FA, Boris Johnson Condemn Racial Abuse Against Saka, Rashford And Sancho Over England Euro 2020 Final Defeat

By Msyosi On Jul 12, 2021

FA, Boris Johnson Condemn Racial Abuse Against Saka, Rashford And Sancho Over England Euro 2020 Final Defeat — L-R: Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho.

UK prime minister, Boris Johnson and the Football Association have condemned racist abuse aimed at England’s Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, following Euro 2020 final defeat by Italy.

All three players missed penalties in the 3-2 shootout loss and were racially targeted on social media after the game.

Reacting, Metropolitan Police says it’s investigating the abuse and said “it will not be tolerated” while Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the abuse “appalling“.

He stated;

This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media. Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.

This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media.

Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 12, 2021

Saka, 19, had not long been on the pitch when the game went to a penalty shootout with the score at 1-1.

Within minutes of his shot being saved, he received abuse on his Instagram account, which was flooded with monkey emojis.

A 19 year old who has NEVER taken a professional penalty, was given the immense responsibility of taking the final penalty. He had the courage to step up. What a guy ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

— em🌶 (@awfcemily) July 11, 2021

Other fans rallied to support the teenager, promising to get the offensive comments reported and removed.

The trio have since been targeted with racist language and emojis on their social media accounts.

Many condemned the online vitriol from England fans, which spoiled an otherwise cracking day of soccer.

The FA released a statement saying it was appalled by the racist abuse aimed at England’s minority players.

A statement said;

The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media.

We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.

We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences.

Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse.

Rashford highlighted racial abuse he received on social media in May after losing the Europa League final with Manchester United.

Also, last year Sancho was among sport stars protesting against racism following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.

Social media companies have been criticised for a perceived lack of action on racist abuse on their platforms, and in April Instagram announced a tool to enable users to automatically filter out abusive messages from those they do not follow.

Following numerous instances of online abuse, a number of clubs, players, athletes and sporting bodies took part in a four-day boycott of social media in April to encourage companies to take a stronger stance against racist and sexist abuse.

The loss came after a hotly contested match that began with Luke Shaw scoring the fastest goal in Euro history to put England ahead early.

England failed to add onto their lead, allowing a game-tying goal to Italy’s Leonardo Bonucci in the 67th minute. The score remained tied at 1 after two 15-minute extra time periods, paving the way for a deciding penalty shootout.

Moments before extra time concluded, England manager Gareth Southgate substituted Jordan Henderson and Kyle Walker for 23-year-old Marcus Rashford and 21-year-old Jadon Sancho, respectively, to take penalty kicks.

Some questioned why Southgate chose to put a 19-year-old in such a difficult spot. Others wondered why Saka’s more experienced teammates failed to rise to the occasion.

Many were so immensely proud of what the trio were able to accomplish throughout the tournament at such a young age.

The win gives Italy its first Euro title since 1968, and second overall.