Tammy Abraham: England Will Walk Off If They Are Racially Abused
In-form Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham says England will walk off the pitch in protest if any of their players suffer racist abuse during their upcoming EURO 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
Black players were racially abused during England’s game away at Montenegro in March.
The Three Lions will face Czech Republic in Prague on Friday but the match that will be under scrutiny is the one against Bulgaria at the Vasil Levski national stadium on Monday.
UEFA chiefs have ordered Bulgaria to close off 5000 seats after some Bulgarian fans were found guilty of racist behaviour in their matches against Kosovo and Czech Republic this year.
England are wary of similar actions befalling them in Sofia and Abraham claims they will walk off the pitch should that happen on Monday.
UEFA’s three-step protocol to combat racism in matches stipulates that players report cases of racist abuse to the referee, who calls for an announcement to be made and if the action continues, the players can leave the field of play.
"We've had several meetings about it,” the Premier League’s joint top scorer said.
“We've touched base on how to deal with the situation. Harry Kane even said that if it happens and we're not happy with it, we speak to the player and if he's not happy, we all come off the pitch together.
"It's a team thing. Don't isolate one person, we're a whole team. If it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.
"We did speak about the three-step protocol. Harry Kane did ask the question about instead of going through the three steps, if we decide that we want to stop the game—no matter what the score is—if we're not happy with it, as a team we'll decide whether or not to stay on the pitch."
