Leko, Leeds and Black Lives Matter

For black lives truly to matter in football, notes Kunle Ajao, words must be accompanied by action. On examining Leeds United's treatment of Kiko Casilla following his racial abuse of Jonathan Leko, Kunle shares his concern that - in the sport that he loves - Black Lives Matter risks becoming an empty phrase.

A few weeks ago, after 16 years, two relegations, and Massimo Cellino, Leeds United gained promotion back to the Premier League. Huddersfield’s win against West Brom meant that the Whites – under the ever-intense Marcelo Bielsa – will be in a top-flight division for the first time since the first European Constitution was created. But something also happened with Leeds that week, something that one might think isn’t as significant as their promotion, but in one sense is just as important; which is that Kiko Casilla was back in goal for Leeds.

You may or may not be aware, but Casilla previously served an eight-game ban for racially abusing Charlton West Brom’s loanee Jonathan Leko back in September, an action that met with judgement in February. And as a follower of football, you’ll definitely be aware of teams taking knees ahead of matches in support of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests, which were sparked by the murder of George Floyd.

Leeds took a knee, as of course did Casilla, when they played Derby County at Pride Park. But anyone following the Leko story will know the winger spoke out about being ‘annoyed with how long it took’ to find a verdict on Casilla, and how he received nothing from the Leeds side. No apology, no acknowledgement of their goalkeeper’s wrongdoing.

Of course there was the usual trope about how Casilla wasn’t racist despite making a racist remark, but that is – and will always be – beside the point. If black people got a dollar every time someone responded to a racist abuse by saying the culprit was not actually a racist, there would be no money left in the world.

Moreover, footballers who complain about receiving racial abuse rarely ever get any form of justice. The investigations are usually half-hearted, evidence is hardly ever really sought after, and at some point a vaguely-worded report is released that translates to almost nothing. It’s therefore quite something to be blatantly found guilty of racial abuse in this sport, let alone face any reprieve. Yet it’s been almost a year, and Leko hasn’t had any word from Leeds.

Which leads to the question; what’s the point of this? Let’s not deny that protests work, however small they or the change they result in may be. Many have pointed out that when younger people ask their parents why their favourite players are taking knees before games or wearing ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the back of their shirts, it creates a starting point for a conversation. However, sometimes that is not enough, and when it comes to Leeds and Casilla, is it even anything?

A while ago, The Athletic’s Carl Anka wrote so aptly about how football is quick to pat itself on the back when it comes to tackling racism, while Helen Lewis of The Atlantic made mention of corporations and their tokenistic acts of anti-racism. There are strong points in both pieces; football always hands itself gold stars when banners or montages denouncing racism are revealed, while corporations – including football – are often quick to dismiss a relatively insignificant member of staff if they’re shown to have made racist remarks. So, it’s not outlandish to suggest that perhaps Leeds would have taken more action if the employee was a non-playing member of staff rather than their first-choice goalkeeper.

“Footballers who complain about receiving racial abuse rarely ever get any form of justice.”

This is often the thing with tokenistic actions, whether for people of colour, or against racism. If you have a leaky cup filled with water dripping on the floor, you don’t keep mopping the floor, you fix the cup. How is Leko expected to feel when he sees Casilla and the Leeds team taking a knee, when he was subject to the kind of issue they’re supposedly fighting against from a representative of their club?

This is by no means new in this sport: From Hristo Stoichkov facing no action for his remarks towards Marcel Desailly in 1996, to Peter Schmeichel walking away unscathed for his comments to Ian Wright that same year – with Sir Alex Ferguson later telling Wright, ‘I never had you as a race card player’ – from John Terry against Anton Ferdinand in 2012, to the ignorance of former Schalke chairman Clemens Toennies earlier this season, football has far too often talked a big game when it comes to racism, but done little more.

The game keeps saying that Black Lives Matter, yet it keeps showing that ‘Black Lives Matter, but not as much as an important personnel in our organisation’, or that ‘Black lives don’t matter as much as winning in an ultimately meaningless sport’. For the past few weeks, football has been acting like it really wants to look itself in the mirror when it comes to racism. That should be the bare minimum. When will football stop doing the bare minimum?