England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka have received racial abuse via social media.
This comes after England lost the Euro 2020 final to Italy on a penalty shootout at Wembley Stadium. Rashford, Sancho and Saka all missed their penalties.
Italy won the shoot out 3-2 after it finished 1-1 after extra time.
“Apalling”
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson described the online racist abuse as “apalling”. He also said that those that sent the abusive messages should be “ashamed of themselves”. Adding that the team deserve to be treated like “heroes”.
“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”, Mr Johnson said.
This also led to the Football Association to issue a statement.
“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”, an FA spokesperson said.
“We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team”, they added. “We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible”.
They also added, “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”.
London Mayor, Sadiq Khan also called on social media companies to work harder to hold people who send racially abusive messages accountable for their actions.
“There is absolutely no place for racism in football or anywhere else”, he said.
He continued, “Those responsible for the disgusting online abuse we have seen must be held accountable – and social media companies need to act immediately to remove and prevent this hate”.
More reaction
Former England player, Alan Sherear also branded the abuse “absolutely disgusting”.
“What on earth are people thinking about to go online and abuse these players?”, he said. “What is wrong with these people? It is so ridiculous. Absolutely disgusting”.
He also added, “An individual has to volunteer for a penalty and I have full admiration for the guys who were brave enough to stand up and take a penalty for England. It’s a horrible situation to be in”.
The Met Police also called the abuse “disgusting”.
“We are aware of a number of offensive and racist social media comments being directed towards footballers following the #Euro2020 final”.
They also added, “This abuse is totally unacceptable”, they also tweeted. “It will not be tolerated and it will be investigated”.
