I’m calling the reaction to Myles Lewis-Skelly’s England call-up what it is | Football

Ask any parent who is a football fan, and they’ll tell you, seeing young players come through your club really does have parallels with those milestone moments in your children’s lives. 

As a dad, I’m fortunate enough to be able to look back on plenty of proud memories – my daughter’s first words, my son’s first steps. 

And as an Arsenal fan, I allow myself to take vicarious pride in the successes of the young players who come through our academy, light up the first team, and make their first forays onto the international stage. 

This year, no-one has given me that glowing feeling more than 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly, who was called up to the England squad for the first time this week. 

But sadly, like so many young Black football players, the Arsenal star has experienced the grim racism that comes hand-in-hand with success on the pitch. 

And it’s on all of us to call it out. 

Myles has had a breakout year. Last summer he was very much still seen by many as an academy player who may make a couple of appearances for Arsenal across the coming season. 

Instead of settling for that, Myles has surpassed all expectations and become a mainstay in Mikel Arteta’s team. Anoraks like myself have known of Myles’ playing talent for years, but a bonus from his brilliant season has been discovering his personality. 

He’s confident, bold and entertaining, refreshingly intelligent and perceptive in interviews, and he even manages to showcase his character on the pitch, most notably in mimicking Erling Haaland’s celebration after scoring against Manchester City.

He’s a brilliant player and an equally impressive young man. 

But that hasn’t stopped him being a target. 

As he arrived at St George’s park this week to meet up with Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the first time, the England X account posted a picture of Myles with his suitcase – looking, well, like an excited teenager ready to represent his country.

The tweet has had over 13million views, far more than any others posted this week, and while there are fans sharing the post with words of congratulations for Myles, there’s also a large number of posts abusing him.

There are, predictably on X these days, a few posts that are directly racist, throwing slurs or offensive comments his way or even, bizarrely, accusing him of throwing up a gang sign. 

But what caught my eye was how many fans were berating Myles for his apparent attitude.

He’s accused of being ‘cocky’, ‘arrogant’, unlikeable, even ‘disgusting’ – with others telling the teenager to ‘grow up’.  

At first I was baffled. A young man who has performed so well, surpassed expectation, who is about to help his country (not least at left back, a position that was alien to him a few weeks ago and an area where England are severely lacking in talent). 

Even after taking my Arsenal tinted glasses off, I couldn’t work it out. What’s not to like about this kid?

And then I remember another young man from Arsenal’s academy, Bukayo Saka, who, at 19, helped England reach the final of Euro 2021.

He missed a penalty in the final of the competition, as did both Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.

Sancho and Saka were 21 and 19 respectively at the time, Rashford had just spent months campaigning against the government to ensure kids wouldn’t go hungry. 

All three received despicable racist abuse.

Seeing the comments levelled at Myles Lewis-Skelly, I can’t feel but compare the reaction to him to that received by Newcastle’s Dan Burn, who also joined the squad.

There’s an age difference between the two, but when the England X account tweeted a video welcoming Burn, the comments were overwhelmingly positive, with fans saying he was ‘likeable’, a ‘man of the people’ and a great character and role model. 

All adjectives I’d use to describe Lewis-Skelly, incidentally. 

It’s not a new problem, or one that can be attributed to social media. In 1982, Cyrille Regis, only the third Black player to represent England, received a bullet in the post after being selected to play for his country. 

Viv Anderson, the second Black player to do so, wrote that he and Cyrille had to laugh at the racist abuse they received, otherwise they’d have never made a living in football.

I wish that Viv and Cyrille hadn’t had to do that. I wish that Jadon and Marcus and Bukayo weren’t kicked while they were down with disgusting racism after coming so close to bringing England a first trophy in 60 years. 

And I wish that Myles Lewis-Skelly was welcomed by fans, and posted as much on X, writing that I hadn’t seen a young white player receive similar treatment to Myles. There were plenty of people disagreeing, and plenty of whataboutery. 

Some pointed to the abuse that both Wayne Rooney and David Beckham received.

Neither deserved that either, but any criticism they received was far into their international careers, often as a result of highly publicised mistakes or indiscretions in their private lives. 

Not, like Myles Lewis-Skelly, before they had even kicked a ball. 

His crimes, his apparent unlikability, seems to equate to mimicking the goal celebration of a rival player and a dodgy red card. 

So, it seems there’s another, sadder reason that he’s being tarred with the same brush as Saka, Rashford, Sancho, and too many others before him. 

Myles is exactly what I want a young England player to be, and a young Arsenal player to be.

He’s exactly the kind of role model I want my children to look up to, confident, bold, with a strong personality and a fearlessness in expressing himself. 

I’ve received thousands of messages of abuse after sticking up for Myles online – but I know the abuse directed at him is much worse.

So I’ll do it again. I’ll call out racism when I see it. 

For every young Black player that has and will represent England, I feel a responsibility to stand up for them, loudly and publicly. 

It’s the only way things will ever change.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

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