England boss Gareth Southgate denounces ‘unacceptable’ racist chants during victory in Hungary

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England manager Gareth Southgate criticized the racist chants in his side’s 4-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Hungary in Budapest and called the perpetrators “dinosaurs”.

Before the game, the English players knelt in solidarity in the fight against racism and the gesture was greeted with loud boos. Later in the match, UK TV channel ITV reported monkey chants targeting England’s Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham.

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Southgate said he did not hear the chants during the match but, when informed, confirmed that England had reported the incidents to European football’s governing body, UEFA.

“I’m just starting to understand what happened because we weren’t really aware of it on the bench,” Southgate said in a post-match press conference. “So it seems that there have been incidents.

“Everyone knows what we stand for as a team and that is totally unacceptable. Everything has been reported to UEFA and we have to see what happens from there. There is more than that. group of players – and all the staff in all honesty – could do in the fight against racism.We try to hold our part and other people have to take the right steps to try to move forward.

“I do not have [spoken to the players yet] because I didn’t know about it when I was in the locker room. But I know our security chief spoke with the players and took their statements. We are going to deal with it the right way now and through the right channels.

“I don’t think our players can do more than they’ve done over the past two or three years to get the right messages out, take the right positions and it’s up to others to protect them. it is up to me to protect them for the most part, but that the authorities also protect them. “

Southgate made it clear that it was not the entire home crowd that was guilty of the racist chants, while reiterating that England had their own issues to work out on the matter.

“They should not be subjected to any form of racism,” he added. “I have to say that there is also a balance in the crowd.

Gareth Southgate criticized the “dinosaurs” who racially abused English players. Eddie Keogh – The FA / The FA via Getty Images

“At home, as we know, not everyone causes problems and tonight our national anthem has really been remarkably well respected. So it’s not fair to criticize all the Hungarian fans. A lot of them. they were very generous and behaved extremely well.

“It’s a very similar situation to what we find at home I think. The individuals who are responsible, they have to be dealt with. I think there is evidence. People have been filmed and we have to hope that the authorities are dealing with it in the right way.

“They recognize that the world is changing and although some people are stuck in their ways of thinking and prejudices, they will end up being the dinosaurs because the world is modernizing. Hungary is nowhere near as diverse in its people as our country is and therefore inevitably it still takes us a long, long time to get to where we need to go.

“And if other countries don’t have the same level of diversity, it’s probably not in their thinking the same way as in our country. We will continue to do what we are doing. We will continue to do so. trying to set a good example for people in our own country who will be more influenced by us than maybe people from elsewhere.

“I am always aware that every time I talk about it I don’t know if I always get the right tone or the right words and I never want to reject it. Our intentions are good and we hope people will understand it. and respect that. “

England trio Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka have been targeted for racism after missing penalties at Euro 2020 in England, and Southgate called the abuse “unforgivable”.

In 2019, Hungary received a stadium ban for a match for racist chanting, while they were again forced to play a match behind closed doors due to discriminatory behavior by fans at Euro 2020 – although this does not apply to the clash with England.

England won 4-0 thanks to goals from Sterling, Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and Declan Rice in the second half.

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