England Bulgaria Fixture Marred By Racist Abuse
England’s UEFA EURO 2020 qualifier against Bulgaria was halted twice, as match officials used UEFA’s racism protocol to deal with racist abuse aimed at England players by Bulgarian fans.
The match saw the implementation of UEFA’s three-step policy, which is to be used in the event of discriminatory behaviour during a match. The protocol involves a loudspeaker announcement to warn fans to stop such behaviour before a second step sees players taken off the pitch and sent back into the dressing rooms. The third step – which was not used in the case of England’s game in Sofia – would see the match abandoned if the abuse continued.
More incidents were reported again after the players returned to the pitch to finish the first half, and again after half time, however, prompting questions as to whether the match should have been abandoned, as per the third step in the protocol. England players themselves chose to play the full match, but inconsistency in the application in the rules has become part of the wider debate.
Fans in the crowd were cited for making Nazi salutes, monkey chants, and brandishing UEFA ‘No Respect’ t-shirts in conflict to UEFA’s previous ‘Respect’ campaigns.
Fiona Hinds, Co-Head of Sport at London-based full service law firm Howard Kennedy, a partner of the Sport Industry NextGen programme, said: “The use of the three-step protocol on discriminatory behaviour in the England v Bulgaria game is a step in the right direction. It gives officials clear guidance on what they can do in circumstances like last night. But if you are going to have a protocol, you need to implement it properly in its entirety.
“If it is applied inconsistently or partially, there will be no confidence in its efficacy. The game was suspended once and an announcement made. If that doesn’t work, the protocol requires that the players leave the pitch for a specified time but the referee instead kept the players on the field during a second suspension. The match should be abandoned if, after that, the behaviour continues – as it apparently did last night. No-one wants games to be abandoned, but this is a longstanding and serious issue for football. To change that you need clear consequences for unacceptable behaviour which are enforced, and UEFA needs to step up to that challenge.”
The reaction from the England players, the FA and the match officials have been praised in the media, while the Bulgarian Prime Minister has since called on the head of the country’s Football Association to stand down. The British government, meanwhile, will write to UEFA in order to demand more action on the issue.
