England manager Gareth Southgate has said his players will
not walk off the pitch in protest if they are racially abused by supporters
following discussions with his squad and staff.
England’s 5-1 rout of Montenegro in Podgorica in March was
soured by racist abuse from fans and the hosts were ordered to play their next
European competition match behind closed doors as part of sanctions handed out
by UEFA.
Southgate said he discussed the matter with England
internationals Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi and the
players agreed that walking off would shift the focus to them rather than the
issue of racism.
“They are clear they don’t want the story at the end to be
about them as individuals,” Southgate told reporters on Thursday as he
announced his squad for next month’s UEFA Nations League semi-final against
Netherlands.
“They want football to be the story.
“In terms of walking off the pitch, that isn’t something
they’re all on board with. None of the current team has expressed that as a
preference… But they have had an opportunity to speak (publicly) and have an
impact that way.”
Sterling, who had also been allegedly racially abused when
playing for Manchester City at Chelsea, had last month signed a manifesto that
called for consistent punishment for racist and discriminatory behaviour,
including automatic nine-point deductions.
Southgate added that walking off the pitch would be nothing
more than a “symbolic statement” which would not necessarily lead to reform.
“The bit that isn’t clear to me if we did that — apart from
the question of whether we would be penalised — is what would happen then?”
Southgate added. “It would be a statement, but what would that lead to?
“There are lots of statements that have been made and
haven’t led to change and reform. For me, the broader discussion around racism,
education is key.
“A lot of our players and former players have spoken
brilliantly about that in recent months. I don’t think we need any more
symbolic statements that this is unacceptable.”
England play Netherlands on June 6 in Guimaraes and face
either hosts Portugal or Switzerland in the Nations League final or go into a
third place playoff on June 9.
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com