Pietersen, Vaughan condemn racial abuse of Black English footballers after Euro 2020 final loss

Italy won the Euro 2020 final by beating England in a penalty shootout.

 

Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford in action during the Euro 2021 final | GettyEngland suffered a defeat in the Euro 2020 final against Italy at the Wembley Stadium on Sunday (July 11). They lost the match in a penalty shootout by 3-2 and their wait for the title has been prolonged.

See Also: "No passes count?", Jimmy Neesham and Scott Styris take a jibe at England's Euro 2020 loss

After the game, England’s three black players received racial abuses on social media, which has been condemned by former batsman Kevin Pietersen, who wondered if the country should get hosting rights of the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

Taking to Twitter, Pietersen wrote: "The walk I took with Dylan to get our car home last night was scary absolutely HORRENDOUS! This behaviour in 2021?? The abuse of the players who gave us so much joy?? Do we actually deserve the 2030 World Cup?"

In another tweet, Pietersen stated: "The media in UK is probably the most powerful in the world. It should be a responsibility of theirs, to enforce the social media giants into verifying EVERY SINGLE PERSON that has an account. No robots & no fake accounts! ACCOUNTABILITY for all! It's destroying society!"

In the penalty shootout, England's two goals were scored by captain Harry Kane and Harry Maguire. Their next three shots were taken by Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Saka – all Black teammates. While Sancho and Saka's shots were blocked by Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, Rashford's hit the upright.

Former England cricket skipper Michael Vaughan too condemned the abuse as he tweeted: “Social media companies need to expose all accounts that are abusing our England players .. expose the bullying cowards to see how they like the spotlight of being known .. then let’s put there faces on the front page of national papers to see how they like it ..”

Earlier in the day, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also slammed those who abused the three players of colour for failing to score in the shootout.

 

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 12 Jul, 2021

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