Sports Events Increase Racial Hate Crimes By 30%

There was a 30% increase in the number of racially motivated hate crimes in London during the weeks leading up to England’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final.

That’s according to a new study which was conducted by Dr Christof Nägel who was looking in to the number of racially motivated hate crimes which are committed when major sports events are put on. Sunday evening’s European Championship Final between England and Spain at Olympiastadion, Berlin. The data collected illustrated that there was a drastic increase in the number of incidents committed against sports professionals who belonged to different ethnic or religious minority groups who were generally blamed for their country’s poor performances at major sporting events.

Not only did different players receive racial abuse online but this also spilled over to incorporate an increase in incidents of racially motivated hate crime in different boroughs of London. These areas sometimes had a deeply rooted history of such incidents. This highlights that trigger events, such as major football tournaments, can reinforce individuals existing attitudes towards race.

“Previous research on the ‘Salah effect’ has shown that exposure to ethnic-minorities who perform exceptionally well over several seasons, like Mohammed Salah, can reduce prejudice and hate crimes towards athletes in minority groups. However, our study reveals that it takes just one unfortunate game to undo this.” That’s according to lead researcher Dr Nagel who was in charge of all the data collected.

The increase in racially motivated hate crime at sports events was blatantly obvious at the last European Championships where several of England’s black players were racially abused when they missed penalties during the final against Italy three years ago. Saka had his decisive spot-kick saved when England lost 3-2 on penalties to Italy in the European Championship final three years ago. Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho - who are not in the England squad at Euro 2024 - were also unsuccessful from the spot, and the three players were racially abused on social media.

There are "many out there waiting for a negative moment" such as a penalty miss to target England's black players, says former Kick It Out chief Troy Townsend.

England beat Switzerland 5-3 on penalties in their Euro 2024 quarter-final on Saturday, with all of their spot-kick takers either black or having black heritage.

They included Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka, who had earlier scored England's equaliser in normal time.

Saka had his decisive spot-kick saved when England lost 3-2 on penalties to Italy in the European Championship final three years ago.

Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho - who are not in the England squad at Euro 2024 - were also unsuccessful from the spot, and the three players were racially abused on social media.

"I don’t think things have changed," said Townsend, who left the anti-discrimination organisation, external at the end of June after nearly 13 years.

"Because it is a positive tournament at the moment - for results - the fans are behind the team. At crucial moments, they will show their support.

"But I do feel there are many out there waiting for a negative moment, waiting for an English player to miss a penalty, so they can go back to their social platforms with that whole negativity around the players who were taking the penalty.

"We have seen white English players miss penalties before but they are never targeted or described by the colour of their skin. That is what makes it so unique against those black players who took the penalties on Saturday."

Both England and Spain have had different sorts of journeys on their way to the final. England have mainly put on lack lustre displays which have led to them being portrayed negatively by many sectors in society. This should hopefully stop now as the whole country stand together and gets behind the national team.