Crooks hails 'landmark' event

By Luke Williams

Garth Crooks OBE is a familiar face to many people, not only because of his distinguished playing career but also through his work as a broadcaster and his active participation with agencies committed to the fight against racism.

UEFA Cup winner
Born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1958, Crooks began his playing career with hometown club Stoke City FC. He moved on to Tottenham Hotspur FC four years later where he formed a notable striking partnership with Steve Archibald and won the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982 as well as the UEFA Cup in 1984. Capped four times by England at Under-21 level, Crooks went on to have a loan spell with Manchester United FC before moves to West Bromwich Albion FC and Charlton Athletic FC. He retired from playing in 1990.

At the 'Unite against Racism' conference Crooks hosted a special question and answer session with several players and beforehand talked to uefa.com about his thoughts on the conference and how the issue of racism is being tackled in football.

uefa.com: How did you become involved with the 'Unite against Racism' conference?

Garth Crooks: I was invited by UEFA through 'Kick it Out' which is an agency I'm involved with which was borne out of the 'Let's Kick Racism out of Football' campaign which began in 1993. I've been very much a part of that. Towards the end of my football career I became the chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association and the PFA was intrinsic to the [anti-racist] movement in the 1990s. So eleven, 12 years later here I am happy to be making my contribution to the debate.

uefa.com: How can the success of a conference such as this be measured?

Crooks: Firstly by the attendees. I think the response by UEFA's national associations has been magnificent. All credit to UEFA. They've responded to the call made by players and the football authorities about the sort of things that have been happening in Italy, Holland and eastern Europe. It's taken those feelings seriously and it's culminated in us meeting here at Chelsea to discuss to what extent we can deal with racism, where it's likely to pop up and how active we can be at challenging it.

uefa.com: There seems to have been a strong practical element to this conference. How has the workshop process unfolded?

Crooks: The workshops have been excellent, because people have been very honest, very open. They've been private sessions and that in itself encourages people to be more frank and more honest. There are talk shops but it's talking and sharing experiences and developing relationships. Those are the first steps to breaking down racism. That's why we're here - to understand racism's unpredictibility; to find out exactly its inconsistencies, because if you don't understand those areas you can't really challenge racism effectively. So this is very important - it's a landmark event as far as I'm concerned. It's the first time that UEFA have actually gone to these lengths to address racism and I'm delighted to be a part of it.

uefa.com: In what ways did racism affect you during your own playing career?

Crooks: Racism affected me pretty much the same way that it affects people today. It's the equivalent of terrorism. It terrorises people. Racism is not simply about black and white, although being a black player makes it very easy for the racists - black players are easy targets. But people and players from all over Europe are being affected with racism. It's very important now that players can move around so freely, particularly in Europe, that we acually wake up to the fact that we have to take this seriously.