England defender Tyrone Mings has accused the home secretary of hypocrisy for refusing to condemn fans who booed players for taking the knee during the Euro tournament.
Responding to Priti Patel’s tweet, in which she described her “disgust” at players being racially abused following their loss to Italy in last night’s UEFA final, Mings said she could not “stoke the fire” and then complain “when the very thing we’re campaigning against happens”.
“You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens,” the Aston Villa footballer said.
It comes after Boris Johnson used a coronavirus briefing to tell “those who have been directing racist abuse at some of [the England] players, I say shame on you and I hope you will crawl back under the rock from which you emerged.”
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