Chelsea striker, Tammy Abraham, has revealed that he and his England teammates are prepared to walk off the pitch if they are targeted by racists in their Euro 2020 qualifiers this week.
The Three Lions will play the Czech Republic on Friday followed by Bulgaria on Monday in a partially-closed stadium because of fans’ racist behaviour in June.
“If it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us,” Abraham told reports ahead of the Euro2020 qualifiers.
“Harry Kane [England captain] even said that if we’re not happy, if a player is not happy, we all come off the pitch together.”
Following racists behaviour by the Bulgarian fans during their games against the Czech Republic and Kosovo in June, Uefa ordered the partial closure of Bulgaria’s national stadium.
Abraham said the players have decided they will take matters into their own hands if necessary.
UEFA three-step protocol for racial abuse ends with the officials abandoning a match if announcements inside a stadium do not stop the problem.
“We did speak about that [the protocol],” Abraham added.
“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.
“If it happens and let’s say there’s a warning or whatever in the stadium, then it happens again, we have to make a decision as a team and with the staff.”
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