Concerns have been expressed within England’s multi-ethnic World Cup squad over bringing family and friends to the tournament, given fears that they could become targets for racial abuse in Russia.
The Football Association is working closely with players to ensure those family members who wish to go to the tournament will be safe but some squad members have expressed private concerns about potential problems. The experiences of the young Liverpool forward Rhian Brewster have been noted by the players, the teenager having lodged a complaint with Uefa after alleged racial abuse from the Spartak Moscow captain, Leonid Mironov, during a Uefa Youth League game last December.
That investigation was dropped by the governing body, which said it could find no evidence against Mironov after an inquiry which involved interviewing five players from each side and the match officials from the game at Prenton Park. Kick It Out said it was “deeply disappointed” with that result, with Liverpool praising Brewster’s “courage”. Mironov had denied the allegation.
Fifa confirmed this month that the Russian football association had been fined 30,000 Swiss francs (£22,000) after fans racially abused France players during a friendly in St Petersburg, where the England players’ family and friends would most likely stay. Monkey chants had been aimed at several black players during Les Bleus’ 3-1 win in March. Zenit St Petersburg were twice charged by Uefa last season following incidents of fan racism.
The FA has confirmed that England’s planning for the tournament will include preparing players for possible racial abuse, with Pippa Grange, a psychologist and the head of people and team development at the governing body, to cover in her World Cup workshops how to cope with racist incidents.
England’s players will not leave the pitch if they are victims as that runs the risk of being excluded from the tournament. Fifa protocol is that the match referee should be informed and he will in turn tell the fourth official.
Gareth Southgate has previously stressed that countries, including England, must also “get our house in order” over racism in football but the manager is aware of the history of the problem in Russia. “We work with our players on how we will support each other if anything like that was to happen,” he said. “The most important thing is that internally we are able to support our players if something does happen.”
