'We need to talk about racism in football' - Darikwa

Tendayi Darikwa joined Lincoln in July 2024

Lincoln City captain Tendayi Darikwa says he would walk his team-mates off the pitch if he heard racist abuse from the terraces, but admits confronting the issue on social media leaves footballers feeling powerless.

Last season there were 141 incidents of racist abuse at grounds across the English Football League and more than 5,000 incidents of online discrimination, according to figures from the EFL.

The report from the body that oversees Championship, League One and League Two football also said approximately 900 individual players were the target of online abuse.

Darikwa, who was one of the target of racist abuse while playing for Chesterfield at Port Vale in 2014, said racism in football was "clearly not going away".

"We need to speak about it even though it can be uncomfortable," he told BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

Among the incidents of discrimination recorded by the EFL last season was the sectarian chants from Lincoln City supporters aimed at Wrexham's James McClean during a match at the LNER Stadium in May.

Lincoln were last week fined £8,500 by the Football Association for failing to control supporters and put on an action plan to try to stop future incidents.

Nottingham-born former Zimbabwe international Darikwa spoke on the latest edition of the Red Imps Club podcast about what racism he has been confronted with during his career and witnessed from afar in that time.

He said that seeing August's Premier League game between Liverpool and Bournemouth being stopped in the first half after Cherries forward Antoine Semenyo reported being racially abused by someone in the Anfield crowd was a "high-profile" conversation starter.

"If it's happening at Premier League level, you know it can happen all over the country at every level," Darikwa said.

"It's sad to see that it's still in our game."

Earlier this month a League One game between Exeter City and Reading was stopped for a short time in the 74th-minute after a report of a racist comment towards an Exeter player by a visiting supporter.

Reading said afterwards that they would support the "strongest possible action" if the alleged comment from one of their supporters was proven.

Darikwa said players in the EFL are made aware of the protocols around reporting abuse during matches, but he insisted he would go beyond a stoppage in play.

"There are procedures to be taken," Darikwa explained. "From my standpoint, as a team as a captain, I'd go to the ref to report it.

"And if it continues and no action is taken, I'd be prepared to take my players off the pitch. Whether that is right or wrong, I don't know. But that is how I see it and that is how I would want to lead my team."

Darikwa said taking action on the pitch was a way he knows he can help protect team-mates in situations where abuse takes place.

That, he admitted, was different when the abuse was online.

Darikwa said he called on personal experience when talking to team-mates about how to try to deal with messages sent to them on social media.

"There are less cases now inside stadiums, social media is the dangerous part," he said.

"So much good can come from it [social media] but it gives so many people a platform to go behind a phone screen or computer and say damaging things to people.

"I am wary of social media. It has so many positives but there are so many negatives - and the negatives probably outweigh the positives."