VIDEO: England's Tyrone Mings Alerts Referee of Racist Chants by Fans at EURO Qualifier vs Bulgaria
By Michael Luciano
Soccer's growing racism problem has once against cast a dark cloud over a European qualifying match. England's qualifying match against Bulgaria in Sofia had to be stopped twice due to racist language being hurled at Three Lions center back Tyrone Mings. Manager Gareth Southgate alerted security who twice attempted to get the fans, some of whom were displaying a Nazi salute, to stop. Be warned. The following video contains extremely offensive imagery.
Tyrone Mings notifying the linesman of racial abuse on his England debut tonight. Absolutely shocking how Mings’ debut will be remembered. Those fans are a disgrace. ?? pic.twitter.com/Hm4su7azth
— EPL Bible (@EPLBible) October 14, 2019
The English FA has confirmed that Mings was indeed racially abused. Other black players on the England team, like Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham and more notably Manchester City star Raheem Sterling , have been verbally abused due to their race in the last few months.
We can confirm that @England players were subjected to abhorrent racist chanting while playing in the #EURO2020 qualifier against Bulgaria.
— The FA (@FA) October 14, 2019
This is unacceptable at any level of the game and our immediate focus is supporting the players and staff involved.
Play was stopped twice, but the game was played through, and it remains to be seen if Bulgarian soccer's governing body, the fans, or the team will suffer any sort of punishment for these actions.
England ultimately prevailed 6-0 in a dominant showing away from home.
Truly disgusting scenes in Sofia as England’s players are subjected to racist abuse. Their #EURO2020 qualifier at Bulgaria twice paused in the first half as officials try to deal with the situation. https://t.co/UOyX7s3JTK
— Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) October 14, 2019
Racism in soccer is sadly not going away. If anything, it is getting more pronounced, and no amount of punishment seems to be working.
If there is any justice in the world, however, these fans have attended their last Bulgarian national team game and the organization will be slapped with a heavy penalty.