‘Football needs to change'

Anton Ferdinand on using his own experience to help tackle racism on and off the pitch

- Ian MacEwan

Nine years ago, QPR footballer Anton Ferdinand was involved in an incident during a Premier League game that resulted in Chelsea and England’s John Terry being banned and fined by the FA for racial abuse.

Now, with reported incidents of racial abuse in football on the rise, Anton – whose brother Rio and cousin Les Ferdinand also enjoyed successful careers on the pitch – talks for the first time about his experience, and explores what needs to be done to address racism in a new BBC1 documentary.

Here, Anton, 35, a product of the West Ham United academy who most recently played for Scottish Premiership side St Mirren, explains how important it was for him to share his story...

Why did you want to make this documentary?

Racism in football is brushed under the carpet too often, and the time to speak out on this is now. I had kept my emotions bottled up for too long. Five years ago, I would have said no to this project because I still had anger in me.