There is progress being made

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Kalvin Phillips believes England are making progress in the kneeling debate and insists the racist abuse suffered by his team-mates does not preclude representing his country.

A significant number of fans booed the England players as they made the gesture in their two Euro 2020 warm-up matches against Austria and Romania at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough in June, sparking a controversy that s ‘is continued during the tournament.

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However, as England progressed from the group stage and the round of 16, the applause far outweighed any audible criticism at Wembley before Gareth Southgate’s side suffered an excruciating loss on penalties against Italy in the final.

“It’s hard to say we’re starting to win [the battle] but we are going in the right direction, “said Phillips after joining the last England team at St George’s Park.

“The boos at Middlesbrough were disappointing and heartbreaking for us, but over time the more we got heard that we were going to get down on our knees and support what we believe in, I think a lot of the fans got it. and they made him change direction and keep cheering us on. “

England face Hungary in Budapest on Thursday for a 2022 World Cup qualifier which some fear will be overshadowed by further abuse as the hosts have been ordered to play their next three matches of the season. ‘UEFA behind closed doors after incidents of racism and homophobia among the country’s fans throughout their Euro 2020 group stage matches.

As Thursday’s game is a FIFA game, around 60,000 fans are expected to fill Puskas Arena and Phillips said: “I obviously know the situation and how it went there, but it’s not yet happened so I really can’t say anything about it.

“I just know that we, as a group, know that we will continue to kneel down because it is important to us, important to our country and to fight racial abuse.”

The kneeling England players were booed by some fans during a pre-Euro 2020 game against Austria. Photo by Eddie Keogh – The FA / The FA via Getty Images

Three England players who missed penalties in the shootout loss to Italy in July – Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho – all suffered online abuse following the final.

Phillips was the first to console Saka on the pitch and although gaming authorities and social media companies continue to grapple with the issue, the Leeds midfielder said: “Obviously it’s not up to us . manager of one of the social media teams or whatever, I would block them or report them to the authorities. It’s very difficult to do and that’s what we’re striving towards. That’s what we have to do.

“For me personally, it doesn’t take the advantage of playing for my country. I want to make my family and my country proud no matter what happens outside. I’m not going to leave it like that, but other than that it’s a great honor.

“For me as a person, I feel like if someone feels disappointed or anything, I want them to come and talk to me. About how we lost the final, especially for Bukayo because he’s so young, on a big stage, I just felt that I needed to go and console him.

“I just said ‘don’t worry about that. I said’ it happens in football ‘. I said’ put your head up ‘. Obviously he’s going to be upset then, but even after the game in the locker room i just say ‘listen, this is how football is and if it was someone else we would all do the same. We are thinking about the world of you right now.

“We all obviously talked about it afterwards and there was a lot going on social media, but I think more than ever we know we are all here to support each other no matter who is being abused. racial or whatever, we’re a whole team and all there for each other.

“He was very calm. Obviously, Bukayo knew the situation was not great and that the things that were happening were eluding him. There were really disgusting things going on. It was the same with Jadon and Marcus.”

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