ONE million England fans have signed a petition to ban racists from all football games after three young Lions suffered disgusting abuse online.
Calls to kick out the racists have had a huge response after Euro 2020 heroes Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho were targeted following England’s heartbreaking defeat.
The trio were sent sick messages and monkey emojis on social media after their penalty misses, while a Manchester mural to school meals champion Rashford was defaced.
Prince William, Boris Johnson and Harry Kane were among those who blasted the sick racists – and now legions of true fans have signed a petition calling for racists never to return to a game.
It comes as:
It says: “We are calling for the Football Association and the government to work together now to ban all those who have carried out racist abuse, online or offline, from all football matches in England for life.
“Our England team stood up for all of us – now we must stand up for them.”
Fans Shaista Aziz, Amna Abdullatif and Huda Jawad set up the petition just two days ago.
They said they feel “validated in our resistance to racism and that what we have been able to articulate is the sentiment that is held nationwide”.
A petition needs 100,000 signatures to be debated in Parliament.
In his first interview since the tournament, Harry Maguire exclusively told The Sun the racist cowards would never have had the guts to step forward for a penalty themselves.
Maguire, who scored in the shootout, said: “When I was 19 or 20, I would have been standing there saying ‘I don’t want to take one’.
“There is no chance I would have been putting my hand up at their age.
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“So look at the courage and bravery of these young lads, look at the age of Bukayo, Jadon and Marcus.”
And he said big tech companies must take responsibility for getting rid of racist language.
He said the law must be changed so companies have to link accounts to a person’s real identity — making it easier for police to track down and arrest those spewing hateful messages.
“Something needs to be done. The companies need to verify every account,” he said.
“It is too easy to troll and abuse. To be racist is just too easy to be done and get away with.”
Meanwhile, Rashford said he was near tears after support from fans.
It comes after thousands of people in his childhood hometown of Withington visited his defaced mural – and covered it with notes and tributes to a “role model” instead.
The ace said: “I can take critique of my performance all day long, my penalty wasn’t good enough, it should have gone in.
“But I will never apologise for who I am and where I came from.
“I’ve felt no prouder moment than wearing these three lions on my chest and seeing my family cheer me in a crowd of tens of thousands.
“The messages I’ve received today have been positively overwhelming and seeing the response in Withington had me on the verge of tears.”
‘RACIST COWARDS WOULD NEVER BE SO BRAVE’
Cops in London are probing the racist abuse posted on social media.
One comedian has seen a string of shows cancelled after tweeting: “I’m sorry that black guys are bad at penalties.”
And firm Savills has suspended a worker after racist abuse was sent from his Twitter account.
A post from Andrew Bone’s Twitter account branded the players the N-word and claimed the England stars had “ruined it for us” after the loss.
But Bone’s family claimed to The Sun his account had been hacked – and he had reported the matter to police.
Cyber security expert Zak Doffman told the Sun it’s “not difficult” for social media platforms to stop racist comments.
“These are blatant messages of hatred and racism and it would absolutely be the easiest thing in the world for social media platforms to put in place protections that stopped that kind of message from being published,” he said.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
