Spurs and England footballer Danny Rose opens up racism in every day life after revealing he was stopped by South Yorkshire Police in Doncaster

The Tottenham Hotspur player, who spent the end of last season on loan at Newcastle, revealed he was stopped by police in Doncaster as recently as last week.

On his latest dealings with South Yorkshire Police he insisted there were no grounds for being stopped.

“Particularly when I go home to Doncaster, I don’t like to drive so I get the train, but whenever I do drive, I kid you not I will get stopped at some point while I’m in Doncaster, pulled over and questioned,” he said on the Second Captains podcast.

“My friends have been there with me a lot of the time when it’s happened. The last time, last week, when I’d just been at my mum’s house, I had pulled up in a car park so the engine was off.

“The police pulled in and they brought a riot van, three police cars and they questioned me. They said they’d had a report that a car had not been driving correctly.

“So I’m like, ‘Ok, so why does that make it my car?’ I got my ID out and they breathalysed me. It’s just honestly one of those things to me now. What can I do?

“I don’t understand what I can do or who I can complain to. This happened first when I was 15 and it’s still happening now I’m 30. So 15 years of this on and off the field happening and there’s no change whatsoever.”

Rose, who has been subjected to racist abuse while playing for the Three Lions, said he cannot return to his hometown without a confrontation with the police while also suffering issues when travelling on public transport.

“Each time it’s, ‘Is this car stolen? Where did you get this car from? What are you doing here? Can you prove that you bought this car?’ he said.

“You know, for me this has been happening since I was 18, since I was driving and each time it happens I just laugh, because I know what’s coming. It’s just how it is. Whenever I go on the train. One of the last times I got on the train, I got on with my bags and the attendant said, ‘Do you know this is first class?’. I say, ‘Yeah, so what?’.

“They ask to see my ticket and I show the lady it and this is no word of a lie, two people, white people, walk on the train after me and she says nothing. I asked, ‘Are you not going to ask for their tickets?’ and she just said, ‘Ah no, I don’t need to’.

“So people might think 'it happens' but to me that’s racism. These are the things I have to put up with, being stopped all the time and being asked if I know this is first class and to show my ticket.

“This is everyday life for me but I feel embarrassed to even complain in a way, or bring it up, when you see the incident in America where a man, a black man, lost his life at the hands of people who were supposed to protect and serve.

“Whenever I do say things or complain, you do hear people say, ‘well you’re on this money so just get on with it’. I just give up with hoping that things will change because that’s some people’s mentality towards racism.”

When asked to respond to the incident, a spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police said: "Our officers work hard to ensure the roads of South Yorkshire are safe.

"As part of this on-going work, officers conduct regular traffic stops of drivers across all roads and areas of South Yorkshire.

"For drivers who feel like they have been targeted for a stop, please be assured our officers’ actions are there to keep you and our communities safe."

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