For many across the country, receiving an honour like the MBE from the Royal Family is something to aspire to but Liverpool isn’t like most other places and that was on show from one former Red.
Speaking on The Football Historian Podcast, Howard Gayle explained why he turned down the award in 2016:
“I’d always had this thought about those gongs, and those gongs originated in and are poured on by a royal family that was implicated in the slave trade, in Africa.
“And most of the ships that were taking slaves had to be the Royal Standard so the truth about what went on in the slave, it’s never really been told…
“People will find it appalling but there was over 100 million Africans that were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean, they didn’t make the journey – through disease, through punishment, through whatever.
“100 million tossed into the Atlantic Ocean because they were either disobedient or sick, those figures itself shows you the enormity and the will of a culture to try and overcome another culture.”
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It’s admirable that the 65-year-old turned a moment of celebration for his work, into a protest against a regime that has such strong ties to the slave trade.
Without individuals willing to make these sacrifices, the atrocities of the past can easily be forgotten and so the ex-player should be applauded.
You can watch Gayle’s comments on the MBE (from 34:49) via The Football Historian on YouTube: