England player Tyrone Mings has hit out at the Home Secretary accusing her of ‘stoking the fire’ after she condemned racist abuse aimed at his teammates. Priti Patel said she was “disgusted” at the abuse, having said at the start of the tournament that fans had a right to boo players for taking the knee in protest against racism.
Tyrone Mings said: “You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens.”
His tweet was in response to Mrs Patel’s post on Monday morning which read
Priti Patel said: “I am disgusted that @England players who have given so much for our country this summer have been subject to vile racist abuse on social media. It has no place in our country and I back the police to hold those responsible accountable.”
Mrs Patel had previously described footballers taking the knee as “gesture politics” during an interview with GB News last month, in which she also did not condemn football fans who booed players for doing so. Mings was part of the England’s men’s squad who reached the final of Euro 2020. Several of his teammates were subjected to racist abuse online when the team lost to Italy at Wembley Stadium on Sunday night (July 11). Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho all missed from 12 yards and were later targeted on social media.
