Lucas Radebe believes progress has been made in football’s fight against racism

Former Leeds and South Africa captain Lucas Radebe believes football is slowly winning its fight against racism.

The English Football League launched this season’s Together Against Racism campaign on Thursday with clubs engaging with local communities to showcase a range of new and existing activities.

The initiative will run for the rest of October, coinciding with Black History Month and alongside the Premier League’s No Room for Racism and the Football Association’s Enough is Enough campaign.

Radebe, who remains a hugely-popular figure at Leeds where he spent nine years as a player until 2005, returned to their Thorp Arch training ground on Wednesday to deliver a Together Against Racism education session to the club’s academy players.

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He told the PA news agency: “I think there has been a lot of progress made and the impact has been absolutely positive. We cannot say we have kicked it out, but we are still working on it.

“There are pockets of people still experiencing racism and surely, with messages like this and campaigns like the one Leeds United have, we can slowly eradicate it.

“As the message goes deeper into the communities, hopefully it will be embedded forever.”

The EFL relaunched Together Against Racism with a video of Crewe forward Omar Bogle talking about his experience of being racially abused while playing for former club Newport at Gillingham last season.

Other EFL club initiatives include Blackburn’s ‘Ewood Express’, a match-day shuttle service that brings children from the town’s South Asian community from schools and mosques to Ewood Park, and Leyton Orient’s Punjabi O’s supporter group, launched in January this year.

Radebe also attended a Q&A workshop and stadium tour with local schoolchildren at Elland Road alongside Leeds forward Largie Ramazani as part of Leeds United Foundation’s Black History Month celebrations.

The 55-year-old, who will be introduced to the Elland Road crowd at half-time during Friday’s Sky Bet Championship match against Sheffield United, said: “It’s very tough to see that in this day and age we can still experience racism.

“Yes, it is frustrating, but we can see the effort that is put in by the game to eradicate it.

“As long as footballers, who are playing now, carry the message forward and not just only that, but to act accordingly – that is very important.

“The message needs to be delivered, purposefully and intentionally, to kick racism out of the game from a big club like Leeds United and I’m really proud to be a part of this movement.”

EFL chief executive Trevor Birch said the league’s clubs were “proud” to represent their communities and were committed to creating “a welcoming environment for all”.

He added: “This season’s campaign is focused on giving clubs, managers, players and fans a voice, as we hear first-hand the negative impact of racism, alongside some of the more positive steps clubs are taking to help remove it from our game.

“Some of the work being undertaken really does make a difference and we need to continue to use the powerful platform our sport provides to assist in creating positive change within our communities.”