Paul Gilroy

Paul Gilroy's Ethnicity and Postcolonial theory is the idea that colonial discourses continue to inform contemporary attitudes to race and ethnicity in the postcolonial era. The idea that 'civilisationism' constructs racial hierarchies and sets us binary oppositions based on notions of otherness.

Paul Gilroy argues that representations marginalised the immigrant black community from the outset - constructing them as a racial 'other' in the predominantly white world of Britain. This is evident in the representations of black footballers in tabloids. Jamaican born England international Raheem Sterling accuses newspapers of fuelling racism. His former teammate Tosin Adarabioyo had an article about him headlining "young Manchester City footballer, 20, on £25,000 a week splashes out on mansion on market for £2.25 million despite having never started a premier league match". The article paints Adarabioyo, of Nigerian heritage, in a bad light and is implying that he shouldn't be spending the money he is making and that he needs to be humbled. In a similar fashion, Phil Foden also spent a large sum of money on a house while also being of a similar age to Adaraboyo when making the purchase and not fully cementing his place in the Manchester City first team, only difference between the two situations is that Foden is white British. The headline about Foden read "Phil Foden buys new £2m home for his mum". Two young footballers doing similar things however only one of the footballers is being criticised for his actions, there needs to be fair publicity and an equal chance. While Phil Foden has not done anything wrong, its a real disappointment to see how the media favours the white footballing prospect over people from a different ethnic background leaving a real sense of 'white British vs other'.

There has been multiple cases of black footballers being targeted by the tabloids however Raheem Sterling has been subject to the most disgusting and disturbing abuse of recent years. During his time at Liverpool, Raheem performed as one of the worlds best despite only being young at the time. The player felt as though he deserved a new deal that reflected his ability however one headline said "Don't be so greedy". All players negotiate for more money and a better contract its just football and it seems to be accepted as the norm for footballers to do however when Sterling wants to be more rewarded, he is so heavily criticised. Another headline about Sterling said "Filthy 50k Mercedes" its as though the media cannot accept a young black immigrant can spend money on luxury items, the headline is implying that Raheem doesn't deserve an expensive item because he doesn't know how to look after it. The media are trying to create the belief that it is 'UK vs Sterling' and if you analyse that even more, it becomes 'white people vs successful black people'. Sterling bought pasties from Greggs and went shopping in Poundworld and one tabloid wrote "He's happy to splash his cash on £500,000 Bentleys". They are finding the littlest things to complain about in order to turn the public against him, if he earns lots of money and then spends the money that he has earned, he is labelled as flashy and spoilt and undeserving of his success and fortune however, if he shops and behaves as the common person does, he is ridiculed.