British companies Sterling and Southgate call for action against racist abuse in Montenegro | Soccer

Gareth Southgate described as "unacceptable" the racist violence to which supporters of the group of supporters were subjected during their victory in Montenegro, the Football Association having officially lodged a complaint with the UEFA.

Danny Rose was sung by monkeys after a foul on Aleksandar Boljevic at the end of the 5-1 Euro 2020 qualifier, while Southgate was later informed of similar abuse in the 5-1 win.

After scoring Britain's fifth goal, Raheem Sterling called his ears to the loudest section of home helpers. He then called on the authorities to close the stadiums in which such incidents occurred. He posted a photo of his celebration on Instagram after the match with the caption: "The best way to silence enemies (yeah, I mean racists)".

Callum Hudson-Odoi, in his early days, had bought a cigarette lighter thrown on Sterling as a result of this celebration. "When I went there, Rosey and I heard him," he said. "They said some monkey stuff. When you hear that kind of thing from the fans, it's not right … it's unacceptable and we hope that UEFA gets it right. "

"It's very sad," said Southgate, an emotional man, who had not realized the abuse during his half-time interview with the team. "We had a great performance and have an 18 year old. [Hudson-Odoi] to be interviewed after the match, he must react to what happened while his evening should be devoted to the joy of his debut. I did not hear about it at first, but I am also told that there were things in the beginning of the match. I have certainly heard about the booking of Danny Rose. It was clear for everyone. This is unacceptable.

"I talked to our players individually. We must support them. We will report it. This report is already in place because so many people from other parts of the world have heard it. I think the UEFA delegate also heard him. Players in the locker room know that as a group and organization, we are there for them. This is the most important thing. "

His interlocutor, Ljubisa Tumbakovic, claimed that he had not heard any of the songs and insisted on not seeing "the reason I should comment on this".

Sterling added, "It's a shame we were talking about it, to be honest with you. We are in 2019 and there should be a real punishment for that, not just for the few forbidden people.

"You can please people, but what will he do? It must be a collective thing. This stadium has 15,000 and I think the punishment should be that, as a nation, if your fans chant racist slurs, it should stop the whole stadium from watching. Then when this ban is lifted, your fans will think twice before doing such a stupid thing because they all love football, they all want to be there to support their country. This will cause them to think twice before doing something as stupid as this one. "

During his celebration, he added: "I just wanted to let them know that they needed to tell me more than that: we are black and what we look like really affects us. That was the message. I was happy to score and give them something to talk about. "

"Sanctions are useless if there is nothing next to that to help educate people," Southgate said. "My children do not think, for a minute, where people are born, what language they speak, what color they are. Innocence concerning young people is only influenced by the elderly. We must therefore ensure that education is the same for everyone in our country.

"I'm not sitting here criticizing what happened tonight. We have the same problem in our country, we are not free. You can sanction clubs, but that will not stop one or two people with the spirit of doing what they want. So we have to educate young people, because we have better chances with young people and spread them as widely as possible. "

He was asked to the England coach he was considering calling his players off the field after such incidents. "I'm not 100% sure that's what the players would want," said Southgate, who has always claimed that English football was far from eradicating racism. "From what we have discussed in the past, there would be a mix of points of view. They just want to play football. Of course, we are lucky to have an impact, but I do not have the answer, frankly.

"I'm sitting here trying to find the right balance between my disgust and recognizing the differing viewpoints of the players as to their past experiences. My role is to support and protect my players in the first place. To speak in the position I am in a good way. Beyond that, maybe I should consider taking the players aside. I must say that it was not something that had preoccupied me at the time. I would like to have a long discussion with my players before making sure that it was a plan of action that they felt was a) something they wanted to do and b) that something was going to make a difference.

"I think it's a really sad night. I think about: "Should I have done more?" In the end, I think I tried to protect my players as much as possible. I am not the authority in this matter. I am a middle aged white man who talks about racism. I think it's a very difficult subject to deal with.

"I want my players to love playing football and not being scarred by the experiences. If people think I should have done more, I apologize. I spoke constantly against the subject. I have supported all education programs in our own country. I manage every player as well as possible, whatever his club, his roots. It is very difficult to find the appropriate words and I am more concerned about my players at the moment. "