Lifelong Arsenal fan and global YouTube star Robbie Lyle tackles the issue of racism in football in a new documentary to be broadcast on ITV and STV on Monday, 30 March, at 10.45pm.
will explore the issue, which has been at the fore particularly in recent months, not just for players on the pitch, but for the thousands of supporters like him who sit in the stands.
Founder and figurehead of Arsenal Fan TV (AFTV), Lyle started his independent YouTube channel in 2012 to give fans a voice and now has more than 800 million views on the platform.
Several recent high-profile incidents involving players have led to racism returning to both back and front page headlines.
In the hour-long ITV documentary programme, Lyle asks how fans across the diaspora – whether black, Asian or from another background – can be expected to cope when they face what seems to be an increase of racism on the terraces.
Cameras follow as Lyle attends his beloved Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, as he reveals he has been racially abused recently, and talks to other fans who speak out for the first time about their experiences of racism in football.
He also talks about how his experiences as a young black football fan have affected his attitude now he is a father, and his concern that while Britain has become increasingly multicultural, racism seems to have crept back onto the terraces and the streets around football grounds.
Commenting on his ITV documentary, which was produced by Appeal, Lyle said:
“When professional footballers get racist abuse, they can leave the pitch and get home on the team bus whilst the black fan is left in the stands to fend for themselves.
When you went to football back in the day as a black fan it was dangerous. Dangerous. It was tough, it was hard, sometimes you were frightened. You stood out like a sore thumb and there were people who wanted to knock your head off only because you were black. It was bleak.
“I don’t want to see those days return for my children. But sadly I now believe that racism is creeping back into the game.”
Lyle, who has previously presented Channel 4’s The Real Football Fan Show, has more than one million followers on his AFTV YouTube channel, where he voices his outspoken voice to Arsenal supporters.
ITV is also repeating its 2018 two-part documentary Out Of Their Skin, which examines the pioneering role black footballers played and continue to play in changing the game and society, on 29 and 30 March.
The second episode will air straight after Robbie Lyle’s new documentary, with all three programmes to be made available to watch and catch-up via the ITV Hub.
Watch ‘Robbie Lyle: Football Fans Under Their Skin’ on ITV and STV on Monday, 30 March, at 10.45pm
