SouTHgATE woN’T wALK ENgLAND off IN RACISM fEARS

LONDON — England manager Gareth Southgate won’t lead his side off the field should any of his players suffer racist abuse at the World Cup in Russia for fear of expulsion from the tournament.

Left-back Danny Rose told his family not to travel to Russia as the Tottenham defender is fearful they could suffer from racism.

However, Southgate believes walking off in protest at abuse would be counter-productive as he believes England can set an example as one of the most diverse teams in the competition.

“In an idealistic world people would say ‘you should do that’ (walk off the pitch) but it seems the realities of that would be you would be thrown out of the tournament,” Southgate said on Wednesday. —