Black Players for Change’s Allen Hopkins: ‘We can eradicate racism in sport’

Athletes, coaches, and staff working within Major League Soccer have joined forces to change the game from within

A framed photograph of the Cleveland Summit overlooks the desk of Allen Hopkins as he logs on at work each day. It records the 1967 meeting between Black athletes - Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among them - and politicians to consider and eventually support Ali's refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam war. That support sent a message - the fight for civil rights is a collective effort.

When a Black player walks up to take a penalty, I can't even watch," says Hopkins, announced in July as the first executive director for Black Players for Change, a US-based collective of athletes, coaches, and staff working within Major League Soccer. If he misses that penalty he is going to get his socials crushed. I can't watch. I just never want a Black player to take a penalty ... if he misses ..."