Paul Pogba Launches Anti-Racism Wristbands to Battle 'Ignorance' in Football

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has launched a selection of anti-racism wristbands to show his support for players from around the world who have faced abuse.

In recent months, an alarming number of players from across the globe, including Kalidou Koulibaly, Jesse Lingard and even Pogba himself, have been victims of racist abuse from fans inside the stadium and on social media.

To try and raise awareness, Pogba wore black and white wristbands in the warm-up for his side's 4-1 win over Newcastle United which read 'No to racism' and 'We are one', and he later gave his to a young fan in the crowd.

"It was my idea to do that," Pogba said (via Sky Sports News). "I mean, I've been thinking about doing this but I don't want to go through the UEFA or the FIFA. I [have] done it myself. I think we have the chance to have this power to show things in football, on TV. People see it so I think that will make people understand some things.

"I mean, by hearing things every week. We keep seeing it again and again in a lot of stadiums. It's just to show that, to give support to all the players - I mean, black or white or Chinese or whatever who you are. But there is only one race.

"And just to show respect to everyone. Like I said, we are all one. We all came here to enjoy football, to enjoy ourselves and to do what we love."

Pogba specifically mentioned his support for a number of recent victims of racism, including Koulibaly, Everton's Moise Kean and United teammates Lingard and Fred, while he also stood with Chelsea defender Antonio Rüdiger, who alleged to have been targeted by a Tottenham Hotspur fan.

Racism has no place in football or in society & we are providing support to our players who were impacted yesterday.

We will continue to combat & educate against racism & discrimination, both through our own #allredallequal initiative & our support of football-wide campaigns. pic.twitter.com/xnUzDPiwIE
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 8, 2019

"I remember when I was younger about 'Stand Up, Speak Up', something like this. It just reminded me of that," Pogba added. "I mean, a lot of players in a lot of leagues - not only in Premier League, in Italy, Spain, everywhere - and we keep hearing this [racism].

"I don't want [be] president, I don't want to [be] a politic guy. We are just football players, we want to enjoy that. The fans needs to enjoy coming and seeing some nice football and that's it. So, this is to show that we're against that [racism]."

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Source : 90min