Euro 2020 final: Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka victims of racist abuse after England defeat against Italy



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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, England manager Gareth Southgate as well as the English Football Association (FA) condemned the racist abuses targeting Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the penalty shoot-out loss to the Italy in the Euro 2020 final.

All three missed their penalties in a 3-2 shootout loss and were immediately subject to social media abuse, with Twitter deleting more than 1,000 tweets the day after the game at Wembley Stadium. A mural in Rashford, which has campaigned against child food poverty in recent months, has been disfigured in a suburb of his hometown of Manchester. London Metropolitan Police have said they will investigate “offensive and racist” messages directed at gamers online.

Southgate noted that not all of the abuse directed at England players came from their home country, but described it as “not what we stand for”.

“My first thoughts this morning go immediately to the boys who have done so well for us. The players had such a great unity and such a spirit that brought so many parts of our country together. They should be and are incredibly proud of what ‘they’ did, “Southgate said at his press conference the day after the loss to Italy. “For some of them it is unforgivable to be mistreated. I know a lot of things come from abroad, the people who follow these things could explain it, but not all. not what we stand for.

“We have been a beacon in bringing people together and the national team represents everyone. This unity must continue. We felt the energy and positivity of the fans and I am incredibly proud of it.”

He added that those who missed the penalties would receive support from the English hierarchy: “We have to make sure that we are there, aligned with their clubs and that we take care of these boys. That’s all I have. thought. night. “

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the abuses against English players “appalling”.

“This England team deserves to be hailed as heroes, not racist abuse on social media,” he said in a tweet. “Those responsible for these appalling abuses should be ashamed of themselves.” Preparations for the tournament in England had been dominated by talks about England players taking a knee as a symbol against racism with a minister in Johnson’s cabinet, Home Secretary Priti Patel, saying fans have the right to boo the act.

The day before the tournament, Johnson did not condemn those who booed the knee, saying instead he wanted to see fans “get behind the team to cheer them on.”

In a statement released early Monday morning, the FA called on the UK government and social media companies to act to tackle black player abuse, which has become an all too familiar sight in football. Rashford had previously highlighted the racist abuse he suffered after Manchester United’s final defeat in the Europa League.

“We will continue to do all we can to eliminate discrimination, but we urge the government to act quickly and pass the appropriate legislation so that this abuse has real consequences,” the FA said. “Social media companies must step up their efforts and take action to ban attackers from their platforms, collect evidence that could lead to prosecution and support the release of their platforms from this kind of heinous abuse.”

It was a position taken up by Kick It Out, England’s football equality and inclusion organization, which urged the government to “keep its promise” to regulate social media through the Social Media Bill. online security, which will impose a “duty of care” on people like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram if that becomes law.

Almost immediately after the final whistle at Wembley Stadium, reports of abuse on Rashford, Sancho and Saka’s social media accounts began to emerge, including the use of offensive emojis and racist words. At the time of writing, there were still offensive messages in the responses to at least one of the three players.

“No one should have to face racist abuse anywhere, and we don’t want it on Instagram,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “We quickly removed comments and accounts targeting abuse of England footballers last night and will continue to take action against those who break our rules.

“In addition to our work to remove this content, we encourage all players to activate Hidden Words, a tool that means no one should see abuse in their comments or DMs. Nothing will solve this challenge overnight, but we are determined to keep our community safe from abuse. “

A Twitter spokesperson said: “The heinous racist abuse directed at England players has no place on Twitter.

“Over the past 24 hours, through a combination of machine learning-based automation and human review, we have quickly deleted over 1,000 tweets and permanently suspended a number of accounts for violating our rules,” the vast majority of which we have proactively detected ourselves using technology. “

England international players will now take a break of several weeks before returning to their clubs ahead of the new Premier League season, which begins on August 13 with Arsenal against Brentford. Saka had been Arsenal’s shining light in the 2020-21 season and his performances for club and country have won many 19-year-old admirers across the sport. The Gunners have offered their support to their No.7, a universally beloved player at the club, telling him to “hold his head up high” and reminding them of the pride he has engendered at Emirates Stadium.

“Last night we witnessed the leadership and character that we have always known and loved at Bukayo,” said a statement from Arsenal.

“However, that sense of pride quickly turned to sadness over the racist comments our youngster was subjected to on his social media platforms after the final whistle.

“Once again, we are sad to have to say that we condemn the racism of a number of black players. This cannot continue and social media platforms and authorities must act to ensure this disgusting abuse that our players are facing. submitted daily stop now.

“We have processes in place internally at Arsenal to ensure that our players are supported both emotionally and practically on this issue, but unfortunately there is not much we can do.

“Our message to Bukayo is: hold your head up high, we are very proud of you and look forward to welcoming you to Arsenal soon.”

Player reaction

Marcus Rashford:

I don’t even know where to start and I don’t even know how to express what I’m feeling right now. I’ve had a tough season, I think it’s clear to everyone and I probably walked into this final with a lack of confidence. I always supported myself for a penalty, but something was wrong. In the long run, I saved a little time and unfortunately the result was not what I wanted. I felt like I had let down my teammates. I felt like I was letting everyone down. A penalty was all I was asked to contribute for the team. I can score penalties in my sleep so why not this one? It has played in my head over and over since I hit the ball and there is probably no word to describe exactly how I feel. Final. 55 years. 1 penalty. History. All I can say is sorry. I wish it had turned out differently. While I continue to apologize, I want to yell my teammates. This summer has been one of the best camps I have experienced and you all played a part in it. An unshakeable fraternity has been built. Your success is my success. Your failures are mine. I have become a sport where I expect to read things written about myself. Whether it’s the color of my skin, where I grew up or, more recently, how I decide to spend my time off the pitch. I can get criticism on my performance all day, my penalty was not good enough, it should have gone in but I will never apologize for who I am and where I come from. I haven’t felt a prouder moment than wearing these three lions on my chest and seeing my family cheering me on in a crowd of tens of thousands. I dreamed of days like this. The messages I have received today have been positively overwhelming and seeing the response to Withington had me on the verge of tears. The communities that always surrounded me with their arms continue to support me. I am Marcus Rashford, 23, black male from Withington and Wythenshawe in South Manchester. If I have nothing else, I have this.

For all these nice messages, thank you. I will come back stronger. We will come back stronger.
MR10

Harry Kane:

Tyrone Ming:

Reece James:

Jude Bellingham:

Mason frame:

Last night’s loss was hard to take, and it took a while for me to understand how disgusted we are all not to lift that trophy and to think of the right words. It was an honor, as always, to represent @england, and losing in the final is heartbreaking. But when you look at how far we’ve come as a team, I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished.

Our team goes so much further than what you see on the pitch and they all deserve a thank you for the part they had to play in getting us here. My teammates, the English staff, our families and friends and of course the fans.

We hear your support from the stands and see you watching at home or at the pub with your friends and family. It is not lost on any of us, we are all so grateful that we were able to reunite people after so much time apart.

It’s devastating though to see some of the racist abuse that was directed at my teammates who were brave enough to step in when it mattered most. They deserve nothing but praise and admiration, and we all stand in solidarity with the terrible abuse they suffered.

But for the real fans who support us all, this is just the start. We will come back stronger.

Kalvin Phillips:



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