Hate Buster

Personal Goals

Instead of resting on his football laurels, Thierry Henry is tackling the racism that mars the game

Leaning forward from the edge of his chair in a swanky London hotel room, Thierry Henry speaks with his elbows propped on his knees. His hands continually move as he seeks to convey an urgency at odds with his naturally soft voice. Wearing an untucked black-and-white T shirt over faded jeans, his friendly, easygoing warmth contrasts with the utterly incandescent football that helped power the French national team to years of brilliant, exciting success in international competition. He’s also led his London club, Arsenal, to a spree of league and cup titles. Now Henry is using that power in a different kind of offensive: exorcising the racism haunting pro stadiums and amateur pitches across Europe.

“Despite their small numbers, racists influence the atmosphere and people around them by shouting over the silent majority,” Henry, 28, told Time. “You probably can’t change the hard-core racists, but by urging the majority to stand up and speak out against them, we can make these people feel less comfortable spouting their racism.”

It was not the loutish shouts he has heard in fan-packed stadiums that convinced Henry it was time to speak out. Instead, he says the stage was set last year by an obscene slur about him picked up by TV cameras and broadcast around the world, when the Spanish national coach, Luis Aragones, sought to “motivate” one of Henry’s Arsenal teammates during a training session by urging him to be better than “that black s___.” Henry refused to respond to the insult via the press, expecting that football authorities would seize the affair to decry racism in the sport.

That didn’t happen—and things quickly got worse. A month later, Henry was one of millions of TV viewers watching in horror as black players from England’s national side were abused with a deluge of racist chants in Madrid during a “friendly” match with Spain. Meanwhile, recurring racist behavior in Italy’s pro stadiums continued unabated. While it all generated discussion—even outcry—among players and fans, it produced, beyond fines, little concrete by way of official action.

Henry decided to change that, starting with his own attitude. “As a player, you’d hear or see the occasional racist insult or gesture, but you’d tell yourself it’s unfortunate but normal, a price to pay if you want to play pro football,” says Henry, who acknowledges that playing in relatively tolerant England has protected him from the abuse that many Continental footballers suffer. “But after all these things happened, I realized that footballers have a duty to defend important values, and use their media exposure to deliver messages when the occasion presents itself.”

Backed by his Nike sponsor and assisted by a group of élite players, Henry has mobilized millions of fans to his Stand Up Speak Up campaign since its launch in January. The effort has to date raised nearly j6 million in funding for anti-racism groups. Once Henry got Nike aboard, they solicited the participation of marquee players in nations around Europe. Those include not only black footballers like Brazilian Ronaldinho in Spain and England’s Rio Ferdinand, but also white players like the Netherlands’ Ruud van Nistelrooy and France’s Philippe Mexès, who participated in ad and promotional campaigns as well as in gala matches. “That’s important in making the very real point that racism is a problem for everyone, a collective ailment,” Henry explains. “It shows that people of all colors, even adversaries on the pitch, are banding together in this, because we’re all suffering from it together.”

Stand Up Speak Up has raised money by selling nearly 5 million intertwined black and white bracelets to fans for j2 each. The proceeds will be entrusted to Belgium’s King Baudouin Foundation, and will be distributed to national organizations around Europe dedicated to fighting racism, as well as fan groups and youth-training schemes that not only teach kids technique, but also emphasize sportsmanship and respect for others. He bristles at cynics’ accusations that Stand Up Speak Up is merely a do-gooder marketing ploy Nike put him up to. “Who could market through racism?” Henry asks in disgust. Nike concurs: “This was all Thierry Henry. He came to us, and we followed him,” says Nike Europe spokesman Charlie Brooks.

How will Henry measure the success of his unprecedented campaign? “In five, six, seven years I’ll be retired, and I want to be able to watch football on TV or attend a match and not hear a single racist insult,” he says. “That’s what I’d like to do for future generations of players. And that’s what I’d like to give back to the game that has done so much for me.” — By Bruce Crumley

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