Predictably bleak
England players were subjected to deafening boos as they took the knee before kick off in their World Cup qualifier against Hungary on Thursday night.
A hostile atmosphere was expected, but sadly the hardcore support in Budapest predictably took it too far and decided to vocalise their opposition to an anti-racism gesture. There is a word for people like that.
The match was preceded by a lot of discussion about the likelihood of this happening, but England players remained firm in their stance that a negative response would not prevent them from continuing in their protest against racism
Ahead of the match, England’s player of the year Kalvin Phillips said:
“I obviously know about the situation and how it’s been over there but it’s not happened yet so I can’t really say anything on that.
“I just know that us as a group know we’ll carry on taking the knee because it’s important for us, important for our country and to fight racial abuse.”
Asked about the possibility of his players being booed for taking the knee in his pre-match interview, manager Gareth Southgate said: “We’ve prepared the players for everything and of course they just want to get on with the football.
"We've prepared the players for everything and of course they just want to get on with the football."@gabrielclarke05 speaking with Gareth Southgate 🎤#HUNENG | #ITVFootball pic.twitter.com/995WunV7gb
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) September 2, 2021
At the time of writing, there has been no further audible abuse of the England players from Hungary supporters. If there were to be further racial abuse, it is not clear whether England players would walk off the pitch.
