The commissioner of the National Football League, Paul Tagliabue has formed a committee to tackle racism in the NFL, but racism is currently a ‘popular’ subject and it is fashionable to be seen to be confronting the problem. However, racism, especially against Blacks, is not common. This is probably because Black players in the league have been commonplace for almost thirty-five years. So many Black players have joined the league since the 1960’s and become successful, teams are expected to field Black players. It, indeed, would be strange for a team to field a completely White team. The same could be said of British soccer teams. No team in the Premiership could boast a team with only British Players, Chelsea, for example only has 3 British players in its starting line-up.

In both countries however, Black managers or Coaches are a minority. The Premier League has only one - Ruud Gullit. The NFL, does have more Head Coaches of Black origins, However this number is small (5 of 30). There are many Assistant Coaches in the NFL that are Black, but being an Assistant is not a high profile job. I believe that there are NO Black coaches in MLB (Major League Baseball) and few in the NHL (National [Ice] Hockey League). A question to consider would be why it is so difficult for a Black person to become a coach since so many Blacks are players? (It is noteworthy however that there are very few Black Ice Hockey Players whereas Blacks dominate the NBA) It took over sixty-five years for Art Shell to become the second Black Head Coach in NFL History and no Black coach has ever reached 100 victories. Similarly, no Black quarterback is in the top 10 quarterbacks of all time. However, it is mostly Blacks that dominate the all time rushing statistics. Many statistics such as these can be investigated as to where Black American Footballers are most successful, but this does not solve why so few coaches are black. It seems there is no answer.

The difference between the USA and Britain is that for many years, racism was a part of going to a football match in England, however in the States people choose to leave that part of their culture behind them when they visit a game and the fans unite to support their team. I suggest, however, that because America is so much bigger than Britain, racism is far more common and segregation comes naturally in many areas, racism is not abnormal and people have to suffer abuse on a daily basis. This is not to say that racism in Britain only occurs at football stadiums, it does not, but such venues are a previously "accepted" place for people to be racist or see and experience racism first-hand.

Racism on the terraces was particularly common in the 1980’s but efforts are now being made to combat this. Racism as a part of football has now turned to abuse aimed at the players. Cantona’s famous "Kung-fu Kick" was allegedly as a result of racist taunts from a Crystal Palace fan, also recently Wisden Cricket Almanac published a report saying black players should not be allowed to play for England CC regardless of whether they are British or not. This seems slightly ridiculous as Robin Smith, a South African is permitted to play for England and Wisden suggested that Black Englishman Devon Malcom should not be allowed to play. This type of racism is something that is difficult to overcome. Wisden did withdraw their statement, however and the dispute was resolved - for the time being.

I suspect racism in Britain stems from the image presented to us by the media and personalities whom we respect and aspire to. The lack of Black coaches, and black players in many sports (Equestrianism, Swimming, Snooker, are just three examples) makes us believe that if I were Black then I might only aspire to become a football or basketball player. This means Black people are put into certain stereotypes (‘Only Black men can play basketball’) and racism becomes more of a problem. In America, the problem of racism is not as simple as saying that if there were more Black people in prominent jobs, then racism would decrease; the roots of Racism in the states are far deeper than just this. Racism in sporting academies is not a huge issue because there are more Blacks in America and greater integration of Blacks in society. People choose to leave racism behind them and visit Football games to have fun, not put their opinion upon several thousand other people as many British people do. The fans Unite for their team and not for their race, or racial prejudices. While race is important outside of sport, it is not within it.