Southgate: We won’t walk off over racism
GARETH SOUTHGATE has revealed England players will not consider walking off the pitch if members of the squad are racially abused. A number of Southgate’s players — including Danny Rose, Callum HudsonOdoi and Raheem Sterling — were subjected to racist chants during England’s game in Montenegro in March. The instances of racism in Podgorica led to calls for players to walk off the pitch in protest. Southgate discussed the issue with his players on the flight back to London after the win in Montenegro. And the England boss said: ‘We’ve discussed ways that we can make the players more comfortable or that we can manage if they heard things earlier in the game. ‘How would we report those more easily? We’ve encouraged them to speak up when it happens. ‘They’re clear that they don’t want the story at the end to be about them as individuals, they want football to be the story. But they’ve also had an opportunity since then to have an impact. In terms of walking off the pitch, that isn’t something they’re all on board with. None of the current team have expressed that as a preference. ‘The bit that isn’t clear if we did that — apart from the question of who would be penalised — is that it’s not clear to me what would happen then. It would be a statement, but what would that lead to? It is hypothetical at the moment (what impact walking off would have). Everybody is aware. I don’t think we surely need any more symbolic statements that this is unacceptable. ‘What change would that enforce? Somehow we have to enforce that change and education on society and we must continue to strive to do that. My players’ feeling is the most important thing for me.’