Premier League star shares racist abuse suffered playing football at school

Transcript

00:00What challenges have you faced because of your race and how have you overcome them?

00:05So, when I first received racial abuse, it was when I was in school and I didn't quite understand or know how to handle it.

00:15I got racially abused by another player we were playing in the school team.

00:20We had an away game in Liverpool and I got racially abused and in the moment I didn't know how to deal with it.

00:27I was quite immature at that stage, but obviously as I've got older and I've spoke to more people and like I said my mentor was Cyril Regis.

00:35He helped me massively with how to deal with things and I think it's nice to have that support around you.

00:41If you don't have that support, it's always nice to just speak to anyone.

00:46Don't be afraid just to open your mouth and speak.

00:49You might get something back, you might not, but at least you've gone out of your way to do something about it.

00:54How do you deal with being a professional football player and having trolls sending you abuse online?

01:01I think for me personally, I don't look too much into it.

01:04It is something difficult, it's easy for people to say, just ignore it.

01:08But when you see it targeted at you, it's difficult to ignore.

01:13But I think it comes back to that inner confidence and that support circle I talked about.

01:17I think the only thing I really care about is the manager, my teammates' opinion, my family members, probably my mum.

01:24But other than that, if it's not affecting my career in any way, I just try my best to pay no mind to it.

01:31How important is it to inspire other young girls in the community?

01:35I think that we can be in a bit of a bubble and not realise the impact we have on people.

01:40But I think it's everything, like inspiring the next generation.