Sometimes things don't quite work out as we'd hoped.
That's certainly true of the UEFA Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium, which saw Italy take home the trophy on Sunday after beating England on penalties. But the loss has led to disgraceful, racist behaviour against several England players.
Footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka have been targeted with a torrent of abuse on their social media accounts after missing penalties in the 3-2 shootout loss.
People have been taking to Instagram to attempt to drown out the vile abuse by reporting racist comments and posting messages of love and support for the players.
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London's Metropolitan Police tweeted(opens in a new tab) that it's aware of the abuse being directed at players on social media following the final and said that the matter will be investigated. "This abuse is totally unacceptable, it will not be tolerated and it will be investigated," the tweet read.
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"No one should have to experience racist abuse anywhere, and we don’t want it on Instagram," a Facebook company spokesperson told Mashable in a statement. "We quickly removed comments and accounts directing abuse at England’s footballers last night and we’ll continue to take action against those that break our rules.
"In addition to our work to remove this content, we encourage all players to turn on Hidden Words, a tool which means no one has to see abuse in their comments or DMs. No one thing will fix this challenge overnight, but we’re committed to keeping our community safe from abuse."
After attempting to report racist comments I'd personally spotted on players' posts, I received notifications saying that the Instagram team hasn't been able to review them and that the comments "probably didn't go against the community guidelines." Facebook said it was going to look into these reports.
England manager Gareth Southgate said this racist abuse against his players was "unforgivable." "It’s just not what we stand for," he told reporters(opens in a new tab). “We have been a beacon of light in bringing people together, in people being able to relate to the national team, and the national team stands for everybody and so that togetherness has to continue."
The FA (Football Authority, the national governing body for football in England) released a statement condemning the online racism aimed at the players on social media.
"We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team," read the statement(opens in a new tab). "We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible."
The statement went on to say that the FA implores the government to "act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences" and that social media companies "need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms."
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted(opens in a new tab), "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."
Sending solidarity and love to Rashford, Sancho, and Saka today.
UPDATE: July 12, 2021, 1:15 p.m. BST Added response from Facebook company spokesperson.
