Bale is ready to walk off to tackle racism
Wales captain Gareth Bale says he would support his players walking off the pitch in the face of racial abuse, and called for repeat offenders to be kicked out of international football.
Bale leads Wales into World Cup qualifying action against Belarus this afternoon, just a few days after England players Jude Bellingham and Raheem Sterling were racially abused and targeted with monkey chants in Hungary.
FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings in relation to England’s World Cup qualifier in Budapest on Thursday, with Borussia Dortmund midfielder Bellingham calling for “proper punishments”.
It has been suggested that players could walk off the field in future if the authorities fail to combat racist behaviour and Bale said: “If things don’t get sorted that will happen.
“If we felt we weren’t getting protection and weren’t being treated the right way by the governing bodies, and the only way to get the best response was to walk off, I’d be fully for it.
“Football qualifiers are important but these matters come way and above football.
“We haven’t discussed it. But we’d have that discussion if it happened and we’d all agree on it as we’re a team that sticks together and if anyone is being targeted we’d do the right thing.
“Whether you ban the fans from the stadium or, if they keep repeatedly doing it – which seems to be what is happening – you ban the country from the competition.
“If that 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.
Aberdeen winger, Niall Mcginn, will wear the captain’s armband when Northern Ireland take on Estonia this evening, ahead of Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Switzerland.
The 34-year-old said: “I’ve come up with big goals in big games, so my work ethic has always been to keep the head down and, when the opportunities arise, take them.
“It’s all about impressing as much as we can, and try to stake a claim for that shirt on Wednesday night.”