Shaun Wright-Phillips: Parents at football matches need to set a good example

Manchester City legend Shaun Wright-Phillips has urged parents to set a good example for their kids, especially when it comes to toxic or hateful behaviour.

“As a parent, you should always want to be a role model or to shine a light down the right path for your child,” said the 42-year-old. “When there are kids around, you have to choose your words carefully, and when something does slip you should apologise.”

The former England star – son of Arsenal hero Ian Wright – said although he experienced abuse and racist remarks during his football career, he is still shocked at some of the behaviour he’s witnessed at his daughter Raphaella’s grassroots games.

This includes the 10-year-old, affectionately known as ‘Raphy’, being booed off the pitch in the past.

Speaking alongside her footballer father, the youngster recalled: “I was playing for this grassroots team and the parents were booing me off the pitch when I got injured.

“If someone is getting injured, we all go and see if they are alright and help them up and do the best we can to support them, all of our players,” she added of how she and her teammates handle such situations. “Even if the other team are being rude to us, we don’t say anything, because it would just be rude. We just let them think what they want to think, and play on the best we can.”

Wright-Phillips and Raphaella, who signed a youth contract with Arsenal last year, have both teamed up with EE on its new Hate. Not In My Shirt campaign, which calls on fans to be proud supporters and stand together to challenge hate in football.

A YouGov survey commissioned on behalf of the campaign found more than a third (37%) of children said they’d experienced hate. In addition, 38% of the 1245 kids surveyed, aged