Former footballer Sayce Holmes-Lewis has worked with some of the game's top young talents, and believes football - just like society in general - can still be doing more to deal with the institutional biases limiting the opportunities of youngsters from underserved communities like his own
Holmes-Lewis grew up on the Aylesbury Estate in South London, the same place Arsenal winger Reiss Nelson honed his talent playing in mixed-age and mixed-gender cage football matches. He also coached the Southwark team at the London Youth Games for a number of years, with his coaching work bringing him into contact with the likes of England international Jadon Sancho and Nigeria Africa Cup of Nations star Ademola Lookman,
For every Nelson, Sancho and Lookman, though, there are plenty of other players with similar talent who don't make it to the top. There can be a number of factors behind this, from personal circumstances to experiences within the academy environment, but there are also some factors which Holmes-Lewis believes can and should be worked on.
He has seen unconscious and institutional racism first-hand, whether that's through being racially profiled by the Metropolitan Police or through the way some of the young footballers he knows have been treated while looking to come through the ranks. His efforts to improve things have seen him take up a post on the London Policing Board, while also helping mentor young athletes through his organisation Mentivity, but he still feels more needs to be done.
"I think from my own personal experiences, I grew up on the Aylesbury Estate and I haven't forgotten what it's like to be a young person and how I felt - marginalised, disenfranchised within my community, and the power of football for me to actually get me to the point that i am in my life today," Holmes-Lewis exclusively tells Mirror Football. "If it wasn't for playing football but also coaching football from the age of 16, I wouldn't be able to take the opportunities that came up.
"Also, education is massively important, and understanding the institutions and the structures around us which may oppress us and stop us from going down a path we really want to go down," Holmes-Lewis adds. In addition to his football coaching, he has worked in pupil referral units and gone into secondary schools to support young people.
His work with Arsenal star Nelson is another step. The pair opened a football pitch on the Aylesbury Estate in 2022, with former Arsenal and England star Ian Wright among those in attendance for the launch, and an adjoining community hub allows him to remain close to home - quite literally.
While he feels things have improved in some areas, that's not the case everywhere. At least in certain areas, issues exist in football because they exist in wider society, and it doesn't make sense to address one and not the other.
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"I've really connected the dots and understood how these things can actually continually oppress young people, especially with institutions that are institutionally racist, so we've got to understand how these biases, these racial biases can decrease the life chances of young people," he says. "So I just wanted to counteract that and be an advocate for young people, an advocate for the Aylesbury Estate and all young people that are facing similar challenges like we do in South London.
"We all have biases within ourselves, loads of different biases, and that's just the nature of humans. However, when that starts to impact the life chances of individuals based on a protected characteristic, then there's an issue within that, so then that becomes institutionally oppressive.
"So we have to have an anti-discriminatory outlook towards these things, and I think especially within the realms of football, how do we safeguard young people? How do we understand the issues that young people who may be from different parts of the UK, from underserved communities, how are we now supporting those young people?
"How are we working with the families to make sure they're not being pulled in this direction? What are the motivations for them to be at this club and how are we safeguarding these young people? I feel like football clubs have done a better job over these last few years, but I feel like the holistic wraparound support for those young people who do not make it to that top level of the game has to improve."
There have been some notable efforts to support those who don't make it, with Liverpool and England right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold launching The After Academy in 2023. Alexander-Arnold's iniative is designed to help players use the skills honed on football and transfer them to other career paths.
While it's a noble cause, Holmes-Lewis also feels clubs themselves can always be doing more. That applies to support for players who don't make it, as well as recognising issues which may arise - be they through insitutional racism or other areas - while those youngsters remain at the club.
His role on the policing board comes at a time when the Metropolitan Police has been found to be "institutionally racist" according to a 2023 report. Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, while not accepting claims that the force is institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynistic, did recognise that the report from Baroness Casey "must act as a catalyst for police reform".
In addressing areas where football can improve, Holmes-Lewis points to issues of representation. However, he also recognises the power of football to make a difference, having also experienced this first-hand.
"I think we need to do more in holding these football clubs to account, and the FA, to understand how they can be less institutionally racist in situations," he says. "Because they keep talking about kicking racism out of football, but we can't kick it out of football without kicking it out of society first.
"Again, you look at the board of the FA, and what's the representation for the makeup of the UK? It's predominantly older white men that are in those boardrooms making those decisions, and then what are they doing? They're further compounding these decisions by making the same decisions from their outlook.
"You need to diversify the boardroom, and [Football Black List founder] Leon Mann is doing great work in terms of doing that, going across football clubs and really just raising awareness of the work he's doing and the importance of having those voices and representation.
"That's massively important. So there's a lot that needs to be done, but football's a very powerful vehicle and we can use it to change the way we look at things in society - especially things like racism."
As for his own on-field experience, he says a move to Romanian side FC Brasov helped open his eyes to the opportunities he wasn't afforded in England. Holmes-Lewis was forced to retire young after injuries, but not before being shown how things were different on the continent.
"When I was playing, 20-25 years ago, if you were 6'4" and white and could head the ball and run, that was it," the former centre-back says. "The technical centre-back, as a black player, you just got overlooked.
"But now the players they're looking for are the players we've always had in inner-city communities. So why were they overlooked? Again, it's the paradigm. I'm only seeing players who I think fit the mould from my perspective, from my background, but I think football's become a lot more inclusive."
On the subject of life after football, he puts the onus on clubs to give players a pathway, be that in the game or beyond. "I know clubs have player liaison officers and things like that, but where are the youth workers?" he asks.
"Where are the mentors, the practicioners, people who have that actual lived experience, who all have a love of football more than likely? How are we embedding them in terms of that offer for young people? How are we creating peer mentors within the game where older players from clubs actually take that responsibility?
"Go back to the old YTS, cleaning boots of the older players. Those kinds of things, they instil discipline but also foster relationships, and I think there needs to be more mentorship within the professional game and within academy football."
We've already seen football harness the talents of players like those who came up on the estates of South London and other parts of the country, but what about those who make progress but then hit a wall. It will often be the case that they've been moved away from their families and communities when an academy place comes along, only to then face challenges - challenges which they haven't been prepared for - when academy football doesn't lead to a professional career.
The next Jadon Sancho or Reiss Nelson could very well be playing cage football right now, be it at Nelson's pitch on the Aylesbury Estate or in another part of the country. It's in the interest of England's football structure to nurture that player and shield them from the institutional racism or club inaction which can potentially damage so many others budding young talents.
The real tragedy is that we might never fully know about those who don't make it for these reasons. All football can do is put the measures in place to give them the best chance.
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