Black Players Are Held to a Standard That Doesn’t Apply to Their White Teammates, and We Need to Stop Pretending Otherwise
The English media has a racism problem. Not the loud, obvious kind that’s easy to condemn. The quiet kind. The kind that hides behind “punditry” and “honest analysis.” The kind that tears a Black player apart for the same things it forgives sometimes even celebrates in a white one.
This past week gave us enough examples to fill a book. Let’s talk about it.
Eberechi Eze scored a hat-trick in the north London derby in November the first in Premier League history by the way and then a brace in a second 4-1 demolition of the same Tottenham side just this past weekend. By any honest measure or metric, the man is delivering.
And yet.
Alan Shearer went on record with Betfair saying Eze “seems lost,” adding that Arsenal “got a little bit better” once he was taken off after a difficult half against Brentford. Wayne Rooney, even after a man of the match display against Spurs, still didn’t believe Eze had “performed to the required standard this season” (GiveMeSport, February 2026). The narrative around him has been relentless; underperforming, not good enough, not meeting expectations.
Now let’s talk about Phil Foden, the 2023/24 Premier League Player of the Season, the best player in the league just two seasons ago. This season? According to Goal.com, he went 14 appearances without a single goal or assist. He was benched for three consecutive Premier League games. Hauled off at half-time in a 2-0 loss to Manchester United. Didn’t even come off the bench in the win over Liverpool.
You know what Guardiola said about it? “I have zero, zero, zero doubts about Phil. He has to recover and just go fishing.”
Go fishing seriously?
Nobody told Eze to go fishing. They told him he wasn’t good enough. Same patch of poor form, same moment of adaptation, completely different treatment. Ask yourself why. If it’s not clear by now, you just might be part of the problem.
Let’s talk about Jude Bellingham, because this one really gets me.
Twenty-two years old, one of the best midfielders on the planet right now. England beat Albania 2-0 in November’s World Cup qualifier and Bellingham was named man of the match. And according to beIN Sports, the first four questions at the post-match press conference were not about the result, not about the performance they were about his behaviour on the pitch. His reaction to being substituted.
The Daily Mail ran with “The Selfish Star Shows His True Colours Again.” A betting company put up a billboard outside Wembley questioning whether he should even start for England. Tuchel’s own mother, as the manager told the media, found Bellingham’s on-pitch demeanour “repulsive” though Tuchel later apologised for the word.
Now let me ask you something. Do you remember Zlatan Ibrahimović? The man who called himself “a lion who doesn’t care about the opinion of sheep.” Who spoke about himself in the third person. Whose arrogance wasn’t just tolerated it was marketed. It was a brand. He was larger than life and the football world loved him for it.
So what’s the difference between Zlatan and Bellingham? Because it isn’t the behaviour, and it’s not the career achievements because Jude already has a champions league to his name, something Zlatan could never achieve.
Ian Wright said it straight on social media: “They hate the fact that they can’t reach him. They hate the fact that they can’t negatively influence his club career like they’ve done with so many others before him.” Shaun Wright-Phillips went further, saying that the treatment could genuinely put Bellingham off returning to English football altogether: “In England we seem to target a player ahead of a big tournament. The press causes problems and puts doubts in their head.”
These men are expected to be grateful. Humble. Palatable. A standard that is simply never placed on white players with the same personality.
And then this weekend happened.
Tolu Arokodare missed a penalty for Wolves against Crystal Palace. He walked straight over to the travelling fans and held his hands up and took accountability, which plenty of players wouldn’t even bother to do. Within hours he was drowning in racist abuse. Wolves published the screenshots themselves because the volume was that staggering. Multiple accounts. Multiple perpetrators. The club called it “abhorrent and unlawful.”
Arokodare posted on Instagram: “It’s still unbelievable to me that we’re playing in a time where people have so much freedom to communicate such racism without any consequences” (Sky Sports, February 22, 2026).
He’s right. And this same weekend, Chelsea’s Wesley Fofana and Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri were also racially abused online. Fofana’s response cut right to the heart of it: “2026, it’s still the same thing, nothing changes. These people are never punished. You create big campaigns against racism, but nobody actually does anything.”
We’ve been here before. Bukayo Saka missed a penalty at the Euros. The abuse that followed shook the country. Promises were made. Campaigns were launched. And here we are, same weekend, same script, different names.
And across Europe, Vinicius Jr is living the same reality on a larger stage.
Since 2022, he has had 18 legal complaints filed against racist behaviour directed at him. Last week in Real Madrid’s Champions League first leg against Benfica in Lisbon, Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni covered his mouth with his shirt mid-conversation and said something to Vinicius after he scored. Vinicius went straight to the referee. The match was stopped for 11 minutes while UEFA’s anti-racism protocols kicked in. Mbappé told reporters he heard it clearly. Trent Alexander-Arnold called it “a disgrace to football.” UEFA have since provisionally suspended Prestianni, with a full investigation ongoing (Euronews, February 23, 2026).
Mourinho’s response? He told Amazon Prime: “Vinicius scored a fantastic goal. Why didn’t he celebrate like Eusebio, Pelé, or Di Stefano?”
Read that again. A player reports alleged racial abuse and the opposing manager’s instinct is to question how he celebrated. Kick It Out called it gaslighting. Vincent Kompany called it “a huge mistake.” They were both right.
Here’s what I want you to sit with.
The English media is very comfortable using Black players as the face of England when things go wrong. Saka’s penalty. Rashford’s attitude. Sterling’s lifestyle. But when England win? The front pages fill with different faces. Black players are currency for failure and invisible in success.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s just what you see when you pay attention. Bellingham wins man of the match and four press conference questions are about an arm gesture. Foden goes 14 games without a goal contribution and Guardiola sends him fishing. Eze scores in back-to-back north London derbies and Rooney still isn’t convinced.
Football has always asked Black players to work twice as hard for half the recognition. And then, when they dare to be confident, passionate, or just human it asks them to apologise for that too.
The game doesn’t have a racism problem somewhere in the abstract. It has one right now. Until we’re honest about that, nothing changes.
