The three football players who missed England’s penalties, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, were the targets of abuse on social media.
The players were unfairly given racial abuse online after England lost to Italy in the Euro final on Sunday. Gareth Southgate, England’s Football Manager, said that the abuse players had been subjected to was “unforgivable”. [1]
Harry Kane posted on Twitter that “They deserve support and backing not the vile racist abuse they’ve had last night. If you abuse anyone on social media you’re not an England fan and we don’t want you.” [2]
How can you criticise football players who have the bravery to take penalties for England?
These players are not just a credit to their football teams, but they give back to charities too.
Manchester United player, Marcus Rashford, has always wanted to help charities.
Rashford visited people who were injured from the 2017 terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. He also took part in the One Love concert which helped to raise two million pounds for anyone who was affected by the bombing. BBC Newsround reported that, “Twenty-two people died and over fifty people were injured”. [3]
In 2019, Marcus Rashford created a Christmas campaign to help some of the largest homeless shelters in Manchester. This included: Barnabus, Lifeshare and Centrepoint.
He has joined forces with FareShare. They are “a charity that aim at relieving food poverty and reducing food waste”. Rashford managed to get three million meals to children from his home city who received free school meals. [4]
Jadon Sancho teamed up with Nike in 2019 to open a football pitch in South East London for the Lambeth Tigers which allowed children to have a safe and secure area to play football in. [5]
How are people stopping the abuse of these players online?
The core social media companies have said they will remove the abusive posts as soon as possible.
According to ITV news, Twitter has collaborated with “the footballing world to identify ways to tackle this issue collectively”. Facebook and Instagram have encouraged its users to block the culprits of the abuse. [6]
Metropolitan Police officers have said they will investigate racist social media posts aimed at England’s football team.
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has said that he condemns the racist backlash of Sunday night. He also said that the government is “taking practical steps to ensure that… if you are guilty of racist abuse online of footballers, then you will not be going to the match…” [7]
Marcus Rashford wrote on Twitter: “… my penalty was not good enough, it should have gone in, but I will never apologise for who I am and where I came from.” [8]
These men had the bravery to take a penalty for England. Regardless of their age, race or how much they have done for charity, they deserve our praise and respect.
References:
[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/40009766
[4] https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/11878415/marcus-rashford-charity-work-list-man-utd/
[5] https://talksport.com/football/615224/jadon-sancho-nike-pitch-lambeth-tigers/
[8] https://twitter.com/MarcusRashford
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