The Football Association will pay tribute to anti-racism campaigner Lord Herman Ouseley prior to England’s match against Greece at Wembley on Thursday.
Lord Ouseley, who launched an anti-racism campaign in 1993 which ultimately led to the foundation of Kick It Out, died last week at the age of 79.
Troy Townsend, who worked with Kick It Out from 2001 until earlier this year, criticised the reaction from the football authorities to Lord Ouseley’s death, saying: “I would have thought there would have been some recognition of Herman Ouseley’s passing this weekend, considering everything he did to make football a more equal industry.
We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Lord Herman Ouseley after a short illness.
Lord Ouseley was a titan in tackling discrimination in football over the 25 years he was chair of Kick It Out, having founded Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football in 1993. He was also a… pic.twitter.com/qWNZTcbDEJ
— Kick It Out (@kickitout) October 3, 2024
“But, no moments applause, no black armbands, nothing mentioned in commentary.”
The PA news agency understands there will be a big screen tribute to Ouseley and an announcement will be made over Wembley’s public address system prior to Thursday night’s Nations League match.
The FA also paid tribute to Lord Ouseley across its social media channels last week and sources close to the governing body say the tributes planned are in line with what it has done for other people who have made such a significant contribution to the game.
It is understood there will not be a minute’s silence or applause, and players will not wear black armbands.
Print deadlines made it impossible for the FA to include a tribute to Lord Ouseley in the official programme for the match, but a tribute will be published in the programme for the England Under-21 match against Ukraine on Friday.
The FA said in a statement published last Thursday: “Lord Ouseley was a trailblazer in English football, having the original vision for @kickitout, and he played a hugely inspirational role in tackling discrimination across our game while advocating for under-represented and disadvantaged communities.”
The Premier League also issued a statement paying tribute to Lord Ouseley last Thursday, and is understood to be preparing to issue further tributes on its channels later this month as part of its ‘No Room For Racism’ activity.
No minute’s applause or black armbands was set by the league for the matches played at the weekend, but clubs were free to do their own tributes.