Joseph sad to see racism mar friend Mings’ Three Lions debut

BEPPU: Jonathan Joseph said he was saddened to see his friend Tyrone Mings’s England football debut marred by racist abuse and glad it was not something he had experienced in rugby union.

The England football team’s 6-0 win away to Bulgaria in a Euro 2020 qualifying match on Monday was twice halted by racist chanting.

Asked if he had spoken to the Aston Villa defender, Joseph told reporters yesterday: “No, I haven’t. He is probably asleep right now.

“I have seen bits of it, read up on it. It’s not great what happened out in Bulgaria,” said Joseph, a member of Eddie Jones’s Rugby World Cup squad in Japan.

“On a personal level, I am delighted that he has got his first cap. It could have been in better circumstances, but I’m happy to see a mate do so well,” Joseph added.

European football governing body UEFA’s three-step protocol for reporting racist incidents can see matches abandoned completely.

But Gareth Southgate’s men took the collective decision that the best thing they could do was play on and win the match emphatically.

“From what I have heard, they were very professional about it and at the same time trying to stand up for what is right as well,” said Joseph.

The 28-year-old centre said mass chanting on the scale experienced by England’s footballers in Bulgaria was unknown to rugby players of his generation.

“We are fortunate in the sport we are in to not see any of that stuff happen to us. You just hope things will get better for them (England’s football team).”