Raheem Sterling has called on Uefa to “put a real stamp” on racist abuse after he and other black England players were subjected to monkey noises during their Euro 2020 qualifier in Montenegro.
The governing body announced an investigation into the incident on Wednesday morning but there is a general feeling in England that its punishments are not stringent enough.
Read more: Uefa should make a stand and kick teams like Montenegro out of Euro 2020 for racist abuse
“It’s 2019. It’s a shame to see this keep going on,” Sterling, who cupped his ears to the home fans after scoring England’s final goal in the 5-1 win, told Sky Sports.
“We [as players] can only bring awareness to this situation. It’s time for the people in charge to put a real stamp on it.
“You can fine someone, but what’s that going to do? You’ve got to make it harder. You’ve got to make them [the fans] think twice because if their team can’t play with fans it’s going to be difficult for them.”
He added on BBC Radio 5 Live: “This [stadium] holds 15,000. I think whatever nation it is that is being racist, the whole stadium should be banned.”
‘Unacceptable’
While the racist abuse was not immediately obvious on television, Southgate made clear what he heard and said England would report the “unacceptable” incident to Uefa.
“I definitely heard abuse of Danny Rose when he got booked,” the England boss told ITV.
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“There’s not doubt in my mind, I know what I heard. We’ll make sure that’s reported officially. It’s unacceptable.”
Speaking in the ITV studio after the game, Ian Wright expressed his frustration with the ongoing problem and Uefa’s lenient punishments.
“It’ll probably go to Uefa and they’ll fine them a pittance and we’ll probably get it again,” the former Arsenal and England striker said.
‘Gimmicky punishments’
Kick It Out’s Troy Townsend echoed Wright’s sentiment, saying he felt “outrage” at what happened in Podgorica and called on Uefa to end its “gimmicky” punishments.
“Outrage. Outrage because it has happened again,” he told Sky Sports.
“Outrage because in this day and age we’ve had the opportunity to deal with this kind of stuff, to put some strong messages out about racism and Uefa have failed the game again.
“I’d like them to take the strongest possible action, I’d like them to stop all of the gimmicky stuff now and to actually come down really hard on these nations who are putting our black players under this kind of pressure.”
Uefa will announce the findings of its investigation on 16 May.
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