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Boris Johnson condemns racist abuse faced by England players at Hungary match

Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson branded the racist abuse ‘disgraceful’ (Picture: PA)

Boris Johnson has called on FIFA to take action after England players were racially abused during last night’s World Cup qualifier in Budapest.

The 4-0 victory was marred by Hungary fans throwing objects at black player Raheem Sterling and doing monkey chants from the stands.

The prime minister condemned the ‘disgraceful behaviour’ on social media this morning.

He tweeted: ‘It is completely unacceptable that @England players were racially abused in Hungary last night.

‘I urge @FIFAcom to take strong action against those responsible to ensure that this kind of disgraceful behaviour is eradicated from the game for good.’

Before the game even kicked off there were boos and jeers as England players took the knee.

Ten minutes before the end of the match, ITV’s Gabriel Clarke described the scenes.

He said: ‘There have been missiles thrown and I’m sad to report there has been some monkey chanting from supporters in the ultras section directed, at first, at Raheem Sterling and then at Jude Bellingham when he was warming up.

‘I’m not sure whether the players heard any of that but the Hungarian FA have warned fans not to do this.

‘But it has been audible and it has been visible.’

Captain Harry Kane said after the match that he was not aware of the chanting while playing, but that the abuse would be reported to Uefa ‘as the rules permit’.

The football body have already ordered Hungary to play their next three Uefa competition games behind closed doors because of racist abuse and homophobic banners during Euro 2020.

However, a full-capacity 60,000 home crowd packed into the stands last night as the qualifier was being played under Fifa jurisdiction.

The FA have asked FIFA to investigate the incidents after taking statements from players.

There had been fears leading up to the clash that England players might be abused when taking the knee.

But the Three Lions remain adamant they will continue to show support for the fight against racism and discrimination by doing the gesture before all games.

Manager Gareth South Gate branded the people subjecting his team to racist abuse as ‘dinosaurs’.

He said: ‘They (the players) recognise the world is changing. Although some people are stuck in their way of thinking and prejudices, they are going to be the dinosaurs in the end because the world is modernising.

‘Hungary isn’t anywhere near as diverse in their population as our country is, it is still taking us a long, long time to get to where we need to get to and inevitably, if other countries don’t have that same level of diversity, it is probably not in their thinking in the same way as in our country.’

This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.

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