After Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, Bukayo Saka has taken to social media to pen an impactful note against racist abuse.
The 19-year-old, who was racially vilified online following his penalty miss in the Euro 2020 final, urged social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to put their best foot forward against such unfortunate online behaviour.
Taking to Twitter, the Arsenal man said, "To the social media platforms Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, I don't want any child or adult to have to receive the hateful and hurtful messages that me, Marcus and Jadon have received this week. I knew instantly the kind of hate that I was about to receive, and that is a sad reality that your powerful platforms are not doing enough to stop these messages. There is no place for racism or hate of any kind in football or in any area of society and to the majority of people coming together to call out the people sending these messages, by taking action and reporting these comments to the police and by driving out the hate by being kind to one another, we will win. Love always wins."
Saka, who is expected to be in Gareth Southgate's Qatar World Cup squad, was full of regret about the European Championship title not coming home. He said, "I'm sorry that we couldn't bring it home for you this year, but I promise you that we will give everything we've got to make sure this generation knows how it feels to win. My reaction post match said it all, I was hurting so much and I felt like I'd let you all and my England family down. But I can promise you this... I will not let that moment or the negativity that I've received this week break me."
What followed after the racist remarks
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government plans to ban anyone guilty of online racist abuse from soccer matches as authorities continue to respond to the lawlessness connected to England's loss in the final of the European soccer championship. Johnson on Wednesday told lawmakers that it was time to act after three members of England's national team were targeted by racist abuse on social media after they failed to score during the penalty shootout that sealed the team's loss to Italy on Sunday night. The government plans to add online racism to the list of offenses for which fans can be barred from matches, he said.
"What we are doing is taking practical steps to ensure that the football banning regime is changed so that if you are guilty of racist abuse online on football, then you will not be going to the match," Johnson said during his weekly prime minister's questions session. "No ifs, no buts, no exemptions, no excuses."
Courts are allowed to issue banning orders if a fan is convicted of a relevant offence linked to a match, including crimes such as disorderly behaviour or possession of weapons. While many fans have rallied around Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Saka, authorities haven't done enough to address. Sancho spoke out about the incident in an Instagram post on Wednesday, encouraging young players who have experienced similar abuse to "stay strong and keep chasing the dream".
"I'm not going (to) pretend that I didn't see the racial abuse that me and my brothers Marcus and Bukayo received after the game, but sadly it's nothing new," he wrote. As a society we need to do better, and hold these people accountable."
