After England were defeated by Italy in the Euro 2020 final, violence and racist abuse followed leaving England ordered to play behind closed doors.
The English fans have been punished due to the horrific and ugly scenes before, during and after the game between England and Italy, as ticketless supporters were clashing with police and stewards trying to force entry into the stadium. There were 49 arrests made during the operation and 19 police offers left injured.
Some fans who had tickets entered and found their seats taken by those who got into the stadium illegally.
The ban will be served when England play their first game of the next Nations League campaign in the 2022-23 season.
The events which unfolded that day were catastrophic but “almost inevitable” which is how Europe’s press reacted to it. The violent scenes and chaos along with masses of racial abuse England’s penalty takers received which ended in England’s defeat was described as “the darkest in English football” by the Italian press La Repubblica. From offences of invasion of the pitch, throwing of objects to booing the Italian national anthem, the misbehaviour of English fans has meant “the Three Lions also have to wave goodbye to a lot of respect from the rest of Europe”, wrote the Swiss tabloid Blick.
The amount of racist and abusive comments Saka, Rashford and Sancho experienced at the match and on social media after missing penalties was disgusting and absolutely vile. What is even more concerning is most of the racist abuse was perpetuated from the UK said Twitter and they were “appalled”. Looking at Saka, who aged 19 had the courage and bravery in itself to step up for the penalty was commendable which English fans should be proud of regardless of him missing.
Many English fans are feeling aggrieved and disheartened with the decision of banning them into Wembley as they believe they shouldn’t be punished for the “section” of fans who don’t represent the majority. In my opinion, it’s the right decision from the FA to enact a ban as it will punish those fans who were causing trouble from entering and “a lot of people will be thinking this is quite a lenient punishment”, said Sky Sports News reporter, Kaveh Solhekol.
As for racism in football – it doesn’t seem to stop! As players continue to take the knee, the message is continuingly being ignored. Social media is the easiest place to target and give racial abuse to players from racist comments, emojis and slurs to monkey chants. Social media giant, Twitter said they removed 1,961 racist tweets in the three days after the final against Italy. When do we begin to see change as action needs to be took for those fans who are a disgrace to this country?
The disturbances at July’s final have raised questions about the FA’s ability for England to host the 2030 World Cup into doubt and contention. They are considering a joint bid with Republic of Ireland and the home nations as Wembley would host the final. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan says “It is nonsense to think fan trouble will cost us the 2030 WC”. However, after the appalling scenes at Euro 2020, the bid is looking more likely to be rejected by UEFA.