Nailed It: Piers Morgan wrong about Raheem Sterling and media treatment of black players

A group of Chelsea thugs gathered around us.

They hurled vicious, racist insults at my wife, referencing Paul Canoville in derogatory terms in the process.

This was 35 years ago and now we are returning to the bad old days.

A Tottenham fan throws a banana skin at Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang during the North London derby.

A Chelsea supporter bellows racist abuse at Raheem Sterling at Stamford Bridge.

And commentators like Piers Morgan (below) fuel the flames by refuting the evidence before their eyes.

Sterling, no stranger to being victimised by some national newspapers, responded to the incident on Instagram with a compelling comparison in the treatment by the Daily Mail of two of his Manchester City club colleagues, buying houses for their mothers.

A story last January about Tosin Adarabioyo was written under the headline: 'Young Manchester City footballer, 20, on £25,000 a week splashes out on mansion on market for £2.25m despite having never started a Premier League match'.

Another story from October by The Mail about City's teenage midfielder, Phil Foden, on the same subject declared: 'Foden buys new £2m home for his mum'.

Just to clarify, Foden has also never started a Premier League match.

Spot the difference? Morgan, who writes a column for The Mail, apparently cannot.

He mounted a vigorous defence of The Mail and the industry in general on Twitter, claiming that media coverage of black players like Sterling is not racist and the angle relating to Adarabioyo had nothing to do with the colour of his skin.

I do not claim to be an expert on racism. How can I be?

I can, however, having been married to a black British woman for 30 years and known her for 36, claim to have a deeper understanding than Morgan of what it is like to be treated differently simply due to skin colour.

That is the difference between Sterling and players such as Wayne Rooney (below centre) and David Beckham, mentioned by Morgan over unflattering stories during their careers in an attempt to level the playing field, deny the discrimination.

Why does he think the industry we work in is unlike any other?

A statement issued by the Black Collective of Media in Sport, established a decade ago, said this in support of Sterling.

"We hope this serves as a wake up call not just for newspapers, but all the media, and for them to reassess how they treat Raheem and portray black sports men and women.

"Just one black sports journalist was sent by the national newspapers to cover the World Cup this summer out of the 63 in Russia.

"Given nearly half of the England football squad was made up of BAME players this creates an uncomfortable dynamic that is very common across the industry."

Why does it matter what Piers Morgan thinks? Because, like it or not, he is in a position to influence opinions. He co-presents Good Morning Britain on ITV and has nearly 6.5 million followers on Twitter. Millions read his newspaper column.

We cannot begin to tackle racism properly unless we acknowledge its existence in EVERY industry.

The aforementioned Canoville spoke movingly about the impact of being racially abused as a teenager by his own Chelsea fans on his debut in 'Out of Their Skin', a powerful two-part documentary presented by Ian Wright (above) about the discrimination faced by black players, coaches and managers.

The television network Morgan works for deserves credit for highlighting the issue but why was it on ITV4, not their flagship channel?

What measures have Chelsea taken to root out their racist supporters? Only last year, four of their fans were convicted of racist violence towards a Parisian salesman on a Metro in the French capital.

Their 'punishment'? Suspended prison sentences.

Sterling's important intervention will soon be forgotten by those it is aimed at until the next time, when Morgan and others will try to convince you black players are treated the same as white players. Sadly, many will agree.