Danny Rose shares his bitter experience of how he often faces discrimination that leaves a massive impact on his life.
The 30-year-old played at Newcastle United on loan from Tottenham in the concluded 2019-20 Premier League season. Previously, he spoke out multiple times about facing racial abuse on the field – especially when he was wearing England national team jersey both at under-21 and senior level.
The Spurs left-back told The Second Captains podcast that attempts were taken but the football authorities to prevent such occurrences have been “laughable”.
Also, he explained that as a black Englishman, he faced frequent harassment incidents from the police.
England footballer Danny Rose ‘regularly stopped by police and asked if his car is stolen’ https://t.co/FmFLZ2mU2d
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) August 3, 2020
“My attitude towards it is it’s happening again, and I have to get on with it. Someone’s going to get a laughable fine and it’s business as usual next week,” the English footballer said. “But it’s not just football. I got stopped by the police last week, which is a regular occurrence whenever I go back to Doncaster, where I’m from.”
“Each time it’s, ‘Is this car stolen? Where did you get this car? What are you doing here? Can you prove that you bought this car?’. That’s been happening since I was 18, since I was driving. And you know, each time it happens, I just laugh because I know what’s coming and it’s just how it is.”
Rose further added, “One of the last times I got on the train, I got on there with my bags and straight away the attendant says, ‘Do you know this is first class?’. I say, ‘Yeah, so what?’ and they say, ‘Oh well, let me see your ticket then’.”
“So, I showed the lady my ticket and, this is no word of a lie, two white people walked on the train right after me and she said nothing, and I said, ‘Well, are you not going to ask for their tickets?’ and she said, ‘Oh, well, no, I don’t need to’.”
The Englishman continued: “People might think it happens, but to me that’s racism. These are the sort of things I have to put up with. This is everyday life for me.”
“I feel embarrassed to even complain in a way and bring this up when you see the incident in America where a black man lost his life at the hands of people who are supposed to protect and serve.”
“Whenever I do complain about things, you hear people say, ‘you’re on this money, so get on with it’. I give up with hoping things will change because that’s some people’s mentality towards racism.”
Rose also talks about the tragic death of George Floyd that happened in America under police custody that aroused the world.
He praised the Black Lives Matter movement taken in since the restart of the Premier League by kneeling.
“It was a beautiful thing that had been suggested. I just hope it is as powerful as it looks on TV in years to come,” Rose said.
“I hope this is something now that will catch everyone’s eyes, ears and minds. All we can do now is wait and see. Hopefully, nothing like that happens again and there is equality everywhere – in football and the world.”
Nonetheless, Rose talked about facing a similar experience to the train journey where he had to deal with the police for no valid reason.
“When this happened last week, I’d just left my mum’s house. I was pulled up in a car park, the engine was off,” he said. “The police pulled in, they brought a riot van, three police cars and they questioned me saying we’ve had a report that we’ve had a car that was not driving correctly.”
“I’m like, ‘Okay, why does that make it my car?’. They got my DL [driving license], they breathalysed me.”
“Honestly, it’s just one of those things to me now. I don’t understand what I can do or who I can complain to anymore. This first happened to me when I was 15 and now, I’m 30. It’s 15 years of this on and off the field happening and there’s no change whatsoever.”
“I don’t want to be repeating the same words that I say, and people end up saying, ‘Oh, be quiet – he’s always moaning’ but those are my experiences. I’ll be honest: that will not be the last of my experiences.”
However, Stats Perform News asked South Yorkshire Police for their negative comments thrown at Danny Rose.
