‘Violent' online racism left Lioness Jess Carter fearful of starting Euros final

ITV News

2 days ago

England defender Jess Carter has revealed she was scared to play in the Euros final because of fears of racial abuse and questioned whether Sarina Wiegman should have selected her.
In an exclusive interview, the Lioness told ITV News Sports Editor Steve Scott the online messages she received during the tournament were 'violently aggressive racism''.
There was one face missing from the Lionesses' victory parade along the Mall, and it belonged to the player who probably deserved to be at the heart of those celebrations: Jess Carter.
The England defender had suffered a torrid time after being targeted by racial abuse online, which forced her off social media.
She was dropped for the semi-final when the Lionesses decided not to 'take the knee' in protest of her treatment online, but she was reinstated for the final against Spain and put in a courageous, near faultless performance.
Carter needed the heart of a Lioness to even survive the tournament, let alone put in a world-class showing at the end, when it mattered most.
She only missed the homecoming celebrations to rejoin her club in America, which was already into a new season.
'That's the first time I've ever been scared to play'
'Sarina [Wiegman] spoke to me on the buildup to the Spain game and said that she was wanting to play me," Carter said. "I didn't say anything to her, but in my head, I just thought, are you sure?
"The night before the game I was scared. That's the first time I've ever been scared, scared to play.
"I think it was a mixture of such a big game, but then on top of that, [I was] scared of whatever abuse might come with it, whether it's football-based or whether it was going to be the racial abuse that was going to come with it because I did something wrong.'
'It makes you second guess everything you do'
Speaking after a Gotham FC training session in New Jersey, Carter opened up about just how deeply the abuse she received during the recent Euros affected her: 'It makes you feel really small. It makes you feel like you're not important, that you're not valuable.
'It makes you second-guess everything that you do - it's not a nice place to be. It doesn't make me feel confident going back onto the pitch.'
But the impact is not limited to Carter herself, it's the way it makes those close to her feel too.
'My family was so devastated by it as well - and so sad," she said.
'They obviously want to be there to support me being away in Switzerland, but they weren't able to be there the whole time - and I think that how it impacts the people around you sometimes is even worse than how it impacts you.
'What's really sad is just the hate that people give out, I will never understand.'
She said the type of comments changed once the tournament got underway.
'The messages started going from 'she's not good enough' or 'shouldn't be playing for England', or 'should be ashamed of her performance' or whatever, and then it started being about, the reason I was rubbish was because I was black.
'I'm not going to go into detail, but it was violently aggressive racism from the minute I stepped on a pitch from the France game.'
Carter didn't intend to publicise her decision to come off social media, but her sister persuaded her to take a stand.
'I didn't want to initially, but my sister was like, 'if this was your niece or nephew, if this is Michelle Agyemang or Lauren James or Khiara [Keating], what would you want to do? How would you want to support them?'" she recalled.
"'Like you wouldn't want them to be quiet and do it by themselves, so why should you do it?'
"I guess if it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't have spoken up about it.'
Carter was concerned about a backlash; she feared that if she made a statement, then the team would come under even more scrutiny than it already was. But she says the whole squad was fully supportive of whatever she wanted to do.
'A sigh of relief'
What Carter then revealed to ITV News is astonishing yet understandable, and shines a light on the devastating impact of online racist abuse.
She admitted that when Lauren James missed England's second penalty in the quarter final, she was relieved when one of her white teammates failed too. She knew the level of abuse that James would suffer if she were the only Lioness not to score.
'It's horrible to say, but it's almost like a sigh of relief when other players that weren't black missed a penalty, because the racism that would have come with LJ (Lauren James) being the only one that missed would have been astronomical.'
'It's not because we want them to fail… It's about knowing how it's going to be for [England's black players] if we miss.'
Her experience also led to a team discussion about the Lionesses' policy of taking the knee before each game.
'I think people have stopped understanding what we were doing it for and why, and the reason behind it.'
Led by Lauren James, the squad agreed it was time to do something different and make people question why; 'I think the part of it is just when the whistle goes and maybe others are taking the knee and we are not, okay, well why are they not taking the knee?'
'I don't know how much of a difference it's going to make, but if it just makes one person question what's the next thing they're about to type or the next thing that they're about to say, then that is a job well done.'
' Not enough people of colour in sport, particularly in football'
Carter also worries that young black girls watching all this play out will be put off from taking part in football.
'We are trying to do our best to encourage young girls to come and play football, to participate in any sports that they want to play and believe in their dream," she said. "But if I'd have seen that [as a young girl] it's not going to make me want to go and play, and there's already not enough people of colour in sport, particularly in football.
'We want to continue to encourage the nation to play in and to be excited about representing England - we want to show them all the good sides of it, not these horrible negative sides."
She added, 'Ultimately, you can have a thousand amazing comments, but those ten that you get are enough to make you not want to step foot back on that pitch.'
Working alongside the social media giants, the police are still trying to identify those behind the abuse and have told Carter they intend to prosecute them when they do.
Her honesty and bravery in the face of such poison deserve at least that.