Court documents entered by four of the 10 Black former Chelsea youth players who've filed civil lawsuits against the club allege a culture of "racist bullying" in the 1990s, including physical and verbal abuse by coaches Graham Rix and Gwyn Williams.
Daniel Taylor of The Athletic reported Thursday the court papers, filed ahead of a trial that begins March 7, include statements from one player who said Black players were "treated like a race of f--king dogs" and another who called it a "mini-apartheid state."
Chelsea previously accepted an investigative conclusion that Williams subjected Black players to a "daily tirade of racial abuse," though they've responded to the civil lawsuits by saying they "deny vicarious liability" in the case, per Taylor.