Toby Tarrant slams racist abuse aimed at England squad after Euro 2020 final

12 July 2021, 15:08 | Updated: 12 July 2021, 16:46

Toby addresses racial abuse suffered by England players

By Radio X

@RadioX

The Radio X presenter has reacted to the disgusting racial hatred targeted at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after England's defeat at the Euro 2020 final.

The entire nation was gripped to their TV screens as they watched Italy defeat England in the Euro 2020 finals last night (11 July).

The Three Lions' valiant effort saw them score within the first two minutes and hold off the Italians in a 1-1 draw right through to the end of extra time.

Sadly, we lost out to Italy at penalties, with Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all missing a crucial goal. However, even more tragically, some England fans have reacted by targeting the footballers with racist abuse.

Taking to the air this morning (12 July), Toby Tarrant - who is standing for Chris Moyles - addressed some of the disgusting and hateful comments aimed at the players.

"We wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't address one huge issue that arose after the England game," he began. "And this is becoming by the way, far too common a story, far too common a story, but once again last night after the match last night, English players were racially abused on social media.

"And it's too easy now to say 'oh do you know what? It's only a few idiots", but it happens far too often to be a few idiots. Far too often."

He continued: "... There are, I believe, a lot of brilliant England football fans. I go to lots of football up and down the country and I see a lot of brilliant fans, but there are - and let's stop saying it's a few idiots - there are some absolute morons out there as well. There's no getting away from it. There is no getting away from it.

"And sometimes it's felt like over the last couple of weeks that this team doesn't deserve some of its fans. This team is better than a lot of its fans."

"They deserve a lot of love for the last few weeks," added Tarrant. "They have distracted us from what has been a rubbish time for everyone around the world for the last few weeks. They've given me some of the best nights I'll never forget in my life and that team is full of people that deserve an incredible amount of respect, regardless of the result last night.

"So people going onto social media firing racist abuse at this team, give your head a wobble. Take a long hard look at yourself, because you don't deserve to follow this team. You don't deserve it at all.

"Any abuse aimed at these players over the last few weeks, is absolutely shocking and we as a society need to handle this situation a lot lot better going forward."

Meanwhile, support has poured in from all walks of life for the England Squad, with statements from Prime Minister and the FA, who have condemned the racist abuse.

Boris Johnson said: "This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media. Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves."

If you have been impacted by this story, or would like more information on how to help tackle racism in football, please visit the organisations below:

Kick It Out

https://www.kickitout.org

Show Racism The Red Card

https://www.theredcard.org/

No Room For Racism

https://www.premierleague.com/NoRoomForRacism

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