Tyrone Mings, Gareth Southgate, Raheem Sterling and Greg Clarke react to racism in Bulgaria
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Updated 14/10/2019 at 21:44 GMT
England players were subjected to racist abuse by Bulgarian fans during their 6-0 win in Sofia on Monday evening.
Tyrone Mings of England makes his way out to warm up prior to the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier between Bulgaria and England on October 14, 2019 in Sofia, Bulgaria
Image credit: Eurosport
England defender Tyrone Mings was targeted by the racist chanting by the Bulgarian fans on his debut, and admitted the occasion was marred despite the win and the clean sheet.
Speaking to ITV, he said: “It was a great occasion; I made my England debut. Slightly overshadowed by a few disappointing chants, which could be clearly heard on the pitch, but we showed a great response and ultimately we let the football do the talking.
I think the protocol was effective, and there was less chanting after that. We made a decision at half-time to come out and play the game, which we thought was the right thing to do.
England boss Gareth Southgate was responsible on a number of occasions for drawing the fourth official's attention to the complaints of his players as well as the noises heard from the sidelines. And Southgate was quick to praise the officials' handling of the situation.
“I have to say that the Uefa officials were onto everything very quickly," said Southgate. "We reported everything immediately when we heard things; we had constant communication with the fourth official and the referee. I was in contact with the players all the way through the first half in particular, and then again at half-time.
We know it’s an unacceptable situation. I think we’ve managed to make two statements – by winning the game, and by raising awareness of the situation. The game was stopped twice. I know for some people that won’t be enough, but as a group we were on board with that process.
Greg Clarke, the FA Chairman, said he was happy Southgate was in control and called for a "very stringent review" from UEFA as around 50 individuals, purported to be neo-nazis, were ejected from stadium.
“I was up in the stands with some of the FA staff," Clarke said. "We heard some sounds which sounded like monkey chants. We had a pre-agreement with Gareth that I would come down if the game was interrupted. I heard some more chants and saw some activity which was appalling. I wouldn’t want to describe it but it was appalling, and I had a chat with Gareth at half-time.
We were told by the officials that 500 people in the corner who caused a lot of trouble has been thrown out at half-time. They said that after that there were isolated examples of racist behaviour, not massed examples, and the protocol deals with massed examples of racist behaviour. They’ll have to collect more information from live footage of the game.
“I would like to see a very stringent review by Uefa. I know they take racism very, very seriously. If we say we’ve got zero tolerance for racism, then one person making money chants is the same as a hundred."
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