Wilfried Zaha: Crystal Palace forward opens up on racial abuse and reveals ‘nearly every game Im called a monkey or a n*****’

Wilfried Zaha: Crystal Palace forward opens up on racial abuse and reveals ‘nearly every game Im called a monkey or a n*****’
Crystal Palace star Wilfried Zaha has opened up on the racial abuse he receives on a weekly basis by revealing he’s branded a ‘monkey or a n*****’ almost every game.Cases of racial abuse in football were reported with increasing frequency throughout the 2018/19 season, with Zaha just one of many Premier League players targeted throughout the campaign.Raheem Sterling has become a key figure in the fight against racism since he was allegedly targeted by Chelsea supporters last December, and Zaha has also made an effort to highlight the abuse he receives.getty1

Wilfred Zaha says he receives racist abuse nearly every week in the Premier League

Earlier this year the Ivory Coast forward shared a social media post in which he was called a ‘diving monkey’, and he’s further opened up on the abuse in an interview with The Jackal magazine.Nearly every game I’m called a monkey or a n***** or a whatever, said Zaha. Imagine if I really got down about that?I dont know if were animals to them or whatever. Why is this okay? Why are you saying these things right next to your five-year-old kid?Tony Cascarino says hes come to accept football fans misbehaving abroad after violence in Porto And then, when you leave, what, youre back to being a normal dad, working a normal job? People mask this stuff.Zaha revealed in April he is subject to death threats as well as racial abuse, and he now sees a life coach to ensure his love for the beautiful game remains.For a couple of weeks, Ive been speaking to a kind of life coach, he added.With football, you get to a point where you start to think, Do I still love it, or am I doing it as a job?

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Going into a game with that mentality, that hunger, I want to score, I want to score. Just saying stuff to myself like, Ill make a difference to todays game.And when I go, blaze music in the car until I get there. The only thing that can prevent me from reaching my goal is my mentality, or injury.Anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out condemned the abuse of Zaha and his fellow footballers in a statement released on Wednesday. We are disappointed and saddened to hear of the incidents of racism that Wilfried Zaha has experienced,” a Kick It Out spokesperson said.Discrimination, in any form, is entirely unacceptable and we encourage any player who has witnessed or experienced it to report it immediately.The FA investigate all forms of discriminatory abuse at any level of the game, working closely with the Leagues and our partners at Kick It Out.We will be contacting Wilfried to understand more about these incidents and to offer him any guidance and support he needs.

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