Ian Wright slams UEFA and praises England players over racist incidents vs Bulgaria
England’s clash with Bulgaria in Sofia was marred by racist chanting from home fans leading to the game being stopped

Former England striker Ian Wright slammed UEFA after racism marred their clash with Bulgaria in Sofia.

The first step of UEFA’s protocol was enacted – a stadium announcement calling for the abusive chanting to stop – after conversations between the fourth official, referee Ivan Bebek and England captain Harry Kane.

The stadium announcer said: “This is an important stadium announcement, because of racist behaviour which is interfering with the game, the referee has indicated that he may have to suspend the match.

“Racism in football stadiums will not be tolerated. Please be in no doubt that the game will be suspended and may be abandoned if racist behaviour continues amongst spectators. Help everyone enjoy the game and say no to racism. Thank you.”

The Levski Stadium was subject to a partial closure for this match after Bulgaria were sanctioned for racist chanting during qualifiers against Kosovo and the Czech Republic.An understandably upset Wright labelled the scenes as “showing up UEFA for what they are” and highlighting their poor efforts to tackle racism.

But he also praised England players for their efforts on what he felt was a turning point in tackling racism.

Wright told ITV Sport: “That says everything you need to know about UEFA.

“We’re looking at a stadium where half of it’s closed with banners, that’s done nothing.That’s the extent of what they are doing to tackle racism in this country. What we can see is there’s certain people there that have no respect.

“At the end of the day, it’s showing UEFA up for what they are. They’re doing nowhere near enough, and I’m so proud that we’re doing what we’re doing at the moment.”

Roy Keane pointed out how the scenes made him feel “sick to his stomach”, prompting Wright to express how it was a “great day” for tackling racism as it highlighted how players are now able to take a stane continued: “What you’ve got to understand now is you can feel physically sick. You’ve been on a football pitch, you know what it’s like and you have to continue to play through that.

‘But you don’t now, and that’s what’s good. It’s a great day, whatever anyone says.

“It’s a terrible day for Bulgarian people and how they’ve been represented, but it’s a great day with respect of trying to tackle racism.As a black player, we’ve heard it for many years about walking off. It’s something you do not want to do.

“You need the white players to do that for you, so you can go off together because you are a team together.

“When that can happen, and you see how powerful that is, you can do something.”

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