Football is by essence anti-racist, says Arsene Wenger

London, June 13 (IANS): Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger feels people can learn from the ‘Beautiful Game’ as according to him, football by essence is ‘anti-racist’.

The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement have intensified around the world, especially in the United States, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police personnel last month.

Wenger believes players get a chance to play the game on merit and therefore it can be taken as an example in other walks of life as well.

“I would say football is by essence anti-racist,” Wenger said in an interview with BeIN Sports.

“Why? Because you know that no matter if you’re the son of the King of England or if you’re black or white or red — if you’re good you play.

“And I would even say that football is an example of how the whole of society should work, because it’s only based on merit and quality. If you’re good enough, you play.

Footballers around Europe have also voiced their support for the BLM movement with few paying tribute to Floyd as well.

Floyd, aged 46, died last month shortly after Derek Chauvin, a police officer, held him down with a knee on his neck though he repeatedly pleaded, “I can’t breathe,” and “please, I can’t breathe”.

In German Bundesliga, Schalke’s American midfielder Weston McKennie was seen wearing an armband with the message ‘Justice for George’ during team’s match against Werder Bremen.

Young England winger Jadon Sancho also sent out a powerful message during Borussia Dortmund’s match against Paderborn. Sancho, who netted a hat-trick in the game, revealed ‘Justice for George Floyd’ message on his t-shirt which was broadcast around the world.

In the Premier League, Liverpool players took a knee during a training session at Anfield as the photograph was shared on their social media handles by Virgil Van Dijk, Trent-Alexander Arnold, James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum.

“During the past few days I have thought a lot about how to express my feelings about what happened in Minneapolis,” Manchester United star Paul Pogba wrote on his Instagram handle earlier this month.

“I felt anger, pity, hatred, indignation, pain, sadness. Sadness for George and for all black people who suffer from racism EVERY DAY! Whether in football, at work, at school, ANYWHERE! “This has to stop, once and for all! Not tomorrow or the next day, it has to end TODAY! Violent acts of racism can no longer be tolerated. I can’t tolerate. I won’t tolerate. WE WON’T TOLERATE. Racism is ignorance. LOVE is intelligence. STOP the silence. STOP racism.”