I just want to get out of football

Not for the first time, a tear rolled down my cheek this morning. The tracks of my tears should be a deep valley by now. I was hearing the story about Tottenham and England footballer Danny Rose who said this: “I just want to get out of football. I just cannot wait to see the back of it.” The “it” is racist abuse.

My loyal reader may recall the recent England game in Montenegro – or M’Negro as the ITV commentator put in a tweet after the game (more about him in a minute) – when Rose was subject to monkey chanting, which started in the pre-match warm-up, carried on throughout the first half but escalated dramatically in the second half. He was twice hit by stones when getting the ball for throw-ins. “Every time I touched the ball,” he said, “I heard monkey chants. I was so angry and it was just so hard to concentrate.”

This was nothing new to Rose who suffered terrible racist abuse when playing for the Under 21s in nearby Serbia back in 2012 he was surrounded by Serbian players and was slapped by them. The game over, Rose lost his temper, grabbed the match ball and kicked it away. Obviously, everything that happened was Rose’s fault and he was red carded. The game, I repeat, over. And the Serbian FA blamed Rose.

Quite understandably, Rose has completely had enough and signalled his desire to get out of the game. Typically, of course, there are those who doubt his sincerity and question why he decides now to play on. It’s all about the money, money, money, they say, more than implying Rose is a hypocrite. That’s white men arguing about racism for you.

Do these people who sit in judgement of Rose know about the deep depression he suffered when he was out injured for eight months in 2017? His uncle killing himself? His mother being racially abused? Someone shooting at his brother inside the family home? And then conclude it’s merely a financial matter. Pull the other one.

England manager Gareth Southgate stood up for Rose when others either ignored what was going on or, as some suggest, they didn’t hear it. “I know what I heard,” said Southgate. Meanwhile, Clive ‘M’Negro’ Tyldesley on ITV claimed he knew nothing about it until after the game, which was odd since the BBC Radio Five Live team reported on it within a few minutes of the game starting. I am not going to start calling him a liar – maybe he was trying to come up with some amusing jokes and plays on words in between describing the action, but come on. Must do better.

I like and admire Danny Rose, both as a player and a human being. He is, in my view, the pick of a group of highly talented left backs in England. He is not afraid to say what he thinks. Above all, he comes across as a really nice bloke.

He’s not going to read this blog, is he, but I fully support Rose. The authorities must take a stand against the racism we saw in Montenegro and that which takes place every day of the year. I thought we had if not ended the scourge, we had tamed the absolute evil of racism. I’m not so sure now. It’s not just creeping back: it’s storming back. I for one am fed up being angry and sad about it. Imagine how Danny Rose and all the other black players feel.