Danny Rose has asked his family not to travel to Russia for the World Cup because the England defender fears they may be racially abused. The Tottenham left-back says he has “no faith” that the authorities can effectively tackle the matter and described Fifa’s latest punishments as “disgusting” and “laughable”.
Russian football has been overshadowed by racism incidents for a number of years and the country’s football union was fined £22,000 in relation to racist chants at a friendly match against France in March.
Rose, who said he was racially abused and showered with stones at an England Under-21 game in Serbia in 2012, told the Evening Standard: “If I’m racially abused out there, nothing is going to change – it shouldn’t be like that but it is.
“I’m not worried for myself, but I’ve told my family I don’t want them going out there because of racism and anything else that may happen. My dad’s really upset. I could hear it in his voice. He said he may never get a chance again to come and watch me in a World Cup.”
Rose is highly critical of the choice of venue for this year’s tournament given the racism incidents in the country. He said: “Somehow Russia got the World Cup and we have to get on with it but a £22,000 fine is disgusting. What do they [Fifa] expect? I don’t want to sound arrogant but if I had been fined £22,000 – without sounding big-headed – it wouldn’t make a difference. A country being fined £22,000 is just laughable.
“I’m just numb to it now. If I’m racially abused out there, I’m abused. Nothing is going to change. I just get on with it. It shouldn’t be like that but it is.”
Asked if England’s players have discussed walking off the pitch, Rose said: “We’ve discussed it. Until it actually happens and under what circumstances, it’s hard to say what you’d actually do.”
When questioned about Rose’s decision yesterday, Gareth Southgate said: “I asked him to share his experiences with the players and it was clear he felt let down by the authorities, which was sad to hear. He’s part of our team and our family for the next two months, and we intend to support our players as much as we possibly can.
“None of us know what’s going to happen in Russia but it’s sad that he feels there’s a possibility of something that he doesn’t want his family to experience and might detract from his focus on football, which I know is at his forefront.”
On what England would do if a player suffered racial abuse, Southgate added: “People in an idealistic world would say we should walk off the pitch but it seems the realities of that would be you’d be thrown out of the tournament. I don’t think the players want that. They’ve worked all their lives to get to a World Cup.
“So the idea is that we are able to raise the issues and confront the issues, but we want to play in the tournament. It’s a very difficult and delicate balance for us to get right.”