Status: 07/14/2021 9:44 p.m.
According to the will of the British government, anyone who racially insults others on the Internet should be banned from football matches in the future. Labor leader Starmer accused Prime Minister Johnson of engaging in “symbolic politics”.
After verbal attacks and threats against black players on the English national football team, the British government wants to punish racist insults on the Internet with stadium bans. It is time to act, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the House of Commons in London. Therefore, online racism should be added to a list of offenses for which fans are denied entry to arenas. Anyone found guilty of such statements on the Internet should no longer go to the game, said Johnson. “No ifs and buts, no exceptions, no excuses.”
Courts are currently allowed to impose stadium bans if a fan is convicted of a “relevant offense” in connection with a game. This includes improper behavior or possession of a weapon.
After three missed penalties in EM final against the ultimately victorious Italians at London’s Wembley Stadium on Sunday, the three black players Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho were racially hostile on the net. This sparked outrage and a debate about racism on the internet in the UK.
“Symbolic politics of the worst kind”
Labor leader Keir Starmer accused Johnson, according to the BBC, of campaigning for stadium bans only because the government understood it was on the wrong side – “and now hopes no one has noticed.” Starmer had previously called for appropriate stadium bans, but had so far fallen on deaf ears.
Johnson’s U-turn described Starmer as “symbolic politics of the worst kind”. He also criticized Johnson for failing to denounce the fact that viewers booed the English team when they kneeled against racism before the game began. The prime minister did not show racism “the red card”, but on the contrary gave it the “green light”.
Man arrested in Manchester
The player Jadon Sancho, affected by the racist hostility, commented on the incidents. It was “sadly nothing new,” wrote the 21-year-old on Instagram and added: “We as a society have to learn better to hold people accountable.” At the same time, the Borussia Dortmund player, whose move to Manchester United is imminent, was also confident. “Hate will never win,” wrote Sancho.
A man has since been arrested in Manchester for allegedly posting a criminally relevant insult against the players on the net. As the Greater Manchester Police announced, the 37-year-old turned himself into a police station in the north-west English metropolis. The police said he would remain in custody for the time being.