Chelsea Star To Meet With English Football Association In Fight Against Racism

Chelsea star Romelu Lukaku is reportedly set to meet with the English Football Association as he leads the charge towards ending racism.

Nizaar Kinsella, Chelsea correspondent for Goal, reported that the FA is planning to have discussions with Lukaku on how to better tackle the issue of racism in the sport.

After having reportedly made contact with Lukaku, a spokesperson for the FA told Goal the following: "We always welcome conversations on this important subject with players and others across the game.”

The Belgian forward spoke with CNN in an exclusive interview, questioning the kneeling gesture and how there are other ways to fight racism.

“I think we can take stronger positions, basically. Yeah, we are taking the knee, but in the end, everybody's clapping but... sometimes after the game, you see another insult,” he said.

Lukaku also proposed that all team captains and some of each club’s best players should meet with governing bodies, like the FA and Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), social media representatives, and governments to find a solution.

"How we can attack it straight away, not only from the men’s game but also from the women’s game,” Lukaku said of eradicating racism in general.

“I think just all of us together and just have a big meeting and have a conference and just talk about stuff that needs to be addressed to protect the players, but also to protect fans and younger players that want to become professional footballers.”

Lukaku is not the only English Premier League player to question the gesture as teammate Marcos Alonso and Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha have also decided to stop doing the gesture, believing there are other ways to tackle the problem.

He believes that this fight is not just against the racism that he has experienced, but for his family and the sport that gave him this platform.

“I have to fight because I’m not fighting only for myself. I’m fighting for my son, for my future kids, for my brother, for all of the other players and their kids, you know, for everybody,” said Lukaku.

“At the end of the day, football should be an enjoyable game… You cannot kill the game by discrimination. That should never happen. Football is joy, it’s happiness and it shouldn’t be a place where you feel unsafe because of the opinion from some uneducated people."