Racism in football: How is grassroots football affected?

Grassroots football is huge - millions of people play at this level across the country every week.

But sometimes the fun can be ruined - by racism. Ten-year-old footie fan Balraj saw that first hand and he has been investigating the issue for Newsround.

As part of his investigation he went to meet Imrul Gazi, who is a grassroots coach at Sporting Bengal.

Sporting Bengal formed in 1996 to encourage Asian football in East London and is the most successful British Asian club - however they've experienced discrimination ever since they formed. Imrul said that it's a regular thing for his team to face racism from other players, referees, officials, and spectators.

From his experience, parents on the side-lines are the worst culprits in youth football. The worst experience the team had was five years ago, when the under 12s team were severely attacked with racist language from a parent of a child on the other team. It was so bad the coach took the kids off the pitch.

Read more about 9-year-old Balraj's investigation into racism in football.

Watch: Are the FA doing enough?

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