LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 11: l-r Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Harry Maguire, Harry Kane, Luke Shaw, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish, John Stones and Kalvin Phillips look on during the penalty shoot out during the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship Final between Italy and England at Wembley Stadium on July 11, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) Photographer: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Europe By David Hellier
Jul 12, 2021, 4:22 PM - Updated on Jul 12, 2021, 9:34 PM
Word Count: 565
The online abuse erupted after Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka each failed to score in last night’s decisive penalty shoot-out against Italy at Wembley in north London. It meant England lost in what was its biggest competitive game in 55 years.
The prime minister addressed it in a news conference on Monday: “And those who directed racist abuse at some of the players, I say shame on you and I hope you crawl back under the rock from which you emerged.”
“I am sickened by the racist abuse aimed at England players after last night’s match,” Prince William, who is president of the English Football Association, said in a Tweet on Monday. “It is totally unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behaviour.”
Italy v England - UEFA Euro 2020: Final
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY
The episode follows weeks of controversy over whether the England players should have been supported in “taking the knee” before games as their response to issues of discrimination and racism. Twitter Inc. said it had to delete some 1,000 racist tweets following Sunday’s game.
Johnson, when asked whether he would now ‘take the knee’ said at a Covid press conference Monday: “I think people should feel free to show respect and how much they condemn racism.” He said he was at the match at Wembley and commented that the whole crowd was respectful. “I didn’t hear a single boo,” he said.
The gesture of taking the knee has been a feature of club and country matches this season in England but has been met with booing from some supporters and condemned by politicians such as Lee Anderson, a member of parliament in Johnson’s Conservative Party. Anderson had said he would boycott England games if the custom continued.
Former soccer legend Gary Neville said on Sky News that he thought Johnson should take a tougher stance on racism.
And he’s not alone. Johnson’s own government is being called into question over its attitude and accused of hypocrisy, including by some in England’s own soccer team.
Tyrone Mings
@OfficialTM_3
You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens.
Priti Patel
@pritipatel
I am disgusted that @England players who have given so much for our country this summer have been subject to vile racist abuse on social media.
It has no place in our country and I back the police to hold those responsible accountable.
http://twitter.com/pritipatel/statuses/1414483365558951937
Sent via Twitter for iPhone.
View original tweet.
In a statement on its website, the Football Association described the online abuse as “disgusting.”
“We will continue to do everything we can do 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.”
Meanwhile, Savills Plc, the London-based estate agent, said in a Twitter post that it’s investigating whether one of its employees had been involved in any of the racist tweets posted on Twitter.
“Savills abhors and has zero tolerance to any form of racism,” it said.
(Updates with Mings tweet from ninth paragraph.)
--With assistance from Emily Ashton.
© 2021 Bloomberg L.P.