The video begins with Lawrence explaining the events which unfolded after Leyton Orient’s recent loss away at Port Vale – when a Vale fan took to Instagram to send a vile message to the O’s keeper.
The following content contains language that readers may find offensive
Football such a beautiful game ruined by people like this. pic.twitter.com/L99zDt1v7u
— Lawrence Vigouroux (@LawrenceV93) October 2, 2021
“I Replied Straight Away, I Dealt With That Wrong”
Vigouroux explained that he regretted not highlighting messages he received in the past, instead being too quick to reply or not taking screenshots before the message was deleted:
“There’s been some times in my career where I’ve received messages and either replied or they’ve been deleted quickly so I couldn’t put them out there.”
The first time he was racially abused was at 19, he explained how he reacted:
”I replied straight away, it was the first time ever. It was the wrong thing to do, I should’ve just put it out there but you just have so much adrenaline.”
It is a sad fact that Lawrence recognises that he dealt with that badly. Writing this as a straight, white, male it is impossible to know what was going through Lawrence’s mind when he first read such an abhorrent message, but what can be understood is that heat-of-the-moment feeling after you’ve been assaulted where you won’t always know the best course of action, especially not at such a young age. Lawrence should not blame himself.
With time though, Vigouroux has learnt that his best form of attack against racist abuse is to put it out into the world where the individual can’t hide:
“As a 27-year-old now, looking back I feel like I dealt with that wrong. This time I had the opportunity to put it out there and thankfully it got a good reaction from not just Leyton Orient fans but fans of every club in the country.”
“I feel like now it was better for me to put that out there and to be fair to everybody they all supported me, all the changing room, all the staff they were right behind me and I appreciate them for that. It made it easier for me to put it out there for people to see what some people are like.”
There was a second racist incident after the Port Vale game, this time involving a young person. In response to that, Lawrence gave an impassioned answer to a question that many would think should not even have to be considered, but unfortunately still does: What needs to be done to eradicate racism in society, if some are expressing these views at such a young age?
“People Can Learn. Learn What We Go Through, Learn To Understand.”
For Lawrence the answer – especially for the younger generation – is education:
“Education is a massive part of it. If you’re learning to be racist, or homophobic or prejudiced at such a young age, I feel like you can get punished and serve your punishment but still feel the same way.”
“But if you get educated you can understand that it’s difficult to be a black person or an Asian person in society, and by understanding where we’re coming from as human beings, it would be much better for the young generation to learn and see that it is very difficult for black people, Asian people or anyone that’s foreign to get a job or to succeed in football. Education is a very important point. People can learn. Learn what we go through, learn to understand.”
Vigouroux also stresses the importance of Black History Month:
“It’s very important. Every time I drive into the stadium I see the statue of Laurie Cunningham, one of the first black players to play for England. It’s amazing that Orient have his statue outside.”
“This club is very diverse, the area that it’s in, the people that come to games, the players we have in the changing room. To show appreciation to everyone before us for Black History Month is very important. It’s a club we all enjoy playing for and it has a lot of people in the community that help other people in and around Leyton and I feel like little gestures supporting Black History Month are very important. We’ve got to appreciate our black players for what they do both on the pitch and in the community.”
Battling Misconceptions
One of the more specific struggles Vigouroux has had has been fighting the perception of black goalkeepers and how they perform. “It was tough. It’s not common that you see a black goalkeeper and I think a lot of the perception was that ‘he’s got a mistake in him.’
“I’ve had to battle that throughout my career and not just me, there’s loads of other black goalkeepers that have had to deal with it.”
But the Chilean also believes that perceptions are changing for the better. “It’s something that I think is changing. I look at Mendy at Chelsea, I’d never heard of him when he joined but he’s done amazing.
He’s paved the way for a lot of black goalkeepers. We can look up to him as a reference for what he’s done, and I feel like that perception is starting to change.”
“There’s a long way to go. I don’t want goalkeepers to be picked because they’re black or white, or whatever, I just want people to be picked fairly, on merit. That’s all we can ask for, to be judged just on our abilities.”
You can watch the full video on Leyton Orient’s YouTube Channel
