Arsenal ace Ainsley Maitland-Niles has revealed he endured similar racist abuse to Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling but the behaviour went unpunished despite his protests.
During City vs Chelsea match, Sterling allegedly suffered racist taunts from the Blues fan at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The incident has reignited the debate over how to tackle racism in football after the sport struggled for decades to eradicate the problem. Now Maitland-Niles has revealed his own disturbing experience of racism.
“Yes, I have. Not at a professional level but growing up in the youth ranks,” said the youngster when asked if he has been on the receiving end of racist abuse.
“I think it’s disgusting, honestly. I really do credit Raheem for coming out and standing up for himself and other players and speaking about it.”
A week before Sterling’s incident, Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a banana skin thrown in his direction as he celebrated in front of Tottenham supporters after opening the scoring in the north London derby.
England U21 international Maitland-Niles said his own encounter with racism came during his time in Arsenal’s academy.
“It was pretty much similar to what Raheem got to be honest. I literally went out to pick up the ball for a throw-in and there was a bit of racial abuse behind me. What can I do? I just got on with the game, as he did. It hurts. It hurts me to talk about it.”
“It hurts to think about it. But I think that’s why it’s so important that we need to get rid of it from the game.
Maitland-Niles revealed he informed football authorities of the incident, but nothing was done.
“At the time, I just spoke to my dad about it and he did sort of give me the heads up and showed me a few things about racism before my time, when I was playing football, just as there still is in the game now,” he added.
Will racism ever come to an end?