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News > Sport

England Weighs How To Combat Racism in Russian World Cup

  • Gareth Southgate said:

    Gareth Southgate said: "We work with our players on how we will support each other if anything like that was to happen." | Photo: Reuters

Published 20 May 2018
Opinion

England is due to open their World Cup campaign against Tunisia in Volgograd on June 18.

England is soliciting advice on how to deal with the potential for racism at the upcoming soccer World Cup in Russia, according to Team Manager Gareth Southgate.

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"We work with our players on how we will support each other if anything like that was to happen," said Southgate, a former England international.

"There would be some official protocol to follow if it did happen, but we really hope it is a situation that doesn't emerge, and that it's a festival of football we are talking about on the pitch and not talking about things off the field.

"The most important thing is that internally we are able to support our players if something does happen and they understand how their teammates and our staff are going to go about that.

"There are some sessions we will do with them about that and then there is the official protocol to be followed. As a federation, I think we would be strong in pushing for the right solutions within that.

"So we have everything in place, but most importantly is that internally the players feel they have that level of support."

His comments follow the Russian football association being fined about US$30,000 by soccer's global governing body, FIFA, for racist chants by supporters during a friendly international against France in March. 

France's Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba and Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele were the targets of monkey chants during their side's 3-1 win over Russia in Saint Petersburg.

Racism has plagued Russian soccer since clubs began purchasing foreign players after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) anti-discrimination network reported 89 racist and far-right incidents at Russian games in the 2016-2017 season. The number was about the same as that recorded in the preceding three seasons — an indication that the Russian Football Union's attempts to eradicate the problem have yet to succeed.

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