An Australian news company is under fire after it uploaded - and then quickly deleted - a Facebook post that emphasised the race of three football players on the English side.
Italy secured the 2020 UEFA European Football Championship on Monday morning (NZ time) after beating England during the hotly anticipated final at Wembley Stadium. The sides drew 1-1 after extra time, with Italy eventually claiming victory after winning the penalty shootout 3-2. It was a massive upset for England, who had not progressed to the final of a major tournament since 1966.
Following the match, the three England players who missed their spot kicks during the shootout - Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka - were subjected to torrents of racial abuse on social media. Rashford, Sancho and Saka - who are all Black - had their Instagram accounts inundated with racial slurs, behaviour that was quickly condemned as "appalling" by England's Football Association.
"We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected, while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible," the Association said in a statement.
And on Monday, Australian outlet 7News made a major blunder when sharing one of its articles to Facebook. The story in question, titled 'Abhorrent abuse: England players cop racist taunts after shootout', was covering the abuse inflicted against Rashford, Sancho and Saka following the side's heartbreaking loss. In its caption, 7News wrote: "Three Black players failed in the penalty shootout which England lost 3-2 against Italy."
The wording quickly drew backlash from outraged social media users, many of whom condemned the outlet's "disgraceful" decision to single out the players' race, while others interpreted the caption as linking the race of the players to their performance in the match.
Others pointed out that without context, identifying the players as Black in the caption could be interpreted as 7News validing the racist abuse.
"Channel 7, was it strictly necessary to point out that these elite athletes who represented #England are black? Also, could you please let me know, are [you] now going to refer to the players with less melanin as 'white' players?" one person responded on Twitter.
"What colour was his skin? Isn't that the most important detail according to you guys?" someone else commented on a separate 7News post.
"It's 2021 @7NewsAustralia get your house in order. This headline is disgraceful," tweeted another.
After copping the extreme backlash, 7News edited the post to remove the word 'Black' from the caption. The post was deleted entirely shortly after.
7News has since apologised for the blunder, calling it a "regrettable mistake".
"Earlier on Monday, a 7NEWS.com.au social media post was published with a regrettable mistake," their statement read.
"The post linked to an article condemning the racial abuse of England football players following the team's loss to Italy in Sunday’s Euro 2020 final.
"The caption on the post was swiftly rectified as soon as it was identified.
"We sincerely apologise for the offence the post caused."
