Sterling owned the Bulgarians on the pitch and off it as well
“Rather than react with anger, Sterling scored twice
IT’S only fair I warn you. The next 800-odd words are about how great England’s manager and players are.
Feel free to close the tab if you’re reading online, or move down the page to the bit about a Scotland fan swearing at a horse if you’re reading it in the paper.
It’s not an ideal choice of topic for a Scottish football column but then it has not been an ideal week. In 2019, there are plenty of sights at grounds that turn your stomach.
Half-and-half scarves, five-minute VAR delays for marginal offsides, the Scottish national team. It was genuinely chilling, though, to witness the outright racism of some Bulgaria fans during their team’s European Championship qualifier against England.
This was not the lazy racism of your 57-year-old work colleague moaning about how he has to call it a ‘CHINESE takeaway. Happy now?’. This was sheer, visceral hatred. Targeted booing of black players. Nazi salutes.
Naturally, UEFA immediately put into motion their plan to pay lip service to the problem without coming up with anything that resembles an appropriate punishment.
Bulgaria coach Krasimir Balakov initially claimed not to have heard the racist abuse then issued an apology before resigning from his post yesterday. Keeper Plamen Iliev insisted the fans “behaved well”, adding, “There wasn’t any abuse (as far as I could hear) and I think they (the England players) overreacted a bit”.
Given the toxic, Brexity nonsense that a section of their support routinely visit upon whatever city is unfortunate enough to be hosting their team, it’s strange to hail England as the ones who emerge with credit from this international break.
That’s what their players did, however, and none more so than Raheem Sterling.
Along with Marcus Rashford and Tyrone Mings, Sterling was subjected to racist chants. I’ve never encountered anything comparable and so there’s no way for me to comprehend how this would make them feel but I doubt I would be able to summon the restraint, composure and professionalism displayed by Sterling and his team-mates.
Rather than react with anger, Sterling scored twice as England won 6-0.
Still only 24, it’s not the first time Sterling has risen above prejudice in his career, whether it be overt racism from the stands or dog whistles from the press.
As reaction on social media predictably descended into the usual whataboutery, Sterling cut through the garbage and shared a BBC Sport story in which Balakov claimed “we don’t have this problem (racism) in Bulgaria, I can assure you of that”. The Man City winger added the caption “Mmmmh... Not sure about this one chief ”.
Just as he had owned Bulgaria on the pitch, within an hour of the game ending, he was owning them off it.
Sterling went on to tweet: “Feeling sorry for Bulgaria to be represented by such idiots in their stadium. Anyway...6-0 and we go back home, at least we did our job.”
No one could’ve blamed Sterling had he angrily retaliated upon hearing the chants, allowed the atmosphere to put him off his
game or steered clear of social media. Instead, he held his head up, refused to be thrown off course and delivered a masterclass in how to deal with life’s knuckle-draggers. Fellow England forward Rashford also deserves praise. As well as scoring the opening goal, he took time to acknowledge the response of Bulgaria captain Ivelin Popov, who went over to his team’s fans at half-time and pleaded with them to stop the abuse. Popov’s show of decency was completely at odds with the shameful behaviour of the fans and embarrassing denial and deflection from the likes of Balakov and Iliev. Rashford tweeted: “Also been told what the Bulgaria captain did at half-time. To stand alone and do the right thing takes courage and acts like that shouldn’t go unnoticed. #NoToRacism.” Popov’s actions could easily have gone under the radar, so for Rashford to highlight his intervention to a Twitter following of over two million shows class and maturity. Rashford described the experience as “not an easy situation to play in” and said he was “proud we rose above it”. That pride is well deserved.
As for England boss Gareth Southgate, it’s hard to imagine the measured, articulate, insightful and dignified manner with which he addressed being reproduced by some of the more outsized characters to have inhabited the England dugout.
His most resonant comment came after the match when he told reporters: “Sadly, because of what happens in our own country, they are hardened to racism. They are in the dressing room smiling because they’ve played so well.”
That’s exactly what they did. On and off the pitch, England’s players and manager deserve credit for their conduct before, during and after what should be a watershed moment. On a bleak night, Sterling and his colleagues continued to point the way forward.