England’s brave and inspiring men’s football team helped unite the nation this summer by reaching the final of Euro 2020 but sadly they couldn’t go all the way and were beaten by Italy.
The game went to a penalty shootout after finishing 1-1 and despite Roberto Mancini’s side missing two of their spot-kicks a trio of young England stars – Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka – missed their penalties and the trophy went to the Azzurri.
In the aftermath, many fans were quick to heap praise on this young team who had done so much to help promote important social issues, take a stance for those fighting racial injustice and show allyship to the LGBTQ+ community. Sadly amongst this was also a downpour of racism on social media towards the three men who missed their penalties.
This has been widely condemned – with many pointing the finger at politicians and demanding that social media companies do more – with the majority of the England squad having already spoken out against the abuse they and their teammates had received, often with eloquent and astute statements.
A statement from the Football Association strongly condemned the abuse, with the official England Twitter account adding that it was “disgusted” by the racist the comments.
Here’s what the players and manager have said:
Harry Kane
Marcus Rashford
Mason Mount
Tyrone Mings
The Aston Villa defender also accused home secretary Priti Patel of “stoking the fire” after she described taking the knee as “gesture politics”.
Reece James
Jude Bellingham
Kalvin Phillips
Phil Foden
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Jadon Sancho
Gareth Southgate
Speaking in a press conference on Monday morning the England manager called the abuse “unforgivable.”
Many former England players and football clubs have also shown their support for those that were on the receiving end of the abuse.
Gary Lineker
Barcelona
Tottenham Hotspur
Rio Ferdinand
Daniel Sturridge
Ashley Young
Gary Neville
Theo Walcott
Manchester United
Borussia Dortmund
Robbie Fowler
Everton
Premier League
David Beckham














