Football clubs must educate fans about racism, says Patrice Evra

Football clubs should interact with fans to educate them about racism, French player Patrice Evra said, after Black players in the England team were exposed to online racism after their Euro 2020 final loss. 

Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka were racially targeted after they missed penalty-kicks in England's 3-2 shootout loss to Italy after the game finished 1-1 after additional time. 

The racism drew wide judgment from England's captain, manager, and government officials, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging web-based media organizations to do more to handle online racism that 'emerged from the dark spaces'. 

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Patrice Evra told Sky Sports that schooling was critical to deal with this long-lasting problem. 

"If we don't do something racism will always be there because it's been there for so many years. You know we need to change and that's why education is really important," Evra said.

"I want those clubs to invest in education, to meet the fans, for the players to speak to the fans, maybe a group of fans and tell what they feel when they get abused because of their colour," he said.

"Don't tell me the football clubs can't do that, or FIFA or UEFA, more meetings with the fans so they understand when they make a monkey noise when a Black player gets the ball, the way it affects them. That's really important," he added.

A Twitter representative last week said the microblogging platform had eliminated over 1,000 posts and for all time suspended various records, while Facebook said it too had immediately taken out abusive remarks.