The racist treatment of Excelsior footballer Ahmad Mendes Moreira by supporters of FC Den Bosch last Saturday, November 16, was a much-discussed topic in the news at home and abroad. Jacco van Sterkenburg, associate professor of Media and Communication, did research on racism in professional football. He was a guest in Nieuwsuur to explain the event: "When I speak to professional footballers, I hear that they often experience racism".
Although Van Sterkenburg is not surprised about the event, he says the following: "The explicit character of this, so really in the stadium, you don't see that very often." He calls racism in professional football a structural phenomenon. In addition, he points out that the initially trivialising the reaction from FC Den Bosch is characteristic of professional football and is a probable cause that players are less likely to dare to speak out.
View the item in Nieuwsuur.
The subject was also in the interest of national newspapers. It was discussed in het Algemeen Dagblad and de Volkskrant. They draw on a recently published report on racism in professional football, which Van Sterkenburg published together with Agnes Elling of the Mulier Institute and Fiona Harmsen of Be.People in October 2019.
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