[The Slim Reaper]

Originally Posted by MTVN

I think overall we should certainly be proud of our teams diversity and that of our nation which goes beyond almost every other country in Europe

That's not to say we are above criticism and in general I try and shy away from lecturing or belittling other countries for their issues with racism because I know the UK has it too and its hypocritical to pretend otherwise. But the England football team is overwhelmingly a positive force in fighting racism and so are most of its backers. To suggest it should count against our World Cup bid when you see which other countries have hosted the last few major tournaments is surely pretty out of touch

That's fairer. I completely agree about the actual team, and even venturing off into further issues like Henderson (and I think a couple of others did too) wearing rainbow laces, which in a male dominated and historically homophonic sport like footie is still a risk, but having the confidence in a tolerant group of young people around you sort of takes away the fear.