An England fan has penned an emotional open letter in the aftermath of the Euro2020 final defeat on Sunday.
In it, Marc Williams says the players will bounce back from the defeat, but fans have much to learn.
Citing racist abuse endured by Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho and the fan hooliganism that mired the Wembley final, he said:
“The lie we’ll tell ourselves is that we, the fans, will learn from this. And that we, as a society, will improve as we hope our team will.
“Waking up this morning, I never expected that the first headline I saw would be something uplifting, something life-affirming, something positive.
“I never expected the first thing I read would be about how these young men gave their all but were denied glory by the narrowest of margins.
“No. I instead fully expected something else.
“The cesspool of the football world to rear it’s ugly head once again. The idiots who emerge at times like these. The social media sheep who relish hate more than anything else.”
Read the letter in full below:
We will learn from this – the great lie we tell ourselves after every football heartbreak. But no, I don’t mean the players.
The England squad, who have given us another summer of thrilling ecstasy, will undoubtedly take some hard-earned life lessons away from Euro 2020.
England’s players deserve admiration and respect, not a torrent of abuse
England’s players deserve admiration and respect, not a torrent of abuse
The three young Lions who missed from 12 yards will come back stronger from their penalty despair and this brilliant team will build upon their experiences.
Manager Gareth Southgate, who ignored his doubters to excel at the highest level once more, will bounce back, pick up his talented players and go again at the World Cup next year.
Who knows, football may even come home after all at Qatar 2022.
But no, the lie we’ll tell ourselves is that we, the fans, will learn from this. And that we, as a society, will improve as we hope our team will.
Waking up this morning, I never expected that the first headline I saw would be something uplifting, something life-affirming, something positive.
I never expected the first thing I read would be about how these young men gave their all but were denied glory by the narrowest of margins.
No. I instead fully expected something else.
The cesspool of the football world to rear it’s ugly head once again. The idiots who emerge at times like these. The social media sheep who relish hate more than anything else.
It came to pass.
Racist abuse. Arrests made. London and England splattered with disgrace.
Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were subjected to vile abuse online after England’s defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final
A mural of Manchester United striker Rashford was also defaced in Manchester after he missed a penalty in the shootout
We love the narrative of our country coming together in times of hardship. It so rarely actually happens. Not for all, at least.
Throughout that manic Sunday, as our Lions played their hearts out on the pitch, we saw the worst of football off it.
London streets destroyed in the name of pre-match excitement. Beer-soaked fans breaking into Wembley as if it was their divine right to be there.
Abhorrent racist abuse at the final whistle for young men who deserve nothing but the highest praise for the way they have conducted themselves.
While many of the scenes around the country were good-natured, there were some sorry ones as thugs smashed bottles and threw objects around London’s streets
In total, 49 arrests were made in London on Sunday and 19 police officers were injured as fans without tickets broke into Wembley
Will we learn from this shame? Unless something new and drastic is done, sadly, we won’t.
In the aftermath of Sunday night’s defeat for England and in the all too inevitable social media pile-on, an MP – an actual sitting member of our parliament – joined in to tell Marcus Rashford to stop ‘playing politics’ and start ‘perfecting his game’.
Meanwhile, he and his heroic England team-mates were sent all manner of nonsensical and disgusting abuse.
And for what reason?
Nothing but a backlash from a group who would rather scold and savage above all else. The same people who will have claimed the nation would come together after 18 months of COVID hell to rejoice no matter the outcome.
Southgate’s England have been superb over recent years but that didn’t stop the trolls.
The troll-centric condemnation of football’s top stars followed every game with keyboard warriors toasting failure or mistakes with unbridled glee.
Why have we let this become the norm? Why are we so incapable of taking defeat with honour and class?
True fans – of which there are so many – will help stamp out this mockery and abuse and will lift up our fallen stars.
We have so much to be proud of in this country, not least this England team that has given us so many great memories over the last three years.
They deserve so much more from us.
We must report abuse when we hear it.
We must call out people who act in shameful ways.
We must stop the hate.
We must be better.
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