England Lioness takes step away from social media after vile racist abuse during Euros
"A message to the fans..." Carter's message on social media began. "From the start of the tournament I have experienced a lot of racial abuse.
"Whilst I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result I don't agree or think it's ok to target someone's appearance or race. As a result of this I will be taking a step back from social media and leaving it to a team to deal with.
"As ever I am grateful for all of the support from the genuine fans but I am taking this measure to protect myself in a bid to keep my focus on helping the team anyway I can. Hopefully speaking out will make the people writing this abuse think twice so that others won't have to deal with it.
"We have made some historic changes with this Lionesses squad that I am so proud to be a part of and my hope is that by speaking out about this it will make another positive change for all. I'm now looking forward and focusing on putting all of my energy into helping my team. Jess Carter."
The Lionesses squad put out a statement of their own in support of Carter after her words. "We stand with Jess and all Lionesses players past or present who have suffered racism," it began.
"No one should have to endure such vile abuse, be that in football or any walk of life. Representing our country is the greatest honour. It is not right that while we are doing that, some of us are treated differently simply because of the colour of our skin.
"Until now, we have chosen to take the knee before matches. It is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism.
"We have agreed as a squad to remain standing before kick-off on Tuesday. We hope the game can come together to see what more can be done.
"For now, we will return our total focus to an important semi-final. In the meantime, we know the FA are working with UK police and the appropriate bodies. Those behind this online poison must be held accountable."
FA CEO Mark Bullingham has also issued a statement. 'Our priority is Jess and giving her all the support she needs. We strongly condemn those responsible for this disgusting racism," Bullingham said.
'As soon as we were made aware of the racist abuse Jess received, we immediately contacted UK police. They are in touch with the relevant social media platform, and we are working with police to ensure those responsible for this hate crime are brought to justice.
'Regrettably, this is not the first time this has happened to an England player, so we had measures in place to allow us to respond quickly and where possible provide information to support any potential police action.
'We will continue to discuss with the relevant authorities and social media companies about what more can and should be done to prevent this abhorrent abuse.'
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