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Just the other day, I had the racial stereotyping in sports reporting, with myself, because I thought I probably had done it in the past. Here& #39;s how it went.
I was writing a scouting profile of Marcus Thuram, the 22-year-old striker at Borussia Monchengladbach who has been catching the eye of a fair few. He& #39;s also World Cup winner Lillian& #39;s son. You can see why there is plenty of media attention.
I watched highlights of him beforehand, read a few interviews and pieces, some tactical breakdowns of Monchengladbach. All the usual things you do before a scouting report style piece.
There was plenty about how strong he was, how quick he was, the word "beast" was definitely used - and I remember a @jonathanliew piece about similar reporting about black players. I re-read it, to try to provide myself with some perspective.
The problem was, for all that I tried and tried, I couldn& #39;t escape the fact that Marcus Thuram, all 6ft 4in of him, is many of those things. He is strong, he is powerful, he is fast. But...
because I had read and considered the unconscious bias, I looked for other things in his game. Movement, intelligence, work rate, understanding - things white players are often lauded for, disproportionately so.
I ended up writing about loads of different qualities - including Thuram& #39;s physical prowess - and I just about felt okay about it. Every time I write about a black athlete adjectivally, I double-take now. Just a check - "do I really mean that? Or is that just a cheap stereotype?"
