I’m not sure what perfection looks like in a person but I learned so much from my friend and colleague Herman Ouseley, who sadly passed away on Thursday, aged 79. I learned how to conduct myself publicly and privately. I learned how to speak in certain rooms. I learned how to control my anger. I learned how to have certain conversations, even when I suspect the people at the other side of the table are not listening to a word I’m saying and resisting the urge to roll their eyes.
Those are just some of the things I learned from him and they are very strong and powerful qualities for any individual to be blessed with and able to pass on. He had that much of an impact and that much of an influence on me. Most people knew him as Lord Ouseley because that was his official title but I was privileged and honoured enough to know him as just “Herman”.
When he became the chairman and chief executive of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) in 1993, Herman gained a certain amount of power and influence that enabled him to make change. He took on the role just after the murder of Stephen Lawrence and he became a very good and helpful friend to Stephen’s family. An avid football fan – Manchester United for his sins, as well as Millwall because he moved to south London from Guyana as a child – he wanted to have an influence on the game. He was sick and tired of witnessing racism in the stands and on the terraces, of hearing stories about John Barnes and the banana at Goodison Park, or the cacophony of monkey noises that soundtracked West Brom’s Cyrille Regis, Brendon Batson and Laurie Cunningham at Old Trafford. He was angry that football didn’t care.
A year after the Premier League was formed he set up Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football, as it was called in its early incarnation. It was significant because the Premier League was this glossy new product that was being given the hard sell, but Herman felt it would never address incidents of racism unless someone gave the hierarchy a nudge. He decided to become that someone and his new campaign group meant an organisation existed that became a mouthpiece for players to challenge the Premier League, the Football League and others.
Back then, football didn’t want to acknowledge there was a problem with racism. Nineteen of the 22 clubs in the original Premier League were not on board because they didn’t think an anti-racism campaign was necessary. Herman forced their hand by inviting some very influential people to Kick It Out’s launch and started putting his life and soul into the campaign, to try to provide support, guidance and help to players who were being victimised on the field of play.
It was a very important time in his life, because he was chair of the CRE and simultaneously trying to get Kick It Out off the ground. He deserves particular respect because he took no money from his new organisation, which later became a registered charity. He felt that taking a wage or expenses would have made for bad optics and hindered progress. So for the 25 years that he was chair, he didn’t ask for any money. That shows his dedication to a cause he wanted to get up and running, without making anything off the back of it.
While I still don’t think football’s in a great place, without Herman’s influence back then and throughout his involvement in Kick It Out I don’t know where we would be. I am very grateful to him because he stood up to be counted when others were just talking a great game. He stood up when the industry was failing. Others might not want to acknowledge his contribution but it was a very important thing for him to continue to do until 2018, when he stood down. It would have been easy for him to do nothing but Herman wasn’t like that. He believed that if you’re there for the right reasons, because you’re seeing injustices wherever you tread and you’ve got the power, the influence and the knowhow to try to make change then you’re going to make the effort. Herman didn’t have to but he did it anyway because he felt it was his duty.
I’ve seen Kick It Out’s role in the fight against discrimination described as a thankless task but Herman never wanted thanks. He wasn’t in the game to be patted on the back or for people to laud his name, he was in it to make change. Kick It Out is just a small charity that is trying to make football a better experience for all and Herman was at the forefront of knocking on doors, going into boardrooms and telling important people how things were. He let it be known that he wasn’t going to go away unless they spoke to him and tried to understand the situation as he saw it.
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He did all this in a remarkable way. He wasn’t one to shout or holler; he was a very calm man but if you got him angry you saw another side of him. I will remember him as a person extremely dedicated to his work.
There’s so much I’ll miss about the sheer contribution of Herman as he battled to make football a better place. I’ll miss his presence, I’ll miss his calming influence, I’ll miss his words of inspiration and I’ll miss going places with him and standing in awe of how he conducted himself. Above all, I will miss him because he is no longer with us.