Thursday 15th July 2021
Police thought about the final cancellation
Sancho struggles with “anger, despair, guilt”
The aftermath and racist excesses of the European Championship finals keep England in suspense. Jadon Sancho is emotionally on the offensive, Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatens social media companies with penalties. The police meanwhile confirm that it was possible to cancel the final.
Jadon Sancho took time. In the worst days of his professional career, the 21-year-old struggled with “reluctant emotions” – anger, despair, guilt – after his EM final miss and disgusting racist abuse. He had to sort himself – on Wednesday he spoke highly emotionally.
“Hate will never win,” wrote the English national soccer player, who will move from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United, on Instagram. “I will not pretend that I have not seen the racism against myself and my brothers Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka.”
“Sadly,” such hostilities are “nothing new. We have to improve as a society and hold these people accountable,” stressed Sancho. He is still shaken by emotions: “That is by far the worst feeling in my career.”
“Regulate the problem by law”
Rashford and, most recently, Saka had also forgiven the defeat on penalties against Italy (2: 3), immediately afterwards the trio was insulted in the social networks. Then there was an overwhelming “Lovestorm” in the opposite direction, for which Sancho thanked him. He encouraged all young people “who have experienced similar abuse”: “Keep your head up and pursue your dreams.”
The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to prevent similar nasty excesses as in the aftermath of Sunday. He threatened the social media companies with severe penalties if they continued to allow the spread of hate and racist messages on their platforms. There should also be stadium bans.
“I met with representatives from Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram and made it clear to them that we would regulate this problem legally,” said Johnson at a parliamentary session. He “condemns and loathes the racist abuse (…) in the strongest possible way. So what we are doing is to take steps so that if you are guilty of racist abuse online you will not go to the game. No ifs, ors, or buts. ”
“There was no police failure”
The processing of the stadium storm by fans without tickets is also keeping the kingdom in suspense. The father of the international Harry Maguire had two ribs allegedly broken in the chaos around Wembley, said his son and reported that the 56-year-old had breathing problems.
The police deny responsibility for the storm on Wembley. “One of the most important and most comprehensive security plans for a game of this magnitude” “prevented worse things” on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said in its operational balance sheet.
Dozens of fans without tickets had overrun stewards, tore down barriers and broke into the stadium. “The rapid reaction of police forces” prevented any further escalation in their view, said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jane Connors. “There was no police failure.” Without immediate action, the game might have had to be postponed or canceled.
.