LONDON — When Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho missed their penalty kicks for England in the Euro 2020 soccer final Sunday, many fans sensed a grim inevitability about what happened next.
These three gifted, young Black men were among those who stepped up during a moment of huge pressure — England’s first major final in 55 years — only to have their social media accounts flooded with racist abuse following the defeat to Italy in London. For many it was a depressing coda to a tournament in which this modern, multicultural England team played great soccer while displaying a social conscience.
England’s Football Association said it was “appalled” and would “do all we can to support the players” while “urging the toughest possible punishments for those involved.”
London’s Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation, Prince William said he was “sickened,” and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the “team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused.”
Widespread revulsion dominated trending topics Monday, including the phrase “no to racism.”
For weeks, the team had struck a decidedly inclusive tone — something some politicians and commentators derided while saying they supported the England squad.
The team began each game by taking the knee, an anti-racism gesture inspired by the football player Colin Kaepernick.
Seven of England’s starting 11 against Italy had a parent or grandparent born overseas, according to the U.K.’s Migration Museum. Saka, 19, and Sancho 21, who came off the bench, have parents from Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago respectively. Rashford, 23, has grandparents from Saint Kitts.
During England’s earlier game against Germany, captain Harry Kane wore a rainbow-colored armband in support of the LGBT community. And Rashford spent last year forcing the British government into a series of U-turns, allowing children from low-income families to receive free school meals during the summer recess.
That the tournament ended with such ugly displays of racism was a shock to many but perhaps not a surprise given the sport’s past.
In Europe, including Italy, players are openly abused from the bleachers to such an extent that some have walked off and abandoned the game in protest.
But in England the team has also found itself at the center of a culture war that critics say the British government has been all too happy to stoke. Some on the right, including several Conservative Party lawmakers, have criticized their forays into political and social issues.
Some fans booed the team while it took the knee, believing it showed support of the political goals of the Black Lives Matter organization. The England team says this is an anti-racism statement unrelated to BLM.
British interior minister Priti Patel, known for her hard-line immigration policies, said she was “disgusted” the players “have been subject to vile racist abuse on social media.” However, last month she declined to condemn fans booing players taking the knee, saying it was their choice, while criticizing the BLM movement as “gesture politics.”
Others say the media is partly to blame, with one of England’s stars, Jamaican-born Raheem Sterling, previously making the link between abusive fans and newspaper headlines that are more critical of Black players than white ones, which he said “fuels racism an aggressive behavior.”
“The way we talk about race in this country is so poisonous, and you can’t divorce that from the racism of the government,” said Kehinde Andrews, professor of Black studies at England’s Birmingham City University. “I think it’s pretty ironic that Priti Patel is condemning the abuse last night after saying it’s OK to boo them when taking the knee.”
The Home Office declined to comment.
Some experts say abuse has risen to levels not seen since the hooligan heyday of the 1980s, when Black players faced monkey chants and bananas tossed onto the field.
The violence common in those days also reared its head this tournament, with some ticketless fans storming Wembley Stadium on Sunday and fighting with others inside. In the semi-final against Denmark, one Danish family said they were surrounded by a dozen England fans and assaulted.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
