Manchester United News: Paul Pogba asked the Red Devils to wear anti-racism wristbands ahead of Boxing Day fixture

Paul Pogba believes that the world’s elite footballers should come together to spread awareness about the devastating after-effects of racism, and wants them to lead the attack against bigotry.

The Frenchman had been at the receiving end of racist posts on social media after he missed a penalty against Wolverhampton Wanderers in August, a game that ultimately ended in a 1-1 draw. It was one of the many such despicable incidents which have shocked the footballing world recently.

In October, English players Raheem Sterling, Tyrone Mings, and Marcus Rashford suffered racial chants from the stands during their game against Bulgaria. The Serie A game between AS Roma and Napoli was also temporarily suspended last month, after Kalidou Koulibaly, Napoli’s Senegalese centre-back, was racially abused.

Pogba wants to generate awareness against racism

In the Premier League, the recent instances of such incidents have been a cause of concern. Manchester United players Rashford and Fred were subjected to monkey chants during the Manchester derby, and recently Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger complained of the same disturbing behaviour from the stands during their game against Tottenham Hotspur.

In a bid to take a stand against such incidents around the world, Pogba came up with “No to Racism” and “We Are One” wrist bands and requested his teammates wear them during warm-ups ahead of the Newcastle United game on Boxing Day.

United went on to win the game 4-1, and the Frenchman later revealed that he had come up with the idea of the wrist-band himself.

It was my idea to do that. I’ve been thinking about doing this but I don’t want to go through Uefa or Fifa. I did it myself.

Pogba admitted that footballers have the power to create awareness about the issue.

I think we have the chance to have this power to show things in football, on TV. People see it so I think that will make people understand some things.

He also went on to state that racism is due to ignorance and said that the wristband was to remind the world that everyone was equal.

I think it’s [racism] ignorance. Ignorance and stuff like that, and just to show people that you are all one. We are all one.

The Frenchman also revealed that he got the idea from Thierry Henry’s “Speak Up, Stand Up” wrist band campaign that was launched in 2005. An estimated 5 million wrist bands were sold during that time.

I remember when I was younger about ‘Stand Up, Speak Up’. It just reminded me of that.