May 30 – England players have discussed the prospect of racism during the World Cup amid concerns that Russian fans might target its black players.
Russian authorities have been at pains to play down any likelihood of discrimination following a spate of incidents in recent months.
Ashley Young, one of England’s squad members, admitted: “I’m sure we’ll talk about it and we have talked about it, in the squad, in what to do and what not to do.”
The Russian Football Union was recently fined for racist chants by fans in a friendly against France in March. Paul Pogba, Ousmane Dembele and N’Golo Kante were said to be among those subjected to abuse in their side’s 3-1 win over the World Cup hosts.
” I think there’s enough experience throughout the whole squad to know, if someone is being wound up, to pull them away and tell them to calm down or have a word with the referee to make them aware of what is going on,” said Young.
“We’ve talked about all sorts of different scenarios. That is kept in-house but I’m sure different things will happen in the tournament.”
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