Southgate: "Sanctions are worthless if there is nothing alongside that to help educate people"
Wednesday 27 March 2019 00:40, UK
Gareth Southgate says education is the key to tackling the kind of racism endured by England's players in Montenegro.
England beat Montenegro 5-1, but there was little talk about the football after Monday night's European Qualifier as the Group A clash in Podgorica was marred by racism.
Montenegro have been charged with racist behaviour by UEFA after several England players - including Raheem Sterling, Danny Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi - were the target of racist abuse in Monday's European Qualifier.
Rose and Hudson-Odoi were subjected to monkey chants in the first half, with Sterling celebrating the fifth goal by pulling his ears as a sign of defiance to what he later called on social media "racists".
Rose was abused again towards the end of the match and UEFA is now set to launch an investigation into the abuse.
England boss Southgate said. "Reflecting on sanctions, sanctions are only of any use if they lead to education.
"Sanctions are worthless if there is nothing alongside that to help educate people.
"My kids don't think for one minute about where people are born, what language they speak, what colour they are.
"There's an innocence about young people that is only influenced by older people. So, we have to make sure that the education is right for everybody.
"In our country, (it's) the same. I've said this before, I'm not sitting here just criticising what's happened tonight because in our country we have the same issue. We're not free of it.
"You can sanction clubs (or countries), but frankly that's not going to stop one or two people who are of a mindset from doing what they want to do.
"So, we have to make sure that we educate young people because we have a better chance with young people and then we've got to lead that as far and as wide as we possibly can."
UEFA regulations state that if supporters engage in racist behaviour then "the member association or club responsible is punished with a minimum of a partial stadium closure".
Article 14 also states that additional disciplinary measures can be imposed depending on the situation, while "disciplinary measures may be combined with specific directives aimed at tackling such conduct".
Southgate revealed that he spoke to his England players during the summer and some did not have faith that reporting incidents would lead to appropriate action being taken.
"We spoke to them a lot before the summer and they were very clear they wanted to play their football," the England boss added.
"Some of them did not even want to report things because they don't have faith that things will be dealt with appropriately or they would make a difference. So that is why I am conscious of their feelings when I am speaking as well.
"It is an impossible line to find the right path. I think I have to speak as I always do, but I can't discuss sanctions, because what is the right sanction? Is it a big fine? Is it the closing of sections of a stadium? What is honestly going to make any difference?"
