There are “a lot of people out there waiting for a negative moment”, like a missed penalty against England’s black players, says former Kick It Out boss Troy Townsend.
England beat Switzerland 5-3 on penalties in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals on Saturday, with all of its penalty takers black or of black descent.
They included Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka, who had already scored England’s equalizer in normal time.
Saka had his decisive penalty saved when England lost 3-2 on penalties to Italy in the European Championship final three years ago.
Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho – who are not in England’s Euro 2024 squad – were also unsuccessful from the penalty spot, and all three players were racially abused on the social networks.
“I don’t think things have changed,” said Townsend, who left anti-discrimination organization at the end of June, after almost 13 years.
“Because it is a positive tournament at the moment – because of the results – the fans support the team.
“But I feel like there are a lot of people out there waiting for a negative moment, waiting for an English player to miss a penalty, so they can go back to their social platforms with all that negativity surrounding the players who were taking the penalty.
“We’ve seen white English players miss penalties before, but they’re never targeted or described by the color of their skin. That’s what makes it so unique against the black players who took penalties on Saturday.”
Cole Palmer, whose grandfather was born in St Kitts and Nevis before moving to the UK, scored England’s first penalty against Switzerland, before Jude Bellingham, Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold also converted.
Former England defender Rio Ferdinand posted a message on social media with a photo of the five after the game.
He wrote: “Where are the racists now???? Probably still celebrating!!!!”
Townsend told BBC Sport: “They are waiting. Why do I say that? Because we have the information behind it.
“People will celebrate until the last moment, but unfortunately, when something goes wrong, as they see it in their eyes, they will attack these individuals.
“The last Euro was the biggest scene we saw and some of the messages I saw directed at the players were absolutely shameful.”
Sancho sent Saka a message in an Instagram story after the Switzerland game, in which he praised the 22-year-old for scoring his penalty.
“I’m so proud of this guy,” wrote Sancho. “You did this for me and Brother Marcus.”
Delroy Corinaldi – executive director of the Black Soccer Players Partnership – said he feared for the penalty takers if they had missed.
“You have this sad, terrible fear in the back of your mind that if something goes wrong, you will have that minority of people who, unfortunately, are very loud – especially on social media – denigrating these great young people,” he told the BBC Sport. .
“Fortunately that didn’t happen.”
Former England striker Emile Heskey remains wary of the possibility of players being targeted for racial abuse if England lose or miss a penalty.
“A leopard doesn’t change its spots,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Their true colors come out when they feel angry. But we try and keep fighting it and educating.
“We talk about education as the key, but we also need help with that. We slowly feel like we are getting to where things are getting better, but we still have a mountain to climb.”
