Morgan Gibbs-White has spoken out for the first time on being racially abused in a World Cup final - and questioned whether it will ever stop in football.
Wolves teenager Gibbs-White was called a “monkey” by an opposing player as England’s under-17s beat Spain two years ago to lift the trophy.
What should have been one of the proudest days of his life was marred by appalling racism but world governing body FIFA dismissed the claims made by Gibbs-White’s England team mate Rhian Brewster who also heard the remark.
FIFA dismissed the case because of a “lack of evidence” but the backlash from football not doing enough to tackle the problem is being felt throughout the game as Inter Milan’s former Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku was racially abused by rival fans this week.
Gibbs-White, in an explosive interview with beIN Sports, says the racist taunt inspired him to go and score the equalising goal against Spain as England went on to win the trophy in India.
Talking about the incident for the first time, Gibbs-White told beIN Sports: “To hear it from another player, it wasn’t the nicest of comments, but it gave me motivation to want to go on and win that game and it showed because five minutes after I went on to score the goal!
“So more fool him because he was the one that gave me motivation to go on and want to do better and be better.
“My message would be: they are hating on you for a reason, they are hating on you because you are doing well and they are hating on you because you are doing something they want to do. The more awareness we raise, the more it is going to stop.”
England under-21 starlet Gibbs-White praised Raheem Sterling for his public stance in campaigning against racism and believes highlighting the issue will help.
But Gibbs-White says there is “nothing worse” as a player than being racially abused and stands firm behind Sterling, Lukaku and again this week Jadon Sancho for talking out on the issue.
Gibbs-White, 19, said: “It can make you feel like that as a player because there is nothing worse than when you get racist comments towards you and I’ve dealt with that. I felt like I dealt with that in the right way.
“But, Lukaku is right. It’s awful that it is still going on, will it ever stop? I don’t know but the more awareness we can raise then the more it might die down. It’s just about the awareness that we raise and I think Raheem did a massive job of that last year.”
