Tottenham Hotspur’s international defender Kevin Danso admits the racial abuse he received recently hurt him.
“I’m only human. People make mistakes, and I feel like people shouldn’t be judged or discriminated against because they’ve made a mistake.
“I’m proud of who I am. It’s not nice, but it’s not something that I want to go through again. But I think the main thing is it just doesn’t define me, and it doesn’t belong in the world of football.”
The mistake he’s talking about is a moment every footballer experiences – almost in every game.
But this particular one, right at the end of a match against Brighton, led to a goal that harmed Spurs’ Premier League survival hopes.
Soon afterwards, his social media inbox lit up with racist messages and emojis. So, after a few weeks of reflection, what would he say to those who reached for their phones to attack him?
“It doesn’t make me feel good. I don’t know if that makes you feel good, but it’s not the solution, and there’s just no need for it, and I understand you’re upset for whatever reason, but an eye for an eye is never the solution.
“It doesn’t make the situation better; it’s quite the opposite. It makes it worse, and it says more about that person than what it says about me.”
Intellectually and emotionally, Danso is certainly more than a match for the racists who targeted him.
He is fluent in several languages and has lived and worked in many European countries, which in part is why his response to the abuse he suffered is not angry, but measured.
“I grew up in Austria, facing racism quite a fair bit, being in a predominantly white country, but again I think I’ve learnt how to deal with it in a way.
“It doesn’t define me. It’s their problem, and I just try to ignore it as much as I can or try to not ignore it but not let it have as much of an effect on me and what I feel about myself and how I feel about myself and my performance in order to continue to play at a very high level.”
But he admits he knows players whose performances suffer because of racism, especially younger professionals.
“I think when growing up, we played in Germany in the youth system where players did suffer that racism from a young age and playing their first few games as professionals.
“I think it kind of set them back and you know I think it’s hurtful like I said it definitely is hurtful and it has a negative impact.”
Danso experienced the same as a youngster and kept it to himself.
“It was in Germany, and that was tough as well, but I was very young and I didn’t tell anybody about it. I didn’t speak out because I didn’t want to make it a big thing.
“I remember it was a game against Bayern Munich [and I] had a clash with Kingsley Coman, and the Bayern fans were just flooding my messages – sending like monkey emojis, stuff like that. And I didn’t tell anybody.
“The next time you played Bayern, you’d always go into the tackle, maybe not as hard as you would normally.”
After the Brighton game, his mindset was very different. This time, he believed people needed to know about what came his way, if anything was going to change.
“I feel like this time it was important to say something, to just address it and make sure that people are aware I’ve seen it and it doesn’t define who I am, and it’s not going to make me play any different and definitely there’s no need for it and basically you’re wasting your time.”
Racists who targeted England’s Lioness Jess Carter and Manchester City’s Antoine Semenyo have been charged with criminal offences this season; Danso believes that level of punishment will help in the fight against this type of abuse.
“I think they should definitely suffer the most severe consequence you can for that situation because I think only then people would realise what they’re doing is actually wrong, and then hopefully it happens less and less.”
“Sometimes it’s just educating people on why you shouldn’t and what effect it can have on people and [then it’s] prison if they continue to do it.
“I never wish anything negative or extreme bad things to happen to anybody but I think the bare minimum is definitely just to be educated on what racism is how it can affect people.
“Even just to have a look and learn about history not too long ago, what happened and why it’s such a big issue or why it’s such a sensitive topic.”
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