At this point, soccer and racism are like peanut butter and jelly. They always seem to go together. At the European Championship final, they paired up once again.
At the conclusion of the nerve-wracking match, England and Italy were tied 1-1. So the teams headed to penalty kicks.
Unfortunately for England, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed their kicks. Rashford hit the post and both Sancho and Saka had their kicks blocked by Italy’s goalkeeper. The result was a 3-2 Shootout victory for Italy.
It was a painful, heartbreaking loss for England. But for the aforementioned players, it became more personal as their skin color made them targets.
Across social media and the country, racists released their venom at the players. “Ni**ers” flooded the Twittersphere. In England, a mural of Rashford was defaced with racist language.
The actions, though unfortunately not unsurprising, were swiftly condemned by players, the team, organizers, and English authorities.
“There is absolutely no place for racism in football or anywhere else,” tweeted London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan. “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.”
The FA echoed Mayor Khan’s statement.
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