Watford defender Christian Kabasele has spoken about his continued fight against racism and urged people not to give up on removing it from football or society.

The Belgian experienced discrimination both on and off the pitch during his time in Bulgaria while playing for Ludogorets.

He said that, although those experiences angered him, he felt it was best to educate rather than react with fury.

“When I was playing in Bulgaria, every time I went shopping with my wife we always had the feeling that the person that was working in the shop was following us, just because I’m black,” he told the club website.

“In Bulgaria [you hear] the monkey noises. When something like this happens, first of all you feel angry, but it’s not a good reaction, the best reaction is to try and speak with the people who are acting like this towards you and try to make them understand that this kind of thing cannot happen. At the end of the day we are all the same.”

Since moving to England, things might have improved for Kabasele during matches, but away from games, social media has provided a conduit for racists to send their abuse directly to players.

The 30-year-old says that it can be a lot to stomach, but insists on reporting every single discriminatory message he receives, in an attempt to combat the issue.

“It’s the most important thing,” Kabasele continued. “Sometimes it can be hard, that you have to [report] it every single time.

“You cannot let one comment one pass through because if you do this you will give up the fight, and we can’t give up this fight.”