conduct was "unacceptable" in his dealings with black players.

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The comment comes one day after the 24-year-old was subjected to alleged racial slurs in a 2-0 defeat by Chelsea in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge.

The Professional Players' Association strongly condemned the racial abuse and said that its rates had increased compared to last season.

"We welcome the compbadionate professionalism that helped address the incident and its statement via Instagram on Sunday.

"We support Rahim in his request for the press to accurately treat all football players and put an end to the unbalanced way of tackling the news of young black players.

"The badociation is keen to continue a lenient targeting in the press for several months.

"This shows that the player is being treated harder than his teammates, which is fueling racism in football with the number of racist abuse cases reported in the field."

The police have not yet stopped supporters after Saturday's game in the league, but she explained that she was reviewing the incident.

The anti-discrimination Kick Out Out group revealed last month that the discriminatory rate of abuse on English football stadiums had increased by 11% last season. A total of 520 incidents were reported, 53% of which were racially motivated.

"We do not doubt the negative impact of such events on the public opinion and on the promotion of racial discourse, although the press does not use racist words directly in the news of Rahim and of other players, "said the badociation.

John Barnes, who played for Liverpool and England and was abused over the course of his career, like Stirling, said the problems went beyond field boundaries.

"The media often affects society," said Barnes, 55. "The only way to fight racism is to change the perception of the black man among the people on the street.

"Then there will be a larger group of blacks who deserve what they deserve."

"It's a very long process, we're talking about hundreds of years."

(Reuters)