TIME FOR FOOTBALL TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT PENALTIES FOR ANTI-SOCIAL FANS

Football is a simple game. 22 people chase a ball for 90 minutes, and, at the end, the black players get abused.

It is too easy to reach for old excuses, to say that those people threatening and abusing Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka are thugs not real fans. They call themselves fans, and, until all involved make it clear, in word and deed that they are not welcome, we should believe them. So, if there was consolation in England’s defeat, it was that that subset of fans got the result they deserved.

The drunk, disorderly, fight seeking, racist, violent many – for it was far more than a few if also far from all – did not deserve England’s vibrant, confident, constructive team. They did not deserve the days of hope, the bold young players who survived the gauntlet of extra time against Denmark and then stepped up to take penalties against the most extraordinary pressure. They did not deserve the manager who explained, again and again, why England took the knee, who stated and reiterated the values that England wanted to stand for.

English football needs to confront its demons. So does England. The country is sorely, sourly divided. So divided that even the greatest national intergenerational experience of all – an agonising defeat on penalties – cannot bridge the gap.

It is why you did not need to be a soothsayer to predict, as soon as three young black men missed penalties, that racism would follow. It is why, within minutes of many making those predictions they were coming to pass. There were the usual racist emojis, bananas and watermelons. There were memes comparing Chiellini’s foul on Saka to taking down a runaway slave. There were threats and insults, fast flowing rivers of words of hate. There is a section of the population who are perfectly happy to enjoy the toil of England’s black footballers when they win, but quick to abuse them for the colour of their skin when they lose.

There was a time not that long ago when we were much less accepting of the unacceptable. At risk of going full Rafa Benitez, it is time to start stating facts.

In the 2019-20 season, reports of racism to Kick It Out – the organization that many racist England fans purport to support in preference to taking the knee – rose by 42%. Social media anonymity is not helping, but the problem neither start nor ends there. This is, unfortunately, England. Racist abuse of BAME men and women of every profession is rife, and has been growing worse, emboldened by politics of division and tribalism. The Brexit vote was followed by an increase in race and religious hate crime of 15-25%. At a national level, police recorded hate crimes – a figure likely to seriously underestimate the true scale of the problem – showed 105,090 hate crimes in 2020, up 8% on 2019, which was up on 2018, which was up on 2017, which was up on 2016, and, well, you get the picture. Football is part of a wider trend, but because of its place in the national psyche and media, it has a duty to do better, to take bolder action, because the abuse is not always limited to words. Booing other countries’ national anthems is an entry point, a gateway drug, an expression of baseless hate for others. Videos from Wembley showed men waiting in concourses, swinging punches at Italians. There were also reports of vandalism of Italian businesses across London.

Let it not be said either that England’s fans discriminate in their discrimination. Often, football is an excuse for hating the next nearest human, for hating people you pretend to love.

Eleven Englishmen kick a football and their fans beat up their partners. Domestic abuse rises by 38% when England lose. Even winning isn’t enough. Domestic abuse rises 26% when England triumph. Southgate’s England have tried their best to bring out the best in us, but there is a group for whom they continue to bring out the worst. If that group resort to violence when they watch football, win or lose, then it is time to drive them from the game, to make it clear that they are not welcome to watch or be involved with the game at any level. Harry Kane’s statement is a welcome step in that direction. But what of others, coming later or less consistently to this party?

Gary Neville, who has made himself one of football’s most articulate, frank voices, has pointed to the very top, where condemnation of racism in football has been too little and too late. As Neville powerfully put it, there is an extreme hypocrisy in Prime Ministers and Home Secretaries condemning racist abuse after refusing to condemn fans booing the gesture of solidarity made in defiance of that same racist abuse. Tyrone Mings called out Priti Patel. Your political views will likely define the extent to which you agree with the pair. This is England. We are divided, after all. But two things are striking. The first is that the UK government has underestimated this England side. They will not fall meekly into line. When they are targeted with watermelon emojis, they will not forget which politicians normalised phrases like ‘picaninnies with watermelon smiles’, or which politicians quip that Marcus Rashford should stick to practising penalties not politics. The second is that while other countries have their ultras, rarely have we seen scenes like the ticketless hordes rushing into Wembley, battering down security, intent on wonton destruction. Is it coincidence that the two countries where fan behaviour was most unsavoury at this tournament were the two countries with right wing populist governments? It seems unlikely.

Condemnation needs to come earlier, from top to bottom and from all sides of the political spectrum.

It is time for football to confront an unpleasant reality, that many of its fans are really quite unpleasant. Saying that is not intended to tar with the same brush everyone who cheers on England from the stands, from pubs or fanzones or their sofas. I say this as an England fan, who watched and stood and clapped and cheered, and sat in disbelieving silence as Gianluigi Donnarumma saved. But it needs saying if we are to deal with the problem with a tool more effective than a feather.

Sports organisations are quick to condemn anti-social fan behaviour at their events but much slower to consider decisions that might cost money – like recruiting properly paid and trained stewards in sufficient numbers or selling less alcohol to fans who have had too much. The police are too slow to intervene and pre-empt or halt the kind of destruction, littering and harassment that accompany mass gatherings of football fans around stadiums and in places like Leicester Square and Trafalgar square. Could we not do more, focusing stadium provision on families, encourage police to engage with the urgency they reserve for serious threats like candlelit vigils? Could broadcasters or betting operators join forces with clubs and social media companies to make sure that those who receive platform or stadium bans cannot watch or bet on sport?

And until it works out ways of more effectively identifying those troublemakers, in and around the grounds, on social media, on transport, perhaps it is time for more drastic action. Empty stadiums for England home matches. No ticket allocations for England supporters for away matches.

Football didn’t come home, and frankly, if it took one look at England’s fans’ behaviour this tournament, it would be right to stay away. That thought will surely also be forefront in FIFA delegates’ minds when considering a future World Cup bid.

Before football considers its long-awaited return journey, perhaps we could bring some other things home instead. Perhaps we could bring the kind of values that England’s team and manager rather than its fans have tried to inculcate. Perhaps we could bring home compassion, tolerance, empathy, and accountability. At least we can’t lose them on penalties.