England trio mural defaced with racist message

A MURAL honouring England players Jadon Sancho, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford has been defaced with racist graffiti.

The wall is emblazoned in white paint with the three shirt numbers - 17, 25 and 11 - in red paint, alongside the image of the England badge.

The three players all were unsuccessful with their spot kicks in the penalty shootout of the Euro 2020 final against Italy last week, leading to a wave of racial abuse.

The insults led to huge displays of support for the three players across England with this mural in Darlington among those to honour them.

The mural was defaced with racist graffiti, with the words “We do not stand with the 3 black lions” written under the numbers of the three players.

Another message was left alongside the Three Lions badge of England: “If the current rate of non-white immigration continues white Brits will be a minority by 2060.” The hashtag “wake up” was added.

The local branch of Stand Up To Racism group posted on social media on Saturday: “Overnight a cowardly racist has decided to spread hate. We condemn this racism and we stand in solidarity with the Arthur Wharton Foundation.

“We are the majority and cowardly racists are not welcome.”

A spokeswoman for Durham Constabulary has confirmed there is an investigation into the incident: “Officers are investigating following reports of damage to the Arthur Wharton mural, in Darlington... enquiries are ongoing.”

The messages were swiftly painted over on Saturday with activists from the Stand Up To Racism group taking a knee in front of the mural to highlight their support of the Black Lives Matter sentiment.

Darlington MP Peter Gibson called on those responsible for the graffiti to be “identified and punished”.

Gibson added: “The Arthur Wharton Foundation has done much to promote understanding of the contribution of black footballers throughout our history. - Mirror.