In 1994 a Colombian footballer, Andrés Escobar, was killed after the World Cup played in the United States, murdered in Medellin for accidentally sending the ball to his goal. An own goal that cost the elimination of Colombia and huge losses in the round of clandestine betting organized in the country. Twenty-seven years later three English players, found guilty of England’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final, have received from their fans a treatment that leaves no marks on the body but certainly kills the soul.
What happened
The final of the European football championships between Italy and England was decided on penalties. Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho are the English national team players who missed their penalty shot. The English selection, which played at home, in the London stadium of Wembley, anxiously awaited a football triumph that has been missing since 1966 (the year of the World Cup victory).
The racist insults
In the hours following the defeat of England, numerous racist insults and extremely offensive emojis appeared on the social profiles of the three players, especially those on Instagram. In Manchester a graffiti made in honor of Marcus Rashford was ruined by vandals shortly after the final lost on penalties.
Over the course of the European Championship, several fans booed the English players for kneeling at the kick-off, a symbolic gesture against the racism that supports the Black Lives Matter movement. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was criticized for not publicly condemning the boos.
The reactions
In a long letter published on social media, which in just over 12 hours has collected almost a million likes, Marcus Rashford expressed his deep regret for what happened: “I can receive criticism for my performance, for my rigor that it wasn’t good enough, that he should have entered, but I will never apologize for who I am and for my origins. Whether it’s the color of my skin, or where I grew up or how I spend my time off the pitch. “
Prince William and his wife, Jate Winslet, said they were ‘sickened’ by the racist slurs aimed at English footballers. The English Football Federation has released a press release on social media in which it declares itself ‘dismayed’ by the insults online and announces that it intends to take measures to protect the players and punish the authors of the comments.
Following the vandalism, the inhabitants of the Manchester neighborhood in which the graffiti dedicated to Rushford is located have covered the offensive writings with messages of affection and support.
What Instagram did (and what it could have done better)
“Nobody should receive racist insults anywhere, and we don’t want it to happen on Instagram,” said a spokesperson for Facebook, the company that controls the social network. “We quickly removed the comments and accounts that have insulted the English players. players to activate the “Hidden words” function on their profiles, which allows you to delete offensive comments and not receive them through direct messages “.
In a lengthy Twitter thread, tech reporter Ryan Mac – a former BuzzFeed recently hired at the New York Times – reported the impatience of many Facebook employees with the way the company handled the affair. Facebook “would not have done enough to stop insulting English footballers” and its employees are of the opinion that in these cases we should act “faster”.
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