Corbyn hails trailblazer Regis
Jeremy Corbyn has paid tribute to Cyrille Regis, describing him as 'a reminder of how football can change our society for the better.
The Labour leader hailed the impact on British society of the former Baggies, Wolves and Villa hero, who died last month at the age of 59.
In a video backing a Show Racism The Red Card campaign, Mr Corbyn said: "The recent death of Cyrille Regis, one of the first black footballers to play for England, was a reminder of how football can change our society for the better.
"He helped change attitudes on the terraces and in our communities, while often himself being subjected to horrific racist abuse.
"It is so important to empower people to act when they see racism, discrimination and intolerance."
Mr Corbyn has also expressed his hopes that this summer's World Cup is free from incidents of racial intolerance.
"We want the World Cup to be brilliant as an exhibition of football, not of blind prejudice to each other," he said.
Racist incidents in Russia have been one of the many talking points around the staging of the 2018 World Cup.
At the European Championships in 2016, scenes of violence saw some Russian fans accused of hooliganism, with police saying 'the Russians came with serious intent to carry out barbaric violence'.
Mr Corbyn added: "You know yourselves when you're playing on the pitch and you're doing well and everybody is cheering you, it's great, wonderful, everybody's behind me, I'm getting goals, I'm doing well.
"But when you're playing badly and you're not having a great game and people start getting on your back and shouting at you, that's not nice.
"But when they're shouting at you because you're black, because you're Asian, because you're Muslim, because you're Jewish, because you're Hindu, that is wrong and utterly disgusting."
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=67&v=wBgaznKBynE
