Survey finds 68 per cent of football fans believe the sport has a racism problem

Football fans are more likely to believe their sport has a significant problem with racism compared to followers of cricket and rugby union, according to a new Ipsos survey.

The research found 68 per cent of football fans considered their sport to have a very or fairly big problem with racism, compared to 49 per cent in cricket and 31 per cent in rugby union.

Racist abuse continues to be aimed at footballers in person and online, with incidences of hate crime in stadia rising from 146 in the first half of the 2019-20 campaign compared to 206 in the same period in the current campaign, according to mid-season figures released by the UK Football Policing Unit.

Custodial sentences have been imposed on individuals who directed racist abuse at England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka following last summer’s Euro 2020 final.

Anti-discrimination campaigners in the game hope that the Online Safety Bill will force social media companies to be more proactive in tackling abuse on their platforms or face criminal consequences.

Despite that, 43 per cent of football fans do not believe enough is being done to combat racism in the sport.

Ipsos interviewed 2,051 people aged 16 to 75 earlier this month, with 921 describing themselves as football fans, 519 as rugby union fans and 447 as lovers of cricket.

In cricket, fans are divided on whether there is a big problem with racism, with 49 per cent saying there was a very or fairly big problem and 48 per cent saying it was not a big problem or not a problem at all.

That is despite the harrowing testimony of abuse given to MPs last year by former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq which led to other players coming forward to make allegations of their own.

The England and Wales