Black footballers were an inspiration – Onuoha | OneFootball

Nedum Onuoha says it mattered a huge amount to him to watch Black footballers playing for Manchester City when he was growing up.

The former City defender sat down with writer Lemn Sissay OBE after the acclaimed author was commissioned by the Club to write a poem to celebrate Black History Month.

Lemn wrote The Stadium Speaks which celebrates the influential black figures who have helped shape Manchester City.

Onuoha, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Miles Platting, discussed the importance to him of seeing black players wearing the sky blue shirt.

Among his heroes were Marc-Vivien Foe, who sadly passed away playing for Cameroon in 2003, Liberian Ballon d’Or winner George Weah and Shaun Wright-Phillips, who he would go on to play alongside at City on 42 occasions.

WATCH: The Stadium Speaks - a poem by Lemn Sissay

“I could probably name two or three different occasions when it really mattered more than anything to me,” Nedum said.

“I was growing up in the 90s, the players that stuck out to me were the players that looked the most like me. But I never realised that until I was older.

“I think back to the value of say Marc-Vivien Foe, may he rest in peace. He was a Black West African playing for Man City and I had more in common with him than anybody else.

“Even having George Weah playing for City, a Ballon d’Or winner – it was incredible he was playing for City.

“You bring it a bit closer to me and me and lots of people around my age, we were inspired by Shaun Wright-Phillips.

“He also happened to be the son of Ian Wright, someone I adored as a young man.

“One of the people I adored is now my friend’s dad and almost like an uncle to me.”

Nedum says that the sport has an impact on people’s lives and the recent success of England’s women’s team is an example of how a generation can be inspired.

“From a female standpoint within football, I was lucky enough to work at the Women’s European Championship final which England won,” he added.

“There were 16 or 17 million households that were watching that game and I know my household itself with my two girls and my son was captivated by that moment to see history.

“And I know that my in daughters’ teams there are players saying: I want to do that, I dream of doing that.

“That’s a team that looks so different in many ways whether were talking about Lauren James or Michelle Agyemang or City’s Alex Greenwood.

“There are so many ways that it looks, and there are so many girls that know it is something they would like to do now.

“If that wasn’t on TV, how could they see that’s the moment they want to share?”

As a club, Manchester City do not tolerate racism and encourage fans to challenge and report discrimination of any kind. Any fans who see or hear abusive behaviour at the Etihad Stadium can report it by texting 07700151894 to make our security team aware of what they have witnessed.

Feedback can be shared anonymously by texting your block, row, seat number and a short description of the incident to the number.  Fans can also report incidents by talking to a steward or the police at the stadium.

Meanwhile, fans can report online discriminatory abuse they see targeted at Premier League players, managers, coaches, match officials and their families directly at www.premierleague.com/reportracism.