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Euro 2020

12th Jul 2021

Marcus Rashford mural vandalised less than hour after Euros defeat

Kieran Galpin

Mural defaced with blue grafitti

Less than an hour after Englands Defeat, a mural of Marcus Rashford in Withington has been defaced with graffiti.

Last night’s final against Italy was off to a running start when Luke Shaw netted a brilliant goal within the first five minutes. From here, despite continued pressure from England, Italy fought back hard. With the game going into extra time, the entire country was vibrating with intensity and nervous for the coming result.

But the Three Lions, unfortunately, lost out on penalties, with Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, and Jadon Sancho all missing their respective shots. With Instagram comments flooded with racial abuse, news has recently broke that the Marcus Rashford mural has also been defaced.

On the wall of the Coffee House Café in Manchester, a mural of Rashford is painted in black and white. His tremendous work over the pandemic earned him an MBE and the respect of millions.

However, his mural, which reads, “Take pride in knowing that your struggle will play, the biggest role in your purpose,” had blue lettering defaced around his collar.

The FA has since released a statement regarding the post-game racial abuse:

“The FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media,” the statement reads.

“We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.”

“We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation, so this abuse has real life consequences.

“Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse.”