One of Albion's bright prospects has told how he was racially taunted at school.

He revealed some of the abuse came after a film session intended to educate on racism and increase awareness of slavery.

But under-23s defender Antef Tsoungui and Albion Women’s centre-back Victoria Williams agree racism on the pitch is very rare and the game encourages inclusivity.

Neither have been on the receiving end while playing for the Seagulls.

They were speaking, via Zoom, to about 100 schoolchildren as part of the Show Racism The Red Card movement.

The session was hosted by Albion In The Community.

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Tsoungui, 18, was brought up in Crawley from the age of five having arrived from Belgium with his father, who hails from Cameroon, and mother, from Italy.

His eloquently expressed message was well received by children as he revealed jealousy can be a big reason for racism.

He said: “In secondary school, it was black history month. We watched Roots, about slavery.

“After watching that, at lunchtime people would call you Kunta Kinte and Roots. They would pretend to whip you with headphones.

“It’s not good after watching what black people have suffered and they are just making a joke out of it.”

Tsoungui believed some of his tormentors were envious of his involvement with Chelsea, where he played to under-14 level, and then Albion.

He added: “There’s a lot of jealousy in secondary school.

“Especially in my instance where you’re talked about a lot for playing football or you are missing days because of day release or you’re good at PE.

“People are jealous of you.

“When they have nothing else against you, they see you have done nothing to them, they start to pick out small things.

“Racism falls into that category of ‘I’ve got nothing else against you but I don’t like you, I’m jealous of you’.”

Williams revealed she had to move to a new school as a seven-year-old as she was brought up in South Yorkshire.

But she senses very different attitudes among schoolchildren to whom she speaks now.

Williams, 30, said: “In my village I think I was the only person of colour.

“I don’t even know if some people had ever seen anybody who didn’t have white skin.

“It sounds crazy for it to happen in primary school when you are only five or six or seven years old.

“I moved to a catholic school about five miles down the road and I never really experienced it there.”

Williams was happy to share her experiences with a young audience – and tell of them of when black players were abused by Russian opponents when playing a women’s students international in Moscow.

She revealed she did make an issue of that at the time.

“In hindsight now probably I wish we did,” she added.

“But with racism you have to be absolutely sure you’ve heard what you heard or seen what you’ve seen.

“With hindsight and maturity and more knowledge about my rights, maybe I would have reacted differently.”

Williams does her bit now by speaking to schoolchildren about racism.

She said: “I’m always happy to do stuff like this. I don’t expect there to be a time in my lifetime where I don’t have this discussion.

“The stance I’ve switched to is, when we speak to the kids, trying to empower them.

“Over the years I’ve seen their attitudes change. They don’t understand why people want to be racist.

“It’s really important that schools build on that.

“They are going to have their own kids one day and, if they have got that attitude now, that’s great.

“Hopefully it’s a step closer to eradicating it.

“I’d like to see a day when that happens. I might not see it in my lifetime but at least now the majority view on it is, why would you not like somebody because of the colour of their skin?.

“I love how blunt kids are with that.

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“Sometimes I think we PC it up a bit because you’ve got to speak a certain way. Kids are straight and up front about it and that’s what I love.”

Albion are consistent in their opposition to all types of racism and prejudice.