Time football followed NBA’s lead on racism – John Amaechi

From the United States justice department’s biggest ever settlement for an issue of housing discrimination, to being sued by Elgin Baylor, an NBA legend and former Clippers general manager, there should be scrutiny of the number of years Sterling has been given a pass.

However, in a crucial moment when the league had to act decisively, it did that – and that is a decision sport can build on.

When talking about similar incidents in football, which deals with seemingly systematic issues of bigotry, I have always said that the banana-throwing, homophobic and anti-Semitic chanting and the like are just symptoms of the internal lack of resolve to really root out such issues.

Instead, football should look to educate supporters, empower players, review policies and, yes, harshly sanction owners, administrators and teams when they err, not just punish fans who have taken their cue from the sport’s impotence.