Harry Kane says He Will Walk England Team Off Pitch Over abuse

HARRY KANE has said that he will walk the England team off the pitch if players if more racist abuse is aimed at them.

The England captain, who received an MBE at Buckingham Palace yesterday, said his teammates have his support in relation to responding to racism by leaving the football field.

“It’s terrible, its unacceptable, and I thought our players handled it so well and were so professional and focussed on their job and doing what they do best,” The Telegraph reported Kane said.

He added: “Now it’s up to the people in charge to make sure the right action is taken because it’s not acceptable in football or any part of life.”

In response to a question about whether England would leave the pitch if players faced racist abuse as they did in the 5-1 Euro 2020 qualifying match win against Montenegro on May 16, Kane said: “I’m supportive of my teammates and if it happened again and they weren’t happy and wanted to talk about it or take a breather I would fully back them.”

Former England player John Barnes has said that footballers should not come off the pitch if they hear racist chants.

“Walking off is not the answer,” Barnes said.

Danny Rose and a number of other black players were subjected to monkey chants from Montenegro fans during England’s match against the team.

Uefa has charged Montenegro with racist behaviour as a result of the incident. The charge carries a minimum punishment of a partial stadium closure. If found guilty of a second racism offence, teams face playing a match behind closed doors and a ‎€50,000 (£42,000) fine.

After the match, Raheem Sterling, who has repeatedly addressed racism in the sport, told Sky News “It’s 2019 now, I keep saying it, it’s just a shame to see this keep going on. We can only just bring awareness to the situation and light to the situation. It’s now time for the people that are in charge to put a real stamp on it because you can fine someone but what’s that going to do?”

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