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Mings: Racist Abuse Started in Warm-Up
Tuesday, 15th Oct 2019 09:51

Former Blues defender Tyrone Mings says he heard racist chanting as he made his way on to the field for the warm-up prior to his England debut in Bulgaria last night.

The Three Lions won the Euro 2020 qualifier in Sofia 6-0 but the match will be remembered for racist chanting and Nazi salutes from sections of the home support.

Prompted by complaints by Mings and England boss Gareth Southgate, these led to the match officials invoking UEFA’s anti-racism protocols; a break in the game in the 28th minute in which an announcement was made warning that the match was in danger of being abandoned and then a further pause shortly before half-time.

"I heard it before I even got to the other side of the pitch for the warm-up,” Mings, who made 49 starts and 15 sub appearances for the Blues between December 2012 and June 2015.

"We then spoke about it when we came in after the warm-up and, obviously, I don't need to spell it out. I think everybody heard the chants, but we stood together and we made certain decisions.

"Just before half-time we were contemplating coming off the pitch because that was the next step after a stadium announcement but there were a couple of minutes to go to half-time.

"So we thought we'd play the couple of minutes, go into half-time and talk about it then which we did and we made a collective decision.


"Everyone was happy to continue, everyone was happy to see if things improved in the second half and I think it was important that we allowed the correct protocol to be followed and things were better in the second half."

The 26-year-old, who joined Aston Villa from AFC Bournemouth for an initial fee of £20 million in the summer, insisted that he wasn’t impacted by the abuse and has been widely praised for a composed performance at the centre of England's defence.

”It did not affect my feelings one bit,” he added. “I felt a bit sorry for the people that have these views.

"I feel it is not a reflection of the views of the whole country and I feel that the appropriate steps were taken.

"It didn't affect my feeling but I was aware that we had to follow the right protocols, and not think it does not affect me so I won't report it.

"I have a duty to people that don't have a voice or that perhaps are abused and it does hurt or get to them. I don't know why it does not affect me, it just doesn't."

Mings felt UEFA’s protocols worked: "They did, yes. I didn't hear anything in the second half. I can't speak for everybody, but I can speak for myself. So I think fans were removed and if that was the case then I think the protocol has definitely worked.

"We were here to play football, so we didn't want to really be having these conversations but it was important we made a collective decision.

"We represent a lot of people and we have to not just make a stance for ourselves, but we have to make it clear these things won't be accepted. So it was important to consult everyone at half-time and everybody made the decision, and we played on the whole game."

Mings, who hadn’t previously won a cap at any level, flew family and friends out to Bulgaria to watch him make his England bow.

"I'm immensely proud, it is a dream come true for sure," he reflected. "It is the pinnacle of English football, everybody dreams of representing their country, everybody knows my journey.

“I was extremely proud and had my friends and family in the crowd, so I don't think they will let it overshadow this.

"I was absolutely happy they were here tonight and it will be a memory we will talk about for a long, long time - a good memory.”

Having been signed for £10,000 from Chippenham Town, Mings left the Blues to join Bournemouth in the summer of 2015 for £8.1 million with Town receiving a further £1.2 million following his Villa switch - with another £650,000 possible in the future - making him the club’s record sale.


Photo: Action Images



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Suffolkboy added 10:10 - Oct 15
Distinguished himself in the shirt both on and off the field .Has the makings of a good Captain should the need arise ; cool,collected, analytical and still improving technically .
Reflects well on the judgement of those who brought him to ITFC ,and of his own dedication .
Well done TM !
COYB
4

Suffolkboy added 10:10 - Oct 15
Distinguished himself in the shirt both on and off the field .Has the makings of a good Captain should the need arise ; cool,collected, analytical and still improving technically .
Reflects well on the judgement of those who brought him to ITFC ,and of his own dedication .
Well done TM !
COYB
0

TBT added 10:31 - Oct 15
Tyrone Mings is a top lad and spot on. BUT!! Instead of harping on about the disgraceful Bulgarian supporters in this high and mighty politically correct manner, the English authorities should be dealing with their own issues because their fans remain the scourge of Europe and I'm sure the good people of Prague (or Marseille or any European City England have visited recently) are not sympathising with our issues of last night. English scum have been acting in a violent and antisocial manner since the 70's so sort it out now. A nazi salute from 200 hundred misguided idiots is in poor taste and offensive. A mindless “minority” of 2,500 people (out of 25,000) trashing Marseille, fighting with the police and locals is far more damaging.
4

baldman added 10:54 - Oct 15
TBT although you are mostly correct in what you say and I agree what you and alot of people dont see is 99.9% of the time England fans dont start we get abbuesed spat at taunted the local filth just laugh and dont do nothing until we do or say anything then there at us with battons shoving us anything to wind us up all people see is the good old BBC showing England fans fighting back I'm not one of them and go to alot of away games and see it with my own eyes but your right racism should be stamp out nothing will happen until england fans do something then UEFA and good old Europe will kick us out
2

positivity added 11:40 - Oct 15
i agree that idiots need to be called out and dealt with whether they're english/bulgarian/whatever.

however, minimising the nazi salutes & monkey chants as not "politically correct" or in "poor taste", is nowhere near strong enough. seeing racism as a choice is how the far-right have proliferated and led to the rise of orban/trump etc etc. there needs to be no tolerance for that
1

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 13:47 - Oct 15
Agree Tyrone is a "top lad." He's sensible, intelligent, and articulate. I reckon we'll be hearing more from him in after-match reviews because he is actually able to put two words together without churning out the usual platitudes that some of the other players usually resort to. The only pity is that he's not still with us.
2

ITFCsince73 added 17:13 - Oct 15
Baldman spot on. Because of England's supporters reputation of years gone by, English supporters are provoked these days.
We have the biggest and best support in national football.
Another thing other nations support seem to not like.

And although a weak opposition, I thought TM was simply superb.
0

carlo88 added 17:51 - Oct 15
^

TBT excellent post.

We also have racism in this country, in football (very recent examples widely reported), in politics and in the workplace. We are a broadly tolerant society but need to stop thinking we're the best at everything.
0

TBT added 07:33 - Oct 16
“The best support in National Football”.
In order for that opinion to be anywhere near true you need the endorsement of one overseas fan and you won't get it. England are without question the worst behaved and always have been since the 1970's. 31 detained in Prague and thousands of others from previous games across the continent. My Nephew, a massive patriot and ITFC Fan, went to Marseilles and will never follow England again out of pure shame.
I have just returned from the Rugby World Cup where massive passionate crowds are simply having a really good time, there are no nationalistic chants whatsoever. That is what most football tournaments without the English is like.
ITFC travel in large numbers and they don't appear to be antisocial in any way.
It is an exclusively England FA problem and the authorities need to sort it out.
Apparently thousands of fans singing “if it wasn't for the English you'd be Krauts” is funny and not in any way racist. Really? The matches with Germany have some utterly disgraceful chants from a huge majority, let's sort out our own problems before throwing stones!
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