by Luis Paez-Pumar

Anyone could have seen this coming. After England striker Tammy Abraham said the team would walk off the field in Sofia, Bulgaria if faced racist abuse from the crowd, and after manager Gareth Southgate wavered on that claim, saying the Three Lions would adhere to UEFA’s established anti-racism protocol, this was inevitable. During England’s 6–0 whomping of Bulgaria, the home fans unleashed a torrent of racist chants and gestures at the English side and gave that protocol its toughest test yet. It’s safe to say that it did not pass with flying colors.

But hey, maybe it wasn’t that bad! Just an isolated event from some fans who quickly shut up after UEFA put its protocol into action.

The first half was plagued with offensive demonstrations from the Bulgarian fans, most notably with sustained Nazi salutes and monkey noises. Rather that unilaterally walk off the pitch at the first instance of racism as was the team’s threat, England instead gave UEFA’s rules a chance to manage the situation. The first step of the anti-racism protocol is for the referees to pause the game when made aware of racist abuse and for the in-stadium announcer to warn the fans to stop or else the match may be suspended. Which is what happened about a half an hour in Read more via Deadspin