Telegraph
The pioneering anti-discrimination campaigner Lord Oueseley is to step down as chairman of Kick It Out just days after criticising the game's elite for failing to show leadership after the Raheem Sterling abuse incident.
Ouseley, 73, who founded the organisation 25 years ago, has reportedly received hate mail following abuse suffered by the Manchester City forward at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
On Sunday, he had called out the senior figures from Chelsea, the FA and Premier League for failing to condemn alleged racism against Sterling, just a week after a banana skin was thrown at Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The announcement comes less than 24 hours after Troy Townsend, a leading campaigner with the charity, told Telegraph Sport that Kick It Out may need its funding doubled to tackle surging volumes of prejudice. Kick It Out was hastily preparing a statement paying tribute to his services on Tuesday after Ouseley told The Times newspaper reported he was stepping down.
Townsend said black players from the grass roots to the top tier felt let down by predominantly white boardrooms at clubs and governing bodies who failed to speak out after alleged racism against Sterling and Aubameyang.
Ouseley also launched a blistering attack against senior figures at the Premier League, FA and Chelsea for failing to come forward after the Sterling incident.
"What happened at Chelsea shows what is still going on in football,” he said on Sunday.
“Were is Richard Scudamore? Where is Greg Clarke? Where is Chelsea’s chairman? They should have been talking out last night and it has to (be) dealt with at the top.
“We do not have any leadership at the top of the game to speak out, they rely on Kick it Out.”
On Monday, a Chelsea fan, Colin Wing, apologised for abusing Sterling, but denied using racist language. Chelsea announced that they had suspended four people from attending their matches, pending further investigations. Scotland Yard is reviewing the allegations.
Ouseley said in August that he remains deeply frustrated by the lack of black and ethnic minority coaches and executives in positions of power. The Premier League has two black managers - Chris Hughton at Brighton and Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolverhampton Wanderers - but there are just a handful of minority ethnic group managers in the lower divisions.
"I have always taken the view that people with power, resources and decision-making capacity could end racism and institutional discrimination, if they genuinely and sincerely want to," he said.
In the first half of last season alone, reported incidents of discriminatory abuse in the game rose 60 per cent to 282. There were 109 incidents on social media.
"We are trying to get all different mediums to recognise the responsibility they have for contributing to an environment free from harassment. We've got meetings. It's got to be tackled. It's got to be tackled at the government level."
Born in Guyana, Ouseley moved to Peckham, South-East London at the age of 11. A "bottle would come through the window" every night from hostile neighbours. He encountered further abuse when he first started watching Millwall and then other clubs.
Ouseley's big breakthrough came when he was appointed to be the executive chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE). The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) soon leant its backing and, with more than 50 clubs quickly signing up, his campaign group was launched in August 1993, with Gordon Taylor (The PFA), Richard Faulkner (Football Trust) and footballers Paul Elliott and John Fashanu, Justin's brother. Kick Racism out of Football became the more wide ranging anti-discrimination body Kick It Out in 1997.
