England hurtled towards a memorable last-gasp Euros victory that sent them into their third successive major final. And, that achievement has come with the team rallying around fellow teammate Jess Carter after she wrote about experiencing racism from fans.
Carter left a statement on her social media just days before the match, where she wrote:
A message to the fans…From the start of the tournament I have experienced a lot of racial abuse. Whilst I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result I don’t agree or think it’s ok to target someone’s appearance or race.
Carter continued:
Hopefully speaking out will make the people writing this abuse think twice so that others won’t have to deal with it.
England’s problem with racism – and not just at the Euros
Cater’s experience strikes a tone with the England men’s team’s outings in Euro 2020. At the time, England lost to Italy in a penalty shoot out and Black members of the team received horrific racist abuse. In particular, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka were subject to anti-Black racism after missing key shots.
Now, the England team have decided to stop taking the knee before matches. The gesture has been used to express solidarity with anti-racism. Initially, sports stars from around the world took the knee as a sign of respect after the police murder of George Floyd in 2020. However, England players have questioned if the current iteration of players taking the knee is doing enough. Lucy Bronze explained:
I think it was just the fact that we feel as a collective, is the message as strong as it used to be? Is the message really hitting hard? Because to us it feels like it’s not if these things are still happening to our players in the biggest tournaments of their lives.
Instead, players stood on the touchline with arms interlinked as a show of solidarity. Bronze continued:
It’s about putting another statement out there to say, it’s something that still is a problem, it’s something that still needs to be put right. More needs to be done in football, more needs to be done in society. What that is right now as an individual, I don’t exactly know.
In response to both Carter’s statement and the collective decision to not take the knee, the team said:
epresenting our country is the greatest honour. It is not right that while we are doing that, some of us are treated differently simply because of the colour of our skin. Until now, we have chosen to take the knee before matches. It is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism.
They concluded:
Those behind this online poison must be held accountable.
Taking the knee
Fare, the head of football’s anti-discrimination body has questioned the England players decision to no longer take the knee. Executive director Piara Powar said:
The players have taken a decision to stop taking the knee, which is their right.
I personally don’t see the link between the two. The taking of the knee is a powerful anti-racist act and this England team have shown leadership across Europe in taking it for so long.
Powerful actions are needed right now, to deal with the issues that are being played out as we speak.
Powar is wrong. Taking the knee is not, and has never been, an “anti-racist act.” It has always been a symbolic gesture, and an expression of grief at police brutality. It then grew into a wider gesture, but it remained just that: a gesture.
In all likelihood, the England players facing racist abuse will have been part of the decision to stop taking the knee. And, the decision itself is an acknowledgement that enough has not been done to stop racist fans. Symbolic gestures can be very powerful, but they’re rarely supposed to last forever.
It doesn’t matter how many gestures are undertaken, or how many groups are formed. Until it is socially unacceptable to be racist, then racism will continue. Until players are empowered to take bold anti-racist stances, nothing will change. Racism can’t be kicked out of football until white supremacy is confronted and dismantled. Football is not divorced from wider society or politics. And, it’s certainly not immune to widespread institutional, cultural, and societal racism.
The good immigrant
England won their game last night and progressed into another final. But, as with the men’s team, there’s a palpable sense for many people of colour that if England lose in this final, the racist abuse will only skyrocket. Michelle Agyemang, a brilliant 19 year old footballer, dragged England to victory. She has rightly had praise poured on her. As a young dark-skinned Black woman, however, she is subject to a racist double standard. It is an infuriating and heartbreaking reality that if England lose their next game, their Black footballers will undoubtedly face yet more racism.
As ever, the spectre of the good immigrant haunts racist England. If you’re winning, the fans love you. If you’re losing, you’re fodder for their racism.
Featured image via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.