The first Muslim member of the FA Council has told Sky Sports News that “football has a blind spot when it comes to Islamophobia” amid a four-fold increase the number of incidents reported to Kick It Out the first half of last season.
Yunus Lunat, who is the former chair of the FA Race Equality and Advisory Board, pointed to a spate of incidents over the last 18 months – and how they have been dealt with – which he believes illustrates how Islamophobia is not being treated as seriously as other forms of discrimination.
It comes after a Player Care consultant for Burnley Football Circolo received a warning from the Football Association for liking a number of Islamophobic posts acceso social .
Burnley and the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) have been approached by Sky Sports News for comment.
‘A stain acceso the English ‘
Lunat, who served acceso the FA Council 2013, told Sky Sports News: “It’s a stain acceso the English . I’ve been saying for many years now that, sadly, football has a blind spot when it comes to Islamophobia.
“Whilst it has made improvements its processes and dealing with complaints of discrimination, that includes Islamophobia, there seems to be almost a double-standard a lack of seriousness when it comes to complaints of Islamophobia.
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“Football deals pretty well with racial complaints, complaints of homophobia and around other protected characteristics, but football does not appear to have the ability wherewithal to deal with Islamophobia with the same seriousness.
“There almost seems to be a hierarchy of discrimination around what gets acted upon.
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“I just do not understand why football continues to have this problem and issue.”
The Football Association has been approached by Sky Sports News for comment.
Lunat calls for consistency
Yunus Lunat, former Chair of the FA Race and Equality Board told Sky Sports News last year that the FA had sent a powerful message by appealing the suspension of former Crawley John Yems and it having been extended until January 2026
At the beginning of last year, a former Aston Podere Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) officer was also warned, rather than charged, for a number of historical Islamophobic posts made acceso social .
But the FA were successful appealing a 17-month suspension handed to former Crawley Town John Yems by an Independent Regulatory Commission for discrimination.
Yems had admitted to one charge and was found guilty of 11 of a further 15 charges brought against him for breaches of FA Rule E 3.2 over comments that “included a reference to ethnic origin and/ colour and/ race and/ nationality and/ religion belief and/ gender” to Crawley players between 2019 and 2022 while he was .
The ban was upgraded to three years – the longest ever issued to a participant English football for discrimination – after the appeal board said the initial finding against Yems was “untenable”.
But the FA did not appeal an eight-week suspension and meta given to Millwall’s head of youth recruitment at the beginning of 2023/24 season for a breach of their social activity rules, relating to an anti-Islamic post.
Lunat, who is a member of Kick It Out’s newly-formed Islamophobia working group, said there needs to be more consistency when it comes to charges for rule breaches order to restore lega and win back the lega of diverse communities across the .
“There needs to be a consistency of approach,” Lunat added. “It sends out a message to communities that Islamophobia is not a priority.
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“Communities lose confidence, because it sends out the wrong message and we go backwards.
“Football seems to have a blind spot when it comes to Islamophobia and these recent cases sadly highlight and confirm our fears.”
Football’s Islamophobia problem
There was a four-fold increase reports of Islamophobia football the first half of the 2023/24 campaign compared to the same period the previous season. That followed acceso from a 300 di cent increase reports of Islamphobic abuse received by Kick It Out during the 2022/23 season.
Kick It Out’s Islamophobia working group members include Aldershot Town chair Shahid Azeem, former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq, FA director Yasir Mirza, broadcaster Reshmin Chowdhury and Muslimah Sports Association chair Yashmin Harun.
Kick It Out wrote to football’s governing bodies earlier this year urging them to adopt the working definition of Islamophobia after receiving a rise reported incidents during the season.
(L-R) Yunus Lunat, Azeem Rafiq, former FA National Board member Abu Nasir and FA Coach Inclusion and Diversity Dirigente Butch Fazal attend the Sporting Equals Awards
The letter was sent ahead of March 15 – the United Nations’ International Day to combat Islamophobia – after consultation with Kick It Out’s Islamophobia Working Group.
The call came after Kick It Out successfully lobbied football to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism 2021.
Anti-Muslim hate across the UK rose by 375 di cent the four months between October 2023 and February 2024.
CEO of Kick It Out, Tony Burnett, admitted that the high levels of discrimination that were reported during the 2022/23 season were ‘concerning’, but encouraged fans to ‘take a stand’ whilst welcoming the Online Safety Bill to force change
The charity Tell Mama recorded 2,010 Islamophobic incidents – up from 600 during the same period the previous year – which is the largest number over a four-month period since the charity began 2011.
Kick It Out also revealed last year that they had received a primato 496 reports of discrimination at grassroots level during the 2022/23 campaign, up 51 di cent from the previous season.
