DISGUSTING off-field behaviour during an unprepossessing friendly in Teesside should not form this week’s column. But it does. 

As the delayed Euro 2020 finally approaches in the aftermath of the Champions League final and English Football League play-offs there has been so much to talk about in the football world this week.

The debate over Gareth Southgate’s squad. The loss of Trent Alexander Arnold. The first of what will surely be many international goals from talented young teen tyro Bukayo Saka. 

Or the incredible decision by Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola not to pick a defensive midfielder in the biggest club match on the planet, when he failed to provide an opponent to combat Chelsea’s peerless N’Golo Kante. 

Or the countless heartening stories emerging from Brentford, Blackpool and Morecambe’s promotion victories that formed a dramatic triptych across three successive afternoons at grand old Wembley Stadium on a sunshine-soaked weekend.

But, unfortunately, what dominates is the fact there were a considerable amount of people in Middlesbrough during England’s laboured 1-0 victory over Austria on Wednesday evening who believed that booing the knee is acceptable. 

Equally, let’s not pretend this is a provincial issue. I heard boos at the Emirates the other week before they were drowned out by applause, while earlier this season Millwall also took to booing such demands for equality. 

The knee is about alerting the world to the fact we don’t have racial equality. Not in football. Not in sport. Not in society. Not in life. 

Think otherwise? How many black football managers can you name? How many black directors of football can you name? How many black chairmen? Then ask yourself, off the top of your head, how many black footballers can you name? 

Still not convinced there is discrimination in sport? OK, how many cricket coaches are black? How many cricket administrators are black? How many rugby administrators are black? I could go on. And I will until those numbers truly represent the percentage of black and ethnic minority candidates of outstanding abilities still being denied chances in 2021.

Still not convinced? OK, how about your own job? Who reading this article has been interviewed by a black HR boss when you were a candidate for a new role? Or a black manager? Or a black supervisor? 

A long time ago, but not that long, I once played five-a-side against a team of recruitment consultants. Afterwards, talking shop in the bar, one of them, tongue loosened after a few beers, unprompted and certainly unaware of my name, heritage or background, said to me in a line I’ll never forget: “The amount of CVs we get from Arabs is embarrassing,” adding, while laughing: “We just delete them.” 

To my eternal shame, my younger self was too shocked to respond. Not least because I didn’t want to be seen to be making a “fuss” as someone with an Arabic name. Ironically, I didn’t want to be seen as a “troublemaker” by reacting. Needless to say my response today would be very different. 

Whether you agree the knee is the correct way forward, or a distraction from getting to the heart of the real issue, is a valid question. Many are torn on the issue, not least in sport. 

However, in the meantime, until we scrap it, or have consensus on another symbolic act in favour of combatting racism that is seen by millions, we have sportspeople continuing to take the knee to raise awareness. 

Therefore, it is completely and utterly wrong to boo talented black young men making a public statement against racism, while attempting to raise awareness of discrimination in all walks of life. 

That is why the act itself of booing against the knee is a racist act in itself. By booing you are saying you do not believe in equality for all. 

For those who attempt to deflect their prejudices by insisting they boo because they insist politics should be kept out of sport, ask yourself this: Do you see the irony in booing James McClean for refusing to wear a poppy? Surely that is politics, no? 

Or does bias against the knee — unconscious or otherwise — simply reveal inherent racism from those who insist on booing?

Because booing the knee reveals far more about a particular person than it does about proud black sportspeople and their colleagues demanding equality, in a world that still allows discrimination because of the colour of your skin, your race, your religion and your heritage.

PS: What I’m (re)reading: Meaning of Sport by Simon Barnes. As fans start to return to sporting events, this magnificent tour de force by one of my idols is as prescient as it is vibrant. 

What I’m watching: Essential viewing as Euro 2020 approaches is “One Night in Turin,” Based on Pete Davies’s seminal book on Italia ’90, see how much — and how little — football has changed. 

What I’m listening to: Guents de Rincon. The Cape Verde ensemble that describe themselves as a “mulitcultural army of fishermen, peaceful and pacifist, without weapons but a lot of soul.” I saw them live on my last pre-Covid visit to Lisbon and the long-awaited emergence of sunshine this week made them the perfect accompaniment.