Appalling racism has to be kicked out of football
Posted by Phillip Dolby on 14th October 2019
ENGLAND’S Euro 2020 qualifier game in Sofia, Bulgaria, was close to being abandoned Monday night after a tirade of racist abuse from the home crowd.
Black England players Tyrone Mings, Raheem Stirling and Marcus Radford were all subjected to ‘appalling’ racist slurs from a minority of Bulgarian supporters intent on causing problems.
The chants from the crowd included monkey noises and Nazi salutes - this, from a country which had been an ally of Hitler’s fascist Third Reich during the Second World War.
Play was halted twice in the first half and at half-time the Bulgaria captain Ivelin Popov approached the area of the stands where the chants were coming from to plead for his supporters to stop.
Many Bulgarian fans went on to leave the stadium after England scored their fourth goal - a great performance, despite the hostile atmosphere. The chants did, however, continue.
The FA chairman Greg Clarke described it as “one of the most appalling nights I’ve seen in football.”
Gareth Southgate praised his players’ conduct saying he was "incredibly proud” of how they had taken a stand by having play halted twice.
What is clear, is that something serious and stringent has to be done in response to disincentivise - and make an example of - this kind of terrible behaviour which has no place in the modern game.
With the proliferation on CCTV cameras now at the police’s disposal, the culprits need to be identified, charged with inciting race hatred, and banned from attending football games in future.
There has to be zero tolerance when it comes to racism, and it has to be kicked out of football for good.
Indeed the beautiful game is such precisely because it is so diverse and shows what amazing sportsmanship can happen when people from all over the world, from all kinds of backgrounds, come together, with mutual respect, to play their favourite sport.
