A petition that has called for the lifetime ban of racists from football matches for life has reached over one million signatures, confirmed media reports recently.
The petition came into the spotlight after the final match of the Euro 2020 Cup which was held between Italy and England. The Italian squad beat the English football team with a 3-2 lead after the latter failed to score any goal during the decisive penalty shootout round.
However, what really caught so many people’s attention was how three Black players from the English squad suffered brutal online abuse that revolved around a racial context, right after their team suffered a defeat during the final. These players included Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka.
All three of the players failed to score any goal during the penalty round and for that reason, they soon became the target of harsh racism by a number of football fans who blamed the defeat on them and their ethnicity.
For that reason, fans were quick to come to their team’s defense and hence began signing a petition that called for the lifetime ban for all those people that racially abused footballers. This includes notable personalities such as Katie Price and comedian Eddie Izzard who also showed their immense support by backing up the ban.
As of current statistics, the petition has managed to grab hold of over 1 million signatures who are now urging authorities to act before it gets too late.
Their demands include urging both the government as well as the football authorities to go about introducing the automatic lifetime ban for all those individuals who feel the need to carelessly and insensitively racially abuse players whenever they find it convenient.
But fans feel that enough is enough and now it’s time to take action.
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