Legendary striker Emile Heskey has told GB News “just banter” is not an excuse for abuse, as he launched his new Football Safety app, which sends reports of unacceptable behaviour directly to clubs and the police.
The football star warned racism, bullying and sexual harassment remain widespread in the stands, on trains and in pubs on match days, driving families and supporters away from the game.
Mr Heskey said abuse has not disappeared but has instead shifted forms, with social media adding a new layer to the problem while incidents inside stadiums continue unchecked.
Speaking this morning on The People’s Channel he said: “We see it with the lads missing penalties and then suddenly they’re getting abused. But that’s still happening in the stadium.
“It’s not just racial abuse. It’s bullying, sexual harassment, it’s all sorts of harassment.
“All these things would qualify to be reported in the app.
“You basically just report. You can just click a button and it’s instant.
“We caveat it with ‘oh yes, it’s just football, it’s just football banter’. No. You possibly have a person that loves football who will stay away from it.”
Emile Heskey has launched a new app to help tackle abuse
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GB NEWS
While speaking about abuse he received while playing, he added: “By the time I was finished playing, I was thinking it would change. It probably hasn’t. It’s probably just morphed into something else.
“We have the ability to get hold of anyone at any time in our hands with our mobile phones and with social media, so it’s just morphed into something else where we get a lot of abuse.
“At grassroots football it’s bad for the referees, it’s bad for everyone. The reality is once you start looking at grassroots football, who’s affected — it’s the kids. The games are cancelled.
“I’m a parent, but it’s the parents that ruin it for the kids. They just want to enjoy the game, play with their mates and form friendships. Take that away from you and it’s devastating for kids.
Emile Heskey is a legendary footballer
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GETTY
“When you go to a game, the games are brilliant. You’ll get one or two fans and these are the one or two that we need people to report because we don’t want them at the game. We don’t need them.
“You can report it anonymously. You don’t have to put your name to it.”
He added: “We’re hoping that that is obviously the hope to that it’s going to be rolled out everywhere so we can actually have somewhere because again, it’s not just at the games.
“I know there’s a part in there where you can you can click on the match and it tells you exactly which match you’re at, and then you click and then you can do that. That’s fine. But what if you’re at a station? What if you’re at a pub?”
Asked if he still plays football today, the icon laughed and said: “I joined a local side with Earnshaw.
“So there’s about six or seven ex-players that joined there and played Sunday League football over 35 years.
“I’m nearly 50, so it’s fair they are aged 38, 39 and I have torn my cartilage.”
