Three Lions’ players were once again a target of racial abuse by Hungarian supporters during their Thursday’s World Cup qualifier against Hungary at the Puskas Arena, Budapest, Hungary.
England defeated Hungary 4-0 in Budapest, but unfortunately, the home side were not magnanimous, their ridiculous monkey chants aimed at English players during the game were horrible moments of the fixture.
This started when England players were booed by the Hungarian fans when taking a knee prior to the kick-off.
During the game, incessant and sporadic monkey chants from across the stands of the crowd were targeted primarily towards Manchester City player Raheem Sterling when he touched the ball and when he set up Harry Kane for the second goal of the night.
Jude Bellingham was also being abused racially as he warmed up in front of the lousy and abusive Hungarians. Raheem was also pelted by plastic cups thrown at him by Budapest fans.
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How do we describe the egregious menace of racism that’s deeply rooted in the football system?. In July, some players were at the receiving end of the racial abuses. Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, and Jadon Sancho were targeted after they missed their penalties in the Euro 2020 final against Italy. This kind of trauma dampens the spirit and smears the beautiful game.
Over the past few years, there has been a preponderance of racism issues and cases in Europe and America. The emergence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) trends and movement sprang up after the demise of George Floyd in 2020, the major culprit in that incident was a white man, Derek Chauvin.
Since that time, global uprisings and protests against racial injustice have been in the spotlight revealing the pervasive nature of systemic and structural racism around the world.
Without any iota of doubt, the prevalence of racial abuse is a great danger to the beautiful game, it must be curbed whilst severe punishment must be meted out to those who are culpable.
The Football Association has Beckoned on FIFA to carry out an investigation on the racial chants which were aimed at Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham.
The world football’s governing body is also expecting a report from match officials who were present at the match venue-Puskas Arena before conducting their investigation and taking “proper actions”.
Wales captain, Gareth Bale on Saturday fumed on the issue, he was critical about the situation and advised that countries whose fans are on the list of repeat racism offenders should be banned from international football activities.
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His frustration was after the reported abuse towards England’s Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham in Budapest on Thursday.
The Real Madrid maestro questioned the levity of those people concerned after such incidents. He reiterated that prompt investigations and immediate action should be followed “If a country keeps making these horrible gestures, then maybe the best thing to do is to get rid of them, give them a suspension, and hopefully they will learn their lesson that way.”
The question now is, for how long will this menace of racial abuse endure? The psychological effects and implications are damning on those people concerned.
The decision-makers and football governing bodies are implored to be consistent in taking drastic measures in quenching the mischief of RACISM before it destroys the beautiful game.
Kenneth is a an avid soccer follower, fan and writer. He is a consistent follower of the sport and is a fan of Chelsea FC.