‘Where’s a 12 or 13-year-old got that from?’ Racial abuse of young footballer highlights worsening problem

Five years ago, Krishan Choudhury, who turned 13 in December, decided he wanted to be a goalkeeper. Becoming a footballer is the dream of boys and girls across the world, but it is more often strikers or wingers that capture the imagination than being the person standing between the goalposts having footballs fired at them.

But goalkeeper it was, for Krishan, and because his father died shortly before he was born, family friend Gary Prior would kick about with him in the park initially, before introducing him to Jim Stannard, the former Fulham goalkeeper and once Sir Bobby Moore’s first signing at Southend United, who now coaches young goalkeeping hopefuls. It turned out Krishan was pretty good at it, too, so they found him a club, Orsett Park Royals, in Essex. Being a huge Liverpool fan — his bedroom is covered in red — Krishan hopes one day to play in goal at Anfield.

Krishan, his mother Jolly and Gary could not, however, have predicted that a boy’s dreams would be played out in a far harsher reality. That, in 2018, amidst the troubling social backdrop of Brexit and racist sentiments clearly on the rise across society, Krishan would reportedly be called a “p**i” by an opposition player — another child — during a match. That other abusive incidents, including threats of violence, are being experienced across grassroots youth football.

The game was against Catholic United Minors on 25 November, last year. Gary was walking across the pitch at half-time to listen to the team-talk when Krishan jogged over and told him one of the other team’s players had called him a “p**i”.

‘Where’s a 12 or 13-year-old got that from?’

“I told the referee straight away,” Gary, 60, tells i. “The ref spoke to Krishan, but said he couldn’t do anything about it at the time as he hadn’t heard it. The ref spoke to the other manager, who put his arm around the other boy and had a word. After the match we were talking about it and one of Krishan’s teammates said he heard it as well. You think: where’s a 12 or 13-year-old got that from?”

Krishan insists it will not stop him playing football. “It made me just want to try harder, to show people that you can be good whatever colour you are,” he says. “A few of my teammates heard it, they said, ‘Don’t worry, he’s just afraid and jealous you’re that colour because it’s very special being that colour.’”

It has not, though, always been easy for Krishan to understand why other children might treat him differently. His grandparents moved to England from India in the 1950s and his mother, Jolly, was born here. “There was a phase where Krishan said, ‘I’m not Indian, I’m English, why can’t they see it?’,” Jolly explains. “I said they expect you to be white, they don’t see you as a British national, they see you as Asian. It was hard. It’s only now he’s a little older he’s accepted he’s brown.

“Krishan took the incident during the match on the chin. He’s had racist comments a couple of times in football. He’s had issues. It’s not something that’s gone away. It’s the Southend League, where there are a lot more white than black or Asian children.”

‘Abuse is becoming worse’

In a sign of worsening times, Jolly admits she has never experienced racism but through her son, adding: “He gets upset. I say to him, ‘Make sure you report it, but you will get that throughout life.’ It’s not getting him used to it, but just saying: it happens. He was upset on that day and we had a chat and he seemed OK afterwards. I can’t believe it still goes on.” Almost two months later, they have heard nothing more. The Football Association would not comment on Krishan’s case because they say it is an ongoing investigation, but the Choudhurys experience of hearing nothing from the game’s authorities after reporting incidents is shared by others.

Scott Cameron, 44, has been the club secretary and welfare officer at Catholic United Minors for six years and while he did not feel it appropriate to comment on Krishan’s case, due to the investigation, he would like the FA or their county associations to provide more clarity and feedback on reported issues.

“It would be helpful if the FA gave us information on what the outcomes are of these cases,” he says. “For the club secretaries or welfare officers to get an idea of what happened, what went on, how they dealt with it.

“I think abuse is becoming worse. We’ve had to deal with threats of violence by parents against under- 15 players. The club have taken action to remove parents or kids not acting appropriately. We try to educate, but if that’s not making a difference we could ban them.”

One father of a Catholic United Minors team was called to a hearing by the FA for comments to a referee. He failed to attend so the club paid a fine. After a second allegation, the club gave the father an ultimatum: either he didn’t come to watch his son play, or they had to leave the club. They left the club.

Read more: 12-year-old footballer subjected to racial abuse – with parent still waiting on response from FA

“I will speak to the welfare officer or secretary of another club if they move on,” he adds. “In this case I would say the boy is fine but there’s an issue with the father. We have four or five local teams, the biggest in Southend with 1,200 to 1,300 kids between us, speaking to each other.”

Krishan wants to see action taken against perpetrators to prevent it happening. “Even if the ref said no swearing at all, or the boy got sent off, or got a few matches banned, or a season banned,” he says.