November 24 2004

Wayne Routledge

I was lucky enough to be in Spain last week for both the England games or so I thought.

Watching our Eagles WAYNE ROUTLEDGE and Ben Watson representing England in their respective debuts was a special moment.

But that joy was soured by the FA representative telling us after the game that sections of the home crowd had been engaging in racist chanting.

My lack of Spanish had saved me the shock of understanding what I was hearing as the game unfolded but I was still sickened to hear that this had happened.

But nothing could have prepared me for what happened at the Bernabeu.

The abuse that England's black players received was despicable and was unfortunately not just limited to a small minority.

I never thought that in the year 2004 I would witness such a spectacle.

We in the UK can't afford to be complacent as racism still exists, as the treatment of Dwight Yorke at Ewood Park proves.

But we can take heart that our society and its values have improved to an extent that even if events on the scale of Madrid occurred here the repercussions would be swift, severe and supported by all.