Portsmouth FC launches investigation after players allegedly send racist messages following England defeat
Statement says the football club ‘strongly condemn[s] racism’ and is ‘totally committed to elimination of all forms of discrimination’
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Your support makes all the difference.Portsmouth Football Club has launched an investigation after a string of racist messages were allegedly sent between members of its under-18s academy.
A screenshot posted on Twitter was said to show several players from its youth squad discussing Sunday night’s Euro 2020 final, which saw England lose to Italy on penalties.
One post in the private chat referred to the England team using the n-word. Another suggested Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford – who missed one of the spot kicks – would be “lynched”.
Messages including “all black ones missed”, “houses getting bombed” and “death threats immediately” appeared on a screenshot apparently taken from a private chat, which was shared on social media.
The Independent has not been able to verify that the messages came from members of Portsmouth FC’s under-18 squad.
The club issued a statement on Tuesday morning, saying it was “aware of images circulating on social media that allegedly originate from an academy u18 group chat and which are discriminatory in nature”.
The statement continued: “The club have launched an immediate investigation and will provide an update once this has been completed.
“Portsmouth Football Club strongly condemn racism and are totally committed to the elimination of all forms of discrimination. There is no place for it in our game or society as a whole.”
A spokesperson for the club told The Independent they would not be commenting further as they did not want to “prejudice any investigation”.
One person on Twitter who shared a screenshot of the posts wrote: “This is disgusting and shameful, I’ve lived in Portsmouth most my life and never have been as disappointed as I am now with this city and the people that represent our club.”
The messages came after England teammates Rashford, 23, Jadon Sancho, 21, and Bukayo Saka, 19, were targeted with racist abuse online after they missed spot kicks in the penalty shootout.
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